The Reasonable Ogre: Tales for the Sick and Well

by Mike Barnes, Segbingway (Illustrations)

In the world of The Reasonable Ogre, magic is nothing if not paradoxical. Ogres can indeed be reasonable, prisons may prove porous, gifts often come disguised as curses, and springs gone dry are only waiting to resurface. At once comic and moving, troubling and restorative, Mike Barnes’s original stories are here to remind us that fairy tales aren’t about the happily-ever-after: they’re about the strange detours we take trying to get there. With seventy drawings from the striking brush of Segbingway.

Genres: Short Stories

154 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2012

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Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing, short story collection of the twisted and fantastical. I have not read anything like this. To be honest, this is not something that I would typically read but I am glad that I did give it a try. While, some of the the stories are out in outer space weird, they did make for interesting reading. Some of the stories I did enjoy were...The Reasonable Ogre, Silver, The Glass Garden, and The King's Huntsman to name a few. Each story while they may be odd do teach a lesson. For example in The Reasonable Ogre, you need to learn restaint. The lesson is know when to bargain just right and not get greedy, otherwise you could lose it all.

What really helped to tell the stories were the wonderful artwork. To call the pictures in this collection illustrations would be a crime as I consider them pieces of art that you would see hanging in a gallery. If you like twisted stories of the mind and I don't mean horror stories, then you should check out this collection of short stories.

[Elizabeth Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entrancing....this collection of short stories is one of those books that linger in your brain long after you have finished reading them. The accompanying art is intriguing...dark and mysterious. A great read.

[Melissa Middleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is separated into 4 types of stories. I really enjoyed the stories in 'hard bargains,' but I had a difficult time understanding the meaning of most of the remaining stories. All in all, it is an interesting read.

[Kelly LaMaster · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway and was excited since the synopsis sounded interesting.
Unfortunately it was a bit of a letdown. The writing was simple like stories for a child, but the content was a bit dark (bloody ogre mouths from chewing people, death, etc). The stories were short, which was a blessing, but the lessons to be taken from them were not cleverly crafted or revealed but rather clumsily held up in the reader's face.

The endings felt abrupt, like the author ran out of ideas and just ended them right there and the stories were not original. More often than not at the end of them I found myself going "What? That's it?".

There is some very beautiful sumi-e artwork throughout the book which kept me at least turning pages to study it, but the artwork was more interesting and noteworthy than the writing and stories were, sadly.

[Terry Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this in a Goodreads giveaway! Thanks Goodreads!

Just picking it up when convenient, reading a short story and then putting it down again. Really neat stories, not creepy like I thought they might be, but very much like the Grimm fairytales.

I really liked it, the old man who turns into a fish to save his family, the young girl who realizes that by participating in life more interesting things happen, the poet who keeps literature alive through his ant friends and breaks down the prison, etc.

and the artwork is really cool too!

It's good!