Tangleweed and Brine


Publication Date: 30 Sep. 2021
Format: Paperback / softback

ISBN 9781912417117

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    A collection of thirteen dark, feminist retellings of traditional fairytales that follow in the tradition of Angela Carter; stories from Cinderella to Rumpelstiltskin, tales of mermaids and monsters, are given a unique witchy makeover.


    Information

    Book Type: Senior High
    Age Group: 15 years +
    Traffic Lights: Amber
    Class Novel: Yes
    Good Reads Rating: 5/5
    Literary Rating: 5/5

    Review

    This collection of fairytale retellings takes familiar stories and re-examines them through a feminist lens.

    Angela Carter, Kate Forsyth, and many other authors have set themselves the project of cutting to the core of these cautionary tales to ask who they are cautioning and what the warning means. Many of these fairytales have been constructed to control women's behaviour and contribute to systems of oppression. One obvious change that the author has made in Tangleweed and Brine is to approach all of them with a second-person voice. This, combined with the lyrical and poetic prose, creates the sense that these stories are being told aloud; at the same time, the second-person voice puts readers in the shoes of these protagonists and asks them to engage with their stories in a new way, as an active participant rather than an observer.

    Some of the fairytales included will be familiar to the reader (like Cinderella or Hansel and Gretel), but others such as Donkeyskin may be new. This book would be an excellent support for any units on folk or fairytales and how they have been changed over time, and is a great excercise for analysis of literary techniques.

    Themes

    fractured fairy tales, folklore, feminism, empowerment, magic, occult, witches, royalty, loyalty, marriage, betrayal, family

    Content Notes

    1. bitch (as in female dog) x 1, whore x 2. 2. Butchering a chicken (p. 5). Menstruation (p. 20). Birth of a calf (p. 21). Mild injury (p. 50, 81). Miscarriage (p. 73, 101). Reverse Bluebeard: he keeps dying and leaving corpses behind, but coming back to life. He shows his wife the room of corpses (p. 112). Recollection of mother's death (p. 116). Bodies of princes tangled in the briars outside Sleeping Beauty's castle (p. 159). 3. Curses, witches, and fairytale magic or occult elements discussed throughout. Ouija board (p. 144-155). 4. Brief non-descriptive mention of sex (p. 99). Mentions of fertility and pregnancy throughout.

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