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kcrawfish's review against another edition
5.0
I selected this book because I can't find a singular novel for just The Little Mermaid.
I read this long ago and vaguely remembered the ending, and never re-read because of vague memories and dismissive comments I'd heard such as "he makes her dance naked for him even though her feet are like walking on daggers-"
"What a terrible, terrible book, and what a stupid, stupid mermaid."
But that's like saying "you know this half-remembered, possibly incorrect, small piece of a book, let's call the whole thing awful and dismiss critical thinking or opinions that differ, because if you like or want to read it you support sex slavery for the sake of a shallow relationship.
So avoid it/hate it because
Granted that's a very hyperbolic overstatement of these conversations, but the basic undertows were there and I shrugged, deciding to discard the book as a fluke of a novel. Who knew why it did so well? Clearly it was spread by awful people.
I was wrong, and I'm glad I picked it up again.
I'm not going to rave and tell you this was the best novel ever, I think the five star might have been the reaction of having such low expectations, but wow I loved it. I listened to the audiobook for free on youtube, and with the background of crashing waves and singing sirens I swam to the bottom of the ocean. I loved the whole mermaid-filled beginning, I didn't know the love-story was such a small portion, and that the writing was so enchanting.
We follow The Little Mermaid's family as they live on the bottom of the ocean in a palace, and are all allowed to surface on their fifteenth birthday. It's here the little mermaid sees and saves the prince, leaving him on the shore near a church.
She loves him, and when she sells her voice for legs, he loves her but in the way you'd love a small child. She's mute, and there can be no meeting of the minds for them without communication, and besides he's.
She feels this rejection deeply, and the tragedy of it isn't lost on her or the reader.
The beautiful part of this book is that the little mermaid is given the chance to save herself, to have her love turned to hatred and to, but she doesn't. She doesn't grow bitter and feel entitled to the prince's love, then act out against him. Even internally, she learns to let him go.
I'm sure I missed things or misstated things, but either way I was surprised how well I truly enjoyed this story. So if you're holding out because of conversations like the initial one I had, give it another go. It might just be a 3-star, you might hate it, but at least it will be your own opinion based on the true story rather than half-remembered details parroted, that miss large chunks of beautiful storytelling.
I read this long ago and vaguely remembered the ending, and never re-read because of vague memories and dismissive comments I'd heard such as "he makes her dance naked for him even though her feet are like walking on daggers-"
"What a terrible, terrible book, and what a stupid, stupid mermaid."
But that's like saying "you know this half-remembered, possibly incorrect, small piece of a book, let's call the whole thing awful and dismiss critical thinking or opinions that differ, because if you like or want to read it you support sex slavery for the sake of a shallow relationship.
So avoid it/hate it because
Granted that's a very hyperbolic overstatement of these conversations, but the basic undertows were there and I shrugged, deciding to discard the book as a fluke of a novel. Who knew why it did so well? Clearly it was spread by awful people.
I was wrong, and I'm glad I picked it up again.
I'm not going to rave and tell you this was the best novel ever, I think the five star might have been the reaction of having such low expectations, but wow I loved it. I listened to the audiobook for free on youtube, and with the background of crashing waves and singing sirens I swam to the bottom of the ocean. I loved the whole mermaid-filled beginning, I didn't know the love-story was such a small portion, and that the writing was so enchanting.
We follow The Little Mermaid's family as they live on the bottom of the ocean in a palace, and are all allowed to surface on their fifteenth birthday. It's here the little mermaid sees and saves the prince, leaving him on the shore near a church.
She loves him, and when she sells her voice for legs, he loves her but in the way you'd love a small child. She's mute, and there can be no meeting of the minds for them without communication, and besides he's
Spoiler
fallen in love with a girl at the convent who he believes initially saved him, since she found his body and he never got a chance to see the Little MermaidShe feels this rejection deeply, and the tragedy of it isn't lost on her or the reader.
The beautiful part of this book is that the little mermaid is given the chance to save herself, to have her love turned to hatred and to
Spoiler
stab the prince in his sleep to save her lifeI'm sure I missed things or misstated things, but either way I was surprised how well I truly enjoyed this story. So if you're holding out because of conversations like the initial one I had, give it another go. It might just be a 3-star, you might hate it, but at least it will be your own opinion based on the true story rather than half-remembered details parroted, that miss large chunks of beautiful storytelling.
kberry513's review against another edition
3.0
This edition had a different selection of stories to the MinaLima edition I read last month. Like that edition, even the well known stories are a bit...weird, because HCA was a weird dude (having visited the museum about him in Odense, I feel very secure in this knowledge). However, one story stands out as particularly bizarre - The Marsh King's Daughter. It starts out very HCA - there's a stork telling his wife about how the daughter of an important/rich Egyptian who lives in a palace (so a pharaoh?) who has a magic swan skin that allows her to fly, came to the marsh with her two friends to get a special marsh flower that will save her father's life. Only when she arrived and took off the swan skin and handed it to her friends for safe keeping, they instead destroy it and go back to Egypt where they tell everyone an elaborate story where she has died (we don't find this out until later). The Egyptian princess is distraught, and the marsh king sees her and steals her away beneath the marsh as his wife, bc of course. Time passes and she doesn't reappear, but then a plant grows and when it flowers there's a little girl in it. The stork realizes it is the princess' daughter, and so he takes and delivers her to a childless Viking couple nearby. The Viking mom is alone while the dad is out looting and pillaging, and she discovers the marsh-baby is beautiful but a dick during the day, and a hideous frog creature of sweet disposition at night. She doesn't want her husband to set the child out to die, so she keeps the curse to herself and names her Helga. Helga is so beautiful and wild (like bathes in the blood of animals she kills herself wild) but that is apparently a desirable Viking trait so whatevs. Meanwhile, the storks have been migrating to Egypt and back to Denmark every year and find out the Egyptians think the princess is dead and what the shitty friends did, so they steal the friends' swan skins and hide them in their Denmark nest so they can give them to the princess should she ever turn back up.
Helga's adoptive dad captures a Christian priest and plans to...kill him or something. During the day, she wants to torture him so when she goes frog person that night, her Viking mom tells her she wishes they had set her out to die when she was a baby and then storms off. Frog-Helga rescues the priest and they go off on her horse, but then goes batshit when she turns back into Pretty Helga and fights the priest, who is somehow holding his own. And then through the power of prayer or something, he manages to calm her- but then they're beset by robbers who murder the priest and her horse and go to abduct her, but then she turns frog creature and they take off. She tries to bury them with her frog hands and rips the webbing, but can't really do it so just puts rocks on top and since she was crying about it, when she goes back to normal she is basically catatonic struggling with both natures. When she's frog girl again, she puts a cross on the graves and draws a cross on the ground and magically her webbed hands go back to normal and she says "Jesus Christ" and becomes beautiful (?! the f?)
That night she's visited by the ghost of the murdered priest because of course she is. The ghost brings her to her real mother, who in case you've forgotten at this point, is the Egyptian princess that has been living at the bottom of the marsh for 16+ years, and the two of them realize that Helga is the lotus that will save her grandfather, and the stork brings them the two swan skins he stole. They pit stop back in the Viking village to let her Viking mom know she's ok/alive. Meanwhile, ever since they captured the priest, Viking Mom has essentially decided Christianity is the bee's knees, especially now that it miraculously saved her hybrid kid.
The two princesses go to Egypt and save dad/grandpa from the brink of death he's been hovering on for the better part of two decades. Everyone is happy, Helga sends a message back to Viking Mom with the storks. Time passes and Helga is going to marry an Arabian prince. On her wedding day, she has a convo with the storks and then is again visited by Ghost Priest who shows her heaven for a minute. When that's done, she realizes that even though she was only in Heaven three minutes, the whole night passed - the storks show up at dawn and don't know her - plot twist! because they aren't the same storks - it was actually hundreds of years and she disappeared on her wedding night. As soon as she realizes that, her body turns to dust and she leaves behind a lotus flower. The end.
WTF is that hot mess??? What a weird and convoluted story.
The rest aren't as odd, although the final one The Naughty Boy about Cupid is for sure a result of HCA's poor luck in love. This edition itself is beautiful and the illustrations are decent, but overall it wasn't as good of a selection of stories as the MinaLima edition.
Helga's adoptive dad captures a Christian priest and plans to...kill him or something. During the day, she wants to torture him so when she goes frog person that night, her Viking mom tells her she wishes they had set her out to die when she was a baby and then storms off. Frog-Helga rescues the priest and they go off on her horse, but then goes batshit when she turns back into Pretty Helga and fights the priest, who is somehow holding his own. And then through the power of prayer or something, he manages to calm her- but then they're beset by robbers who murder the priest and her horse and go to abduct her, but then she turns frog creature and they take off. She tries to bury them with her frog hands and rips the webbing, but can't really do it so just puts rocks on top and since she was crying about it, when she goes back to normal she is basically catatonic struggling with both natures. When she's frog girl again, she puts a cross on the graves and draws a cross on the ground and magically her webbed hands go back to normal and she says "Jesus Christ" and becomes beautiful (?! the f?)
That night she's visited by the ghost of the murdered priest because of course she is. The ghost brings her to her real mother, who in case you've forgotten at this point, is the Egyptian princess that has been living at the bottom of the marsh for 16+ years, and the two of them realize that Helga is the lotus that will save her grandfather, and the stork brings them the two swan skins he stole. They pit stop back in the Viking village to let her Viking mom know she's ok/alive. Meanwhile, ever since they captured the priest, Viking Mom has essentially decided Christianity is the bee's knees, especially now that it miraculously saved her hybrid kid.
The two princesses go to Egypt and save dad/grandpa from the brink of death he's been hovering on for the better part of two decades. Everyone is happy, Helga sends a message back to Viking Mom with the storks. Time passes and Helga is going to marry an Arabian prince. On her wedding day, she has a convo with the storks and then is again visited by Ghost Priest who shows her heaven for a minute. When that's done, she realizes that even though she was only in Heaven three minutes, the whole night passed - the storks show up at dawn and don't know her - plot twist! because they aren't the same storks - it was actually hundreds of years and she disappeared on her wedding night. As soon as she realizes that, her body turns to dust and she leaves behind a lotus flower. The end.
WTF is that hot mess??? What a weird and convoluted story.
The rest aren't as odd, although the final one The Naughty Boy about Cupid is for sure a result of HCA's poor luck in love. This edition itself is beautiful and the illustrations are decent, but overall it wasn't as good of a selection of stories as the MinaLima edition.
persephone0000's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
cassie_smith's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the detail and simplicity in all of these stories. Great fairy tales!
thisisxtina's review against another edition
4.0
***5 stars for MinaLima's gorgeous graphic design and artistry with the interactive inserts in each fairy tale.
***3 stars for the tales themselves.
I had enjoyed MinaLima's Beauty and the Beast so much that I was really looking forward to this collection. As much as I really adore their interactive illustrations, the tales weren't as interesting to me and I wind up dropping the book by the last few tales. Some of the 'lessons' didn't make much sense to me or was something that I really didn't agree with or find meaningful at all (The Swineherd and The Red Shoes in particular really annoyed me). I'd recommend this for anyone who has an interest in finding the original version of these fairy tales.
***3 stars for the tales themselves.
I had enjoyed MinaLima's Beauty and the Beast so much that I was really looking forward to this collection. As much as I really adore their interactive illustrations, the tales weren't as interesting to me and I wind up dropping the book by the last few tales. Some of the 'lessons' didn't make much sense to me or was something that I really didn't agree with or find meaningful at all (The Swineherd and The Red Shoes in particular really annoyed me). I'd recommend this for anyone who has an interest in finding the original version of these fairy tales.
haltarratay's review against another edition
5.0
Not only is this book beautiful, it is full of the best stories! I loved it!
lolavalls's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0