Rachel Reviews: Grimmer Revisionist Fairytales, Fables and Nursery Rhymes by Marissa Carter
Take a fairytale; give it a modern twist; infuse with satire and dry wit; present with others for humorous read
Traditional tales in whatever form they're found are ripe for retelling, aren't they? But how far are you prepared to go to give them a modern slant?
I think if that question was asked of author Marissa Carter, her response would be something along the lines of "I would consider making them virtually unrecognisable," like a botched plastic surgery or filler face job.
Looking at the cover with its harlequin/jester figure suggests mischief, the fool being a traditional figure of the fun-poking variety. I was excited to get stuck in to see how these tales would be "revised".
However, when I first started reading the collection, I wasn't sure about whether or not I was going to like them. The book begins with Goldilocks and the Three Bears, then moves onto Chicken Little, both of which take the bones of the traditional story with the same or similar characters and have them more sassy, less innocent, more politically correct or just as dumb, just as smart but with a modern take on their role or their goal.
It was when I started The Three Little Pigs that I knew I was going to like them. There was something about the interaction with the wolf and the last pig with his PhD in Material Science and the cocky way the pig "leaned casually against the doorframe" with his "mug of hazelnut-flavored coffee" that made me change my mind. And I was right. Marissa Carter just needed those first two stories to get into her stride and then she was away.
I devoured the rest of the stories. I won't list them all here but I especially enjoyed Rapunzel. The tales are permeated with cleverness and there is a great deal of irreverence here too. Carter pokes fun at modern life throughout these retellings using satire, sarcasm, wise-cracking dialogue and dry wit that's verging on snide but it's all good fun. There were editorial asides too which created a sense for the reader of being in on the joke, a voyeur to the process of taking this tale and turning on its head.
I was reminded of the best comedy, that of incongruity, where what is presented is not what is expected and it is in this disparity that the laughter comes. That is what Marissa Carter has done in these tales and I dare you not to be amused.
Oh, and don't be put off by the wordy, unwieldy title.
Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Comments (7)
Loving’ your enthusiasm for this one. Sounds fun and enjoyed the little description of the characters gestures etc. Didn’t Angela Carter write ‘The Bloody Chamber’.. I wonder if there is a relation.. I remember it being a English lit text at uni, I only read a couple but they were eroticised fairytales from memory. (It came under gothic fiction). There were so many texts in that course though it was hard to finish everything. Also you got me thinking of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. A favourite as a kid. They were occasionally quite yeah.. should not be read too young.
I will definitely be checking this one out - thanks for the recommendation!
Mmmm, that hazelnut coffee. I loveeeeee retellings like this. I've read a collection of twisted retellings like this by Alana Greig. I'll leave the link in the comment below. Loved your review!
This sounds right down my alley, lol. I'm assuming that's a high four deemings!
Sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for the review, Rachel, I'll bookmark it to see if I want to buy it later.
I recently wrote a revised version of Snow White that's both grim and a bit more modern. In doing research for that I was reminded of how grim the original Grimm Brothers fairy tales were. Disney did a lot to clean those things up for the early films. In the original, the evil queen/witch is fitted with metal boots, which are heated, and she's forced to dance in them painfully until she dies. That's just one example, which makes sense when you consider what kids were seeing daily in their lives back then. Rats, plague, death, sex, violence.
This sounds interesting. I may have to check this out!