Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned: Enchanted Stories from the French Decadent Tradition

by Gretchen Schultz (Editor), Lewis Seifert (Editor)

The wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious. Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned collects thirty-six tales, many newly translated, by writers associated with the decadent literary movement, which flourished in France in the late nineteenth century. Written by such creative luminaries as Charles Baudelaire, Anatole France, and Guillaume Apollinaire, these enchanting yet troubling stories reflect the concerns and fascinations of a time of great political, social, and cultural change. Recasting well-known favorites from classic French fairy tales, as well as Arthurian legends and English and German tales, the updated interpretations in this collection allow for more perverse settings and disillusioned perspectives--a trademark style and ethos of the decadent tradition.

In these stories, characters puncture the optimism of the naive, talismans don't work, and the most deserving don't always get the best rewards. The fairies are commonly victims of modern cynicism and technological advancement, but just as often are dangerous creatures corrupted by contemporary society. The collection underlines such decadent themes as the decline of civilization, the degeneration of magic and the unreal, gender confusion, and the incursion of the industrial. The volume editors provide an informative introduction, biographical notes for each author, and explanatory notes throughout.

Subverting the conventions of the traditional fairy tale, these old tales made new will entertain and startle even the most disenchanted readers.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Fairy Tales, Anthologies, Adult, France

255 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2016

Reviews

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** Charles Baudelaire - Fairies' Gifts
Less a story than a fictional anecdote leading to a witty epigram; I have a feeling this was included in order to start off with a well-known writer.
The fairies have gathered to hand out 'gifts' and blessings to a bevy of newborns - but one father is disgruntled when it seems his son has been left out...

** Alphonse Daudet - The Fairies of France
Brief screed against science and social progress, blaming 'rational thought' for 'killing the fairies.'
Can't say I'd agree, regardless, but the polemic is rather weak and unconvincing.

**** Catulle Mendès - Dreaming Beauty
OK, this is more what I expected from this book - a subversive inversion of the original tale!
Here, Sleeping Beauty is awoken by the handsome prince - but isn't impressed with what he has to offer. She was perfectly happy asleep.

*** Catulle Mendès - Isolina / Isolin
Disgruntled at not being invited to the baptism of a baby princess, a malicious fairy comes up with an unusual curse on the infant: on her wedding night, she will transform into a boy. Will the fairy's more-benevolent sister come up with a way to mitigate this potential disaster?

*** Catulle Mendès - The Way to Heaven
Separated by a cruel father, a pair of young lovers is destined for tragedy. The princess is imprisoned in a tower, and her paramour attempts suicide. His effort is stalled by angels, who essay to bring him bodily to heaven - but he still has thoughts only for his love.
A bit sentimental for my taste, but I did like the fickleness of the angels.

*** Catulle Mendès - An Unsuitable Guest
An overly-sensitive young prince goes on a hunger strike, saying he is too refined to eat anything but the insubstantial fare of the fairies, of which he has read. Believe it or not, he gets his wish - but not everything turns out as one might've guessed (or, maybe, it does.) I liked the sense of humor here.

*** Catulle Mendès - The Three Good Fairies
Three benevolent and charitable fairies are captured by a misanthropic sorcerer who insists on taking away their magical powers and changing their form. With one grain of mercy, he allows them to choose what he will transform them into. Their choices are surprising - and quite funny.

*** Catulle Mendès - The Last Fairy
This one is in the same vein as the Daudet piece, but is more of a lament than a screed, and as such works better. A fairy is devastated to find that her home and friends have been destroyed by human 'progress,' and searches in vain for a task at which she will be useful and needed. All her abilities seem to have been superseded by modern technology.

*** Catulle Mendès - The Lucky Find
Love and Beauty, personified (and naked), show up at a modern lost-and-found desk, asking the clerk to see if he can find something that they have lost, in our modern world...

** Catulle Mendès - The Wish Granted, Alas!
A woman explains that it's a bad idea to date poet, because you never know when you're going to encounter a fairy who makes all his most flattering - but inherently ridiculous - similes come true. No one actually wants lips like roses...

*** Jules Lemaître - The Suitors of Princess Mimi
A princess must choose between two suitors - a giant, and a Tom Thumb. Both eagerly press their case - but can they compete with a Prince Charming?

** Jules Lemaître - Liette's Notions
A little girl addressed what she perceives as 'unfairness' in the classic fairy tales that she's read. Reveals quite a lot about the 'moral' standards of France at the time of writing, but contains a couple of uncomfortably dated elements.

*** Jules Lemaître - On the Margins of Perrault's Fairy Tales: The White Rabbit and the Four-Leaf Clover
Impressed by the goodness of a peasant boy, a fairy comes up with a peculiarly convoluted plan to reward him for his selfless behavior, starting with giving a princess an adorable bunny that can only eat four-leafed clover.

*** Paul Arène - The Ogresses
Framed as a reminiscence of a childhood friend. The author tells us of a boy who, instead of pining after imaginary princesses, fancied himself in love with an ogre's daughters.

**** Jules Ricard - Fairy Morgane's Tales: Nocturne II
Asked for a 'rosy' story, a fairy relates the tale of an unloved woman who is happy to be transformed into a golden statue in order to receive the adulation and admiration of strangers whose feelings she cannot return. Will this be enough for her?

*** Marcel Schwob - Bluebeard's Little Wife
Well, that was weird and vaguely pervy. But I didn't dislike it.
A vignette relating the antics of two children playing at 'fairytales' - one of them oddly, bloodthirstily masochistic.

**** Marcel Schwob - The Green She-Devil
A child meets a wild green girl in the forest, and her family takes her in. Their efforts to 'civilize' the foundling come to naught - as a matter of fact, the influence may end up running in the other direction. I liked this one rather a lot.

** Marcel Schwob - Cice
I'm not sure I really "got" this one. I guess the carriage at the end is a funeral hearse? But the irony of the sulking little girl thinking it's a prince's carriage seemed overly random.

** Marcel Schwob - Mandosiane
When her best friend is mysteriously struck by paralysis (or cursed?); a girl goes on a life's journey to try to find a cure; guided by dreams of the fairy queen Mandosiane. However, as in the previous offering from this writer, I found the tragedy too random to really resonate.

***** Willy - Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned
"The only talisman that can help you open a door is a crowbar, and you would be wrong to count on magic wands capable of finding treasure - which in fact would surely be confiscated by the State."
This one is cynically hilarious. An innocent young couple, on the eve of their wedding, are approached by a ragtag band of characters, mostly villains from popular fairy tales. In turn, each tells the lovers how the stories got it wrong: real life isn't quite like the tales.

*** Henri de Régnier - The Living Door Knocker
Symbolist story, rather than fairy tale. Orphaned and alone in the world, a man lives isolated within his mansion. When he ventures out (in pursuit of an alluring woman) his actions lead to tragedy - and the door knocker of his home serves to remind him of his victim. Very allegorical. I had mixed feelings about its messages.

*** Rachilde - The Mortis
A 'Last Man' tale. An apocalypse of flowers. The style and themes reminded me of (a much much shorter!) version of Shelley's 'Last Man,' but this story is both more Decadent and more flowery (literally).

* Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen - Sleeping Beauty Didn't Wake Up
If you are one of those people that thinks that making characters "children" or "babies" is an automatic recipe for cuteness; you may like this unbearably twee story.

**** Jean Lorrain - Princess of the Red Lilies
Gorgeous! I kept imagining illustrations by Edmund Dulac or someone of that ilk while reading this. A princess, immured in a convent, wanders around the cloister gardens with her attending nuns... but this virginal girl, kept far from men, is yet a literal femme fatale...

**** Jean Lorrain - Princess Snowflower
Pretty much a straight retelling of Snow White - with the addition of both the panoply of Christian mythology and a dark and bloody edge. The tale feels a bit oddly and unexpectedly truncated, but I still really liked it.

**** Jean Lorrain - Mandosiane in Captivity
A princess formed from an exquisite piece of antique embroidery would be most unwise to pay heed to the blandishments of an intruding mouse...

** Renée Vivien - Prince Charming
Maybe the gender-swapped/disguise plot was very titillating to contemporary readers, but the way the story's set up, it just doesn't make sense.
Also, this story has no fairy tale elements. A young girl is best friends with the effeminate little boy next door, and swears to marry him when she is older. And so she does - but it turns out that the person she married is an imposter - her husband is actually the boy's tomboy sister, who she never got along with.

** Albert Mockel - The Story of the Prince of Valandeuse
I found this annoying. It's a sententious allegory on the role of the (male) poet, and I came away with the feeling that I didn't really agree with it.

*** Albert Mockel - The Pleasant Surprise
A mildly humorous little story: an anecdote about a fairy who gives a baby prince the magical gift of "Low Expectations." Everyone is outraged - until the fairy tells them she has given the boy the gift of "Pleasant Surprises."

** Pierre Veber - The Last Fairy
Rather self-congratulatory in tone. The last fairy, inheritor of all the magics and charms of her kind, travels to the big city in search of adventure - and realizes that all her powers are as nothing in the face of modern technology.

**Anatole France - The Seven Wives of Bluebeard
**Anatole France - The Story of the Duchess of Cicogne and of Monsieur de Boulingrin
One of these, of course, is a retelling of 'Bluebeard,' the other is actually 'Sleeping Beauty.' I could see that readers at the time may have found these very witty - France satirizes an overly-formal writing style (at least, I think it's a satire?), full of digressions, and although it's clever, it's also very wordy, and these two pieces had some trouble catching my interest. I also must admit to being very tired when I read them, so maybe it was just me...

** Emile Bergerat - The 28-Kilometer Boots
** Emile Bergerat - Cinderella Arrives by Automobile
Both of these are told as if the author is relating a dream that he had (or perhaps he did have these dreams!) - one about the legendary 7-league (or 20 Km, I guess) boots, and one about Cinderella, mixing up the fairy tale elements with "modern" life, and making much of "it doesn't make sense, because it was a dream!" Now, normally I find dreams fascinating, but Bergerat's writing style just didn't win me over.

*** Guillaume Apollinaire - Cinderella Continued, or the Rat and the Six Lizards
A pun-filled short piece about how, after the events of which we have heard that culminated in a royal marriage, Cinderella's magically-transformed footman and coach driver embark on a life of banditry.

**** Claude Cahun - Cinderella, the Humble and Haughty Child
Well, now! I've never before really thought of Cinderella as a masochist, or the Prince as a pervy submissive foot fetishist. (Well, maybe a little...) The story could've gone a bit further with its development of the idea, but I still enjoyed it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Princeton University Press for the review copy of this book! Glad to have an opportunity to read some of these historically interesting and often overlooked stories.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Princeton University Press for and eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This book was not a good fit for me right now. I just experienced a loss in my life and this book is rather on the dark and depressing side.

With that in mind, here is my review of the first 50%. I didn't finish it all, I was struggling to pick it up and was not looking forward to doing so, so I decided to put this one down for now.

The stories were VERY French. Very surreal, mystical, sometimes stream of consciousness almost. They were very short, which I hoped would move the book along, but didn't for me. I was expecting stories more along the lines of fractured fairy tales or fairy tales with a twist, re-done somehow. I enjoy those, even if they are dark, but many of these did not involve the traditional, at least to me, fairy tales, such as Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. Some did, but not all.

All were dark and highlighted the worst of humanity. The introduction, which was very long, explained where the authors were coming from in a historical, political and economic perspective. It did help to set the mindset of the authors of the stories, but it was, again, not what I was expecting.

To sum up, not a bad book, but not one for me right now. Three stars, because while I didn't enjoy it, I am sure those who are into darkness in their stories and fairy tales that involve fairies and not just traditional tales will really enjoy this one.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sublime compilation of dread-filled decadant-era fairytales told by French writers like Baudelaire, Rachilde, Daudet, and Apollinaire. Amazing findings; one can only imagine how difficult it was to compile these stories, given that many are out of print even in the original French.

Here in decadent fairyland, we explore stories where Sleeping Beauty is not cursed to sleep at sixteen, but is cursed to become a man on her wedding night; where embroidered princesses are killed by a mouse; where innocent fairytale couples are told about the ways of the world and as a result lose their virginity “in a tale with no moral”; where Cinderella mistakes a hearse with a rotting corpse for her magical carriage; where a girl’s Prince Charming turns out to be Prince Charming’s sister; where Cinderella is a masochist who adores her wicked stepsisters for their cruelty and the prince has a foot fetish.

Fantastic compilation, whether you like fairytales or French literature.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned is an entertaining read that transforms familiar stories and shows them in a new light. Some of my personal favourites included one story in which fairy tale villains make a case for their innocence, and another in which Bluebeard is shown to be the victim of a series of awful wives. Although certain stories appealed to me more than others, their diversity means there should be something to please everyone. Recommended for readers who enjoy a little twist to their fairy tales, and also to those interested in literary history and the French Decadent period.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley.

[Tyler Ookami]

Read this for a book club. I think the stories in and of themselves were probably quite interesting but they were a little frustrating to read since this clearly was not translated for a fiction audience and really does not read as such. Every sentence was so oddly constructed that it seemed that it was most likely done to preserve as much French language syntax as possibly. Just read very clunkily, not sure what else to say.

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disillusioned indeed. Fascinating premise, but Angela Carter does this better.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars
Twisted versions of fairytales that definitely fit my mood! Entertaining but a little gets lost in translation.

[Richard Parkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was instantly attracted - or should I say enchanted by - the title of this collection: 'Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned’. It seemed like my kind of thing. A signpost, a detour leading to an opening in the woods where the reassuring happy endings of the fairy tales would shrink in the clear light of reality, or something like that. Sad, desolate stories, that’s what I imagined. But I was disappointed.

As the lengthy and informative introduction by folklorist Jack Zipes explains, these are stories drawn from the French decadent movement. Devoted to the aesthetic, the decadents were anti-realists, with conservative tendencies, disillusioned by modern life; a disillusionment expressed as a wistful discontent at the loss of innocence and enchantment, a number of the stories contemplate the extinction or redundancy of the faerie. These are delicate tales, whimsical, witty, and wrapped up in the peculiarly French tradition of the ‘conte de fées’ popularised by Charles Perrault - we have alternative versions, riffs and reversals, of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Bluebeard’ (always the odd one out, remarkable for its conspicuous lack of enchantment); absent are the rough edges of Brothers Grimm, the ribaldry of Basile, and the sensual raptures of A Thousand and One Nights.

The litmus test of any collection, or any work of art, for that matter, is what you remember. As I write, I can recall the witty conceit of ‘The Pleasant Surprise’, the scepticism of ‘The Ogresses’ (characters from ‘Little Thumbling’), the elegant argumentation of Anatole France as if posing as Bluebeard’s defence counsel. But it was the four contributions from symbolist Marcel Schwob that captured my affections. A noted influence on Borges and Bolano, Schwob writes with a concise poetic detail through which meaning, sly and and dark and disturbing, shine through. ‘Mandosaine’, a tale (a love story) of two female farm workers, Lily and Nan, and the quest for a cure was unexpectedly moving. I will return to these, I'm sure.

The volume comes in deep red hardcover with black and green ‘art deco’ design on the dust sheet, while the text is accompanied by a selection of illustration from, among others, Gustave Doré and Arthur Rackham.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are snarky and clever with a modern exhaustion about them. I only put it on my did not finish shelf because it needed to go back to the library. I will be getting a copy for myself and the many fairy tale lovers in my life.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if Jay Ward had employed writers like Baudelaire, Apollinaire, Marcel Schwob, and Claude Cahun to write his Fractured Fairy Tales and you will be very close to some of the stories in this fine book. The 19th Century mania for fairy tales was part of the surge of nationalism and the quest for folk roots in Europe and the republication of Perrault and Grimm was a sort of by-product of Romanticism. Of course, by the late years of the century and the time of the rise of the French Symbolists and Decadents, fairy tales needed a new coat of mauve paint. That paint is provided here in a variety of shades and textures -- from the perverse (Cinderella as a submissive forced to dominate her prince) to the playful (a speedy automobile in a race against the giant with the seven-league boots). Even the least of the stories entertains and the best of them are gems of wit and cynical fun. The introduction indicates that this is only a small sample of an unlikely but immense genre. I would definitely buy a second volume.

[Twinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book review is for the ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love this collection with every piece of my being. I am a big fan of fairy tales, but sometimes we all get sick of the happy-ever-afters. And this collection of tales is perfect for our twisted little hearts. This collection of fairy tales involved tales of fairies that act like crazy old ladies, of sleeping maidens who would rather stay in a dream-filled sleep rather than be awake and live in reality, of cunning little red riding hood, and my favorite–a very naughty Cinderella. Somehow, contained in these tales are reflections of the real word. In its own crooked ways, these collected stories taught us the harsh realities of life. It gives us the moral lessons stripped of its elegant furnishing and presented to us in its bare-naked glory. This book is the perfect bed time stories for cynics and skeptics; even the romantics will be amused by these stories. Some tales were enchanting in its humor, while others seemed a little dragging especially if you don’t know the referenced tales. But other than that, it is safe to say that these collection of sarcastic, satirical, and twisted fairy tales is perfect for anyone who loves fairy tales with a twist.

[Annette Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating little collection for fans of the traditional fairy tale genre, this book pulls together a diverse range of classic french fairy tales, but versions which you probably haven't read before. The translated stories retain the linguistic magic of the original versions, and read like classic tales , but tales with a twist, where Sleeping Beauty does not wish to wake up, or Cinderella is a masochist willing to con a Prince with a foot fetish into marriage. Many of the stories have political overtones, with references to the way French society was changing, moving away from its traditions, and this added an interesting extra dimension to the book.
Overall quite a pleasant read.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a robust collection of fairy tales from the French decadent tradition, showcasing a variety of authors, themes, and classic characters. The translations are very readable, and the tales lend themselves easily to discussion, particularly those that adapt or are otherwise "in conversation" with classic tales and figures, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Bluebeard. While the editors had a decidedly academic bent in compiling these particular tales, generalists and pleasure readers will find much to enjoy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took a class on fairy tales last semester, so I really looked forward to reading this. I liked most of the tales, but I mostly preferred the retellings of the traditional fairy tales, especially the retelling of Bluebeard towards the end of the book. Some of the tales had too modern twists for my taste, but you can just skip those.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

VERDICT: Remarkable anthology of famous fairy tales as reinterpreted by French authors of the Decadent movement. Fascinating and very enjoyable example of comparative literature at its best.


My full detailed review is here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2016/12/29/...

[Carole-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite finished (b/c of distractions) but an immensely enjoyable read of the various stories created late 19/early 20th century of "fairy" tales which are not quite HEA (or even HFN)

Lots of variations of the (children's) accepted stories; some 'ugh' stuff; others 'hmm?'

Good enough to browse and re-read time and again :)

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned is a collection of stories from the French Decadent tradition, “a cynical and aesthetically driven reaction to this tumultuous century [the 20th]” (p. xvii). For the most part. The editors freely admit that some of the inclusions are from authors who would not have identified or been identified with the decadents, including Charles Baudelaire, who preceded the movement, and Alphonse Daudet, who “was aligned with naturalism, decadence’s antithesis” (p. xiii).

I am not a lit major and have little enough familiarity with English and American movements much less French ones so the introduction to this collection turned out to be quite informative.

Some of the defining characteristics of the decadents included:

A flight from modernity
A romanticization and preference for pre-modern society
A reactionary attitude toward the democratization of society
A nostalgic regret for the supposed feminization of society (many of these stories’ villains are female)

Overall, this collection was “OK,” so it gets two stars. There was no unreadable story but most didn’t make a great impression on me. Below, however, are some that did (and would individually rate 3+ stars):

CATULLE MENDÉS (1841-1909)
“Dreaming Beauty” – Sleeping Beauty opts to go back to sleep because her dreams are far better than reality.
“Isolina/Isolin” – The title alone should tell you what this tale is about, though it may not end quite as expected.
“The Last Fairy” – The titular fairy discovers that the modern world has no need for her magic.

MARCEL SCHWOB (1867-1905)
“The Green She-Devil” – A fairy is captured by a mortal family but turns the tables on them and steals away with their daughter.

RACHILDE (Marguerite Eymery, 1860-1953)
“The Mortis” – Nature takes its revenge on Man and Civilization in the wake of a plague.

ANATOLE FRANCE (1844-1924)
“The Seven Wives of Bluebeard” – A rehabilitation of Bluebeard, a misunderstood and libeled man of profound sensibilities, who’s unfortunate in his wives.

CLAUDE CAHUN (Lucy Schwob, 1894-1954)
“Cinderella, the Humble & Haughty Child” – An unabashed tale about a woman who yearns to be sexually humiliated and dominated and a prince with a serious foot fetish. (If it’s of concern, there’s nothing explicit about this story, just a lot of suggestion.)

If you’re interested in alternative fairy tales and/or French decadence, I’d give a moderate recommendation – don’t pay for a copy of the collection (unless it’s really cheap); stick to a library.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

An informative introductory chapter (interesting to see how fairytale retellings, like the wave we've seen recently, became popular around the turn-of-the-century period of industrial/technological change, too!) the fairy tales themselves are a very mixed bag, with a couple I appreciated where fairies have to deal with an increasingly industrial and less believing world, but some seeming fever-dream-like, many of them just a weird kind of erotica ("because I loved her, I struck her in the face" - are you okay, France...?) sometimes weirdly masochistic (in one story, Cinderella fantasizes about being humiliated and plots how to get a lover who will mistreat her), sometimes weirdly sexualizing peri-pubescent kids. Overall it may be interesting from a psychology perspective or a "how much cocaine were these people ON???" angle, but I don't really recommend it for people who want actual stories.

[Sean]

I was a bit disappointed with this collection. Though I found the critical introduction quite interesting, the stories themselves tended to be too on the nose for me, with little that I found particularly thought provoking. Several are invested in flipping the script of tales so that the male villains are hapless innocents and the ingenues are the real heartless tyrants, which did not work well. A few did present reimaginings that intrigued me: Marcel Schwob’s Bluebeard and also The Green She-Devil, Renee Vivien’s Prince Charming, Albert Mockel’s Prince of Valandeuse, and to a lesser extent Claude Cahun’s Cinderella.

[Lynn Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are gritty fairy tales, many with harsh, sad endings. I suspect that such tales as these were designed to end all dominance of the enchanted styled fairy lore tales that end in happy tidings, and or myths, that also encouraged kind regards; or cooperative, communal, or familial efforts to promote good will towards "the cousins, good folk" also called fairies (an informal term not appropriate to their kind).

[Herb · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the Fin de Siecle in France, there arose a spate of modern "Fairy Tales", written by poets, novelists, etc. of the time. They tended to take a decadent turn, showing the mood of the times - despondency, weariness from constant wars and upheavals, changing moral standards. Notable writers engaged in the creations, such as Baudelaire, Apollinaire and Anatole France. This compilation of these stories displays the wide range of these tales. Most interesting and entertaining.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turns out people have been making re-tellings of fairy tales for a long time. Today, most of these would only be interesting for someone doing an academic study of such tales. What was shocking or transgressive in 1900 just aren't that anymore. Most of the stories are so short they are more the idea of a story rather than a story.

[Yi An · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I expected...
The collection may be trying to express the complaint about mythology system being crashed by modern-day's tech, moral standards and so on, trying to tell people old time is better then now.

[M A U R O · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
It is exactly what the title of the book says. However, I expected the stories to be more even more disillusioned, darker, more decadent, some of them are really good but most are mild. In any case, the compilation is good if you are interested in the subject matter.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it because I was committed to do so. That’s the only reason. The title story was the only one that made me laugh; I just couldn’t connect with the others.

I am returning to Greek myths…..

[Gael]

I didn't finish this book but not because it wasn't good! I was really enjoying it, but I had to return it to the library. I had slowed down on my reading of it and wanted to move on to other books. I will definitely come back to it in the future to finish and give a rating then.

[Katherine Spivey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea of this tradition!

[roxy punk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different fairy tales with surprinsing story evolution. Untertaining, but I would’ve liked it to have women writers also.

[Sidra Channa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it, the FAIRYTALES were one of a kind will definitely recommend if you are into dark part of fairytales

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy fairy tale retellings especially like these where the ending is not always happy or the prince charming. I think my favorite is a Sleeping Beauty one where she really does not want to wake up.