Paperback, 128 pages
English language
Published Jan. 1, 1990 by Penguin Books.
Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.
Copying over from goodreads
Really good modern fairy tales, if you like your fairy tales more on the horror side.
7/10
Carter's writing style is fluid and ingenious, weaving such rich, encapsulating tales. You can definitely see how influential this group of stories were on future writers. My favourite story (apart from The Bloody Chamber) was The Erl-King and The Lady of the House of Love.
So, like, a 5/5 for the prose--it is swooningly beautiful. I could read her sentences forever. But a 2/5 for the actual stories, which are not at all my thing.
Wolves, fairy tales, princesses, castles, beauties, beasts. That may sound like your thing or not at all (me more the latter) but Angela Carter is such a wizard with language and narrative that she seduces you into caring. Not always but better than just about anyone. I would totally read more of her stuff.
