The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold

The Gold Family Tales

by Kate Bernheimer

The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold is a lavishly poetic novel that draws upon the motifs of traditional German, Russian and Yiddish folklore and fairy stories to recount the visionary obsessions of a passionate young woman. The narrative moves freely through time and space, uniting Ketzia Gold's early childhood with her sexual awakenings, creating a dreamscape of haunting vividness. Marked by a logical illogic and disarmingly sane madness, this haunting and innovative fable creates an emotional landscape that's as impossible to escape as it is for young Ketzia to inhabit. Kate Bernheimer interweaves hypnotic imagery and everyday life, moving back and forth through time, piecing together the fragments of memory and imagination with an obsessive lyricism that recalls the poetic fictions of Carol Maso. Bernheimer's story is a rich tapestry, patterned with childhood longings and the luxuriant complexity of womanhood.

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

140 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

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

[Melanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd book!
I was expecting more fairy tale retellings, something fantasy.
Instead, it uses surrealism and surrealistic fairy tale imagery to talk about a very mundane disintegrating marriage.


Actually, some of the bits of Ketzia's life reminded me a bit of Catherynne Valente's work when she discusses similar subjects. Less ornate writing, of course, but the surrealism gives it bit of a similar feel.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a deck of tarot cards were thrown up in the air, and you then read them just as they fell: that is more or less the organization and feel of this story. Ketzia's tale is told in short chapters that span moments, days or years from very early childhood up into adulthood interspersed with fairytales. While most chapters seem to be at least slightly based in reality, there are also some pulled completely from folklore; I loved this mix and the slow progress with which the actual tale unfolds. Ketzia is not a very lovable...or even likable character, but the writing itself & manner in which this story was written make this book worth reading.
I think the chapters that resonated most with me were those of her childhood and the strange relationship she had with her sister Merry. I became really absorbed in those beautiful, creepy passages and because of them I'll need to read The Complete Tales of Merry Gold.

[elsbeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy girl writers can get book deals too, sometimes. Maybe there's hope.

[Lia Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* i was quite enjoying this up until the end. i think it would help if i could figure out what precisely inspired the odd shift in the last section that works so hard to absolve the husband as a sweet long-suffering figure despite 100 preceding pages that showed all of his heartless indiscretions. it was a 4* for me up until that point.

[rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun writing and vivid imagery. although the story was technically connected, each chapter felt more like a standalone piece of prose. the ending did leave me unfulfilled and felt pretty abrupt. or better to say that the somewhat listless nature of the story made it so that there was no clear or natural stopping point.

[Sheila Dufau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fragmented in contemporary folktales
alluded riddled of suffering and darkness making it quite an odd read but utterly intriguing.

[Adrian Stumpp · Rating 3 out of 5]

What relevance do fairytales have in adult life? What relevance do they have in a technological overly determined world such as ours? Are they important, and if so, how and why? These are some of the questions I was hoping to find answers to by reading Ms. Bernheimer's book. At its most effective, The Complete Tales... skates flirtatiously close to magic realism in the Garcia Marquez vein. When Ketzia's sister turns her into a bird, the author is expected to belief this literally, but is offered no explanation for (a) how Merry turned Ketzia into a bird, or (b) how Ketzia ever got turned back into a girl. Bernheimer keeps a straight face throughout the episode and refuses to make excuses. Bravo. On the other hand, when Ketzia embarks on her surrealistic sojourn through the desert, the reader feels less in the midst of the adventures of a contemporary fairytale and more in the muddled vision of a confused and half-baked allegory. One explanation for this--the one that disappoints and scares me--is that this failure is not Bernheimer's; it is the failure of the fairytale's ability to translate into a contemporary narrative. Bernheimer's imaginitive powers outreach her chosen medium and reveal all the fairytale's limits and shortcomings as contemporary literature. The novel is saved, though, by Bernheimer's intense and believable dipiction of her main character, Ketzia Gold. Halfway through, I found myself reading more out of interest in Ketzia as an authetic personality and less for the fairytales. The final analysis is that The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold is both ambitious and effective. However, the parts that are ambitious are not entirely effective and the parts that are effective are not at all ambitious.

[Paul Eckert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I'd wanted to buy it for awhile because Bernheimer is the editor of The Fairy Tale Review, and I was expecting the story to be a bit more of the fantasy persuasion. However, the story is much more based in realism than the author may have intended, or than the back cover wanted to let on.

"The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold" is a novel that happens in really short chapters that are best viewed as short stories unto themselves (at least it makes the most sense that way). We follow Ketzia, an aloof young woman who waxes poetic about the everyday happenings of her life.

The writing is pretty and poetic and all, but as this type of writing often does, it never really struck a chord with me. Each individual chapter is worth reading twice and appreciating the details that work subliminally to paint a picture of Ketzia and her surroundings. However, after I stopped reading, there was little that I could recall that really affected me. The story jumps around in time a lot, and there's not a whole lot to distinguish whether a scene is happening before or after the ones that came before it. The latter third of the book is the most linear, and perhaps not coincidentally, also the most enjoyable.

There were a few noteworthy passages that I really liked, but for the most part, I'll probably forget most of this story in a couple of weeks.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do you do when you live in a world that seems to offer you nothing but violence and some kind of despair? You become a refugee in a life that's not your own... well, it's not at first but slowly it crawls into one's mind and creates a world of your own in your head, turning all meaning upside down and dragging its inhabitants (is that only you?) into a haunting and vivid dream.
Ketzia Gold is such a refugee, and her tales are an attempt to put memory and imagination into a self-liberating order. She can't escape her world, but she can dwell in this world as though she's living in a fairy tale.

[Kira Henehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it felt almost incomplete (as though it could've gone on for a lot longer and thus been a more overall immersive reading experience), I quite appreciated the gorgeous writing in this book and the weaving together of different narrative styles and fantasy/reality. I'll hold off further judgment until I've read The Complete Tales of Merry Gold, which deals with the sister of the protagonist of this novel and which I anticipate acting as a sort of companion novel...but the fact that I do plan to read the second book should indicate my feelings towards the first.

[Elizabeth Theriot · Rating 3 out of 5]

These tales are unlike anything I've ever read before. Very unsettling, with a perspective that jumps from first to third, and a narrative that moves throughout time. We learn more and more about Ketzia by seeing the world through her strange eyes. I found myself incredibly amused at some points, and feeling incredibly sad at others. I didn't always feel very connected to Ketzia, but when I did it was strong and poignant. Looking forward to reading about the other Gold sisters!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of magical, and a lot of fun. The prose is pristine.

[lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read. I like how this book is both concise and loose. The story reads a bit like Ketzia's odd little mind. I sort of love her and sort of can't stand her self-loathing.

[Johanna DeBiase · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially like "The Star Pennies."