The Complete Tales of Lucy Gold

The Gold Family Tales

by Kate Bernheimer

As a child, Lucy dreams of talking fairies and lives contentedly in the wooded suburbs of Boston; she grows up to be a successful animator of fairy-tale films. Or does she? She claims at moments to be a witch in the woods. Like her sisters, who appeared in Bernheimer’s first two novels (The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold), Lucy has a secret, but she is unable to fasten onto anything but brightness. Novelist Donna Tartt writes, “Lucy’s particular brand of optimism, blind to its own shadow, is very American—she is innocence holding itself apart so fastidiously that it becomes its opposite.” This novel is a perfect end to the Gold family series, and the perfect introduction, for new readers, to Bernheimer’s enchanting body of work.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Novels, Fairy Tales

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kate Bernheimer is the author of three novels and the story collection Horse, Flower, Bird, as well as children's books. Among other books, she edited the World Fantasy Award winning My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales and the forthcoming xo Orpheus: 50 New Myths.

Reviews

[Dionisia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shock and excitement! I did not think I would get this goodreads giveaway as the odds were very slim. I enjoyed this reading experience but how do I even begin to describe a book like this?? There's a bit of magic, some transformations, and even talking animals; all this and more bundled in a modern setting.

There are four children in the Gold family. Merry full of anger, Ketzia full of sorrow, an unnamed and seemingly indifferent brother, and the youngest sibling Lucy. Lucy Gold is filled with bliss and happiness, but that unyielding brightness takes her to a dark place. Her tales unfold along a nonlinear narrative. The stories bounce freely between the grown-up Lucy and the events of her early life.

A dense little book! I caught myself rereading passages. There were some I loved. I could just close my eyes and steep myself in the imagery they evoked. I liked the blank spaces and how my mind filled them with my own secrets. This giveaway was a nice way to be introduced to Kate Berheimer and I'll be checking out her other work in the future.

[Abby Hagler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy is the third Gold girl, the one we hear next-to-nothing about in the first two. After meeting her, it is clear why she is so invisible: she believes she is a fairy. At least, to a degree she does. And, much like a magical creature, she must flit in and out of consciousness. She is like two other characters I can think of: the White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, who has vowed never to hurt another living creature with her hands, as well as like a girl from another of Bernheimer's stories who unwittingly gets pregnant and suffers from a form of either autism or dissociative personality disorder.

It would be fitting that the only way to describe Lucy is by aggregating other fictional characters. This may be what she prefers in her prevalent inability to truly connect with others because she only wishes to be so airy and happy-go-lucky. Lucy is good, but not infuriatingly so. She is too clueless/curious/worry-free to be that way. Her observations of others make her story fascinating. It is really like looking at the world through alien eyes.

I love the way Bernheimer uses the plots or images from very common fairy tales to structure the events of her characters. It makes these books interesting and driven, without getting too caught up in character description. Bernheimer is somewhat of a sparse writer, but she her obsession with personalities relating to folk characters is fascinating.

This book also reminds me of My Happy Life by Lydia Millet.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

'What is the relationship between the fairies and Lucy? Is it they who breathe life into her, or she who is ascendant for them?' (p.5)

Kate Bernheimer never uses a lot of words to tell her stories. She lets tradition and the inner side of her story speak: both the fairy tale culture and the blank lines between the written ones, give the tales of Lucy a structure that takes us, the readers, deep into the wooded suburbs of fairy tale life. Wandering around we got enchanted by every word Bernheimer doesn't tell...

[Colorado Review]

Reviewed here for Colorado Review by Kate Bernheimer.

[Mary McMyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still thinking about this one--in a good way. In the meantime, please imagine my review of the book here: ________________________________________________.

[Elaine Mullane || Elaine and the Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5