The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter **5/8

This short collection includes Carter's retelling of fables, like Beauty and the Beast and Red Riding Hood, although the connection to the original stories is unimportant. Really, her versions of these stories are her own, using just the basic outline or characters before moving off in her own direction. I like these fables, as they are well-written, dark, and adult, though in general I'm not a huge fan of the fable as a story form. Additionally, some of these just didn't thrill me. The title story is pretty good, and a bit more substantial than the others in the collection. I bought this as a brief introduction to Carter, who I keep hearing is an inspiration to literary speculative fiction writers currently working; it served its purpose in that I now know that Carter is a good, imaginative, and (surprisingly, considering these were adapted fables) an original writer. I'll next tackle her The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman book, which is supposed to be wacky and surreal.
(Winter 2006-7)

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