How to Fracture a Fairy Tale
Written by: Jane Yolen
Number of Pages: 320
Average Rating: 3.55 / 5
My Overall Rating: 3 / 5 stars
Summary According to Goodreads
Fantasy legend Jane Yolen presents a wide-ranging offering of fractured fairy tales. Yolen fractures the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets, holding them to the light and presenting them entirely transformed; where a spinner of straw into gold becomes a money-changer and the big bad wolf retires to a nursing home.
Rediscover the tales you once knew, rewritten and refined for the world we now live in - or a much better version of it.
“Then you have to figure out what kind of fracture you’re attempting. A small sprain or the calving of glaciers? Do you want to subvert the story’s paradigm entirely, or just make a joke?” - from the authors introduction
My Thoughts
I received an e-arc copy of this novel to review from NetGalley, but that does not influence my opinion.
I should start off by saying that I was very excited to get approved for this novel, as I am both a fan of Yolen, fairy tales, and anthologies. Some of these stories were very well done, while others did not seem to make any sense and went right over my head. It took me long over a month to get through this collection, and put me in a massive reading slump because I had no motivation to read anything. I was not captivated or blown away, and think future readers should read each story a while apart, otherwise they may blend together.
Unfortunately this anthology was more of a collection of good ideas rather than good stories, and I was disappointed with it overall.
Rating of Each Story
Snow in Summer: 4 stars
A Snow White retelling where she gets her own revenge and doesn’t need someone to save her? Yes please!
The Bridge’s Complaint: 2 stars
The Moon Ribbon: 3 stars
I liked the idea of this story, but I think it was dragged out too long and the message become lost on me in the end.
Godmother Death: 5 stars
I loved the tone and the atmosphere of this story, coupled with an interesting plot made it perfect.
Happy Dens: 4 stars
Granny Rumple: 2 stars
One Ox, Two Ox, Three Ox, and the Dragon King: 4 stars
Brother Hart: 5 stars
Sun / Flight: 2 stars
Slipping Sideways Through Eternity: 4 stars
I really liked this story and the message, but would have liked to see it developed more. I’m not completely familiar with Judaism, but was taught enough to understand the lessons being learned. I just think this story would have been better if Rebecca had a stronger personality.
The Foxwife: 2 stars
The Faery Flag: 3 stars
One Old Man, with Seals: 4 stars
Sleeping Ugly: 1 star
Thankfully this story was quite short because it was rather pointless.
The Undine: 2 stars
I always appreciate a mermaid story, especially one reminiscent of The Little Mermaid, but this one wasn’t great.
Great-Grandfather’s Dragon Tale: 3 stars
Green Plague: 4 stars
The Unicorn and the Pool: 3 stars
I sat with this story a while and reread it a few times, and although I really liked the fable I would have liked to see it be longer.
The Golden Balls: 3 stars
This was an interesting take on a story I have heard before, and I appreciated the turn of victimizing the princess more than the frog was.
Sister Death: 5 stars
Sule Skerry: 2 stars
Once A Good Man: 5 stars
Allerleirauh: 4 stars
I’ve heard this story before but this time around it seemed to have a much darker tone - more fitting for the plot.
The Gwynhfar: 2 stars
Cinder Elephant: 5 stars
A funny Cinderella retelling where the chubby girl gets the cute prince!
Mama Gone: 4 stars
The Woman Who Loved a Bear: 3 stars
Wrestling With Angels: 5 stars
I am so glad that so finished this collection with this story as I would have to say it was my favourite.
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