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elizafiedler's review against another edition
4.0
Fun little story about shape shifting...
I have so much sympathy for the fox lady. All she wants is to go live in the woods and be left to her own devices.
I have so much sympathy for the fox lady. All she wants is to go live in the woods and be left to her own devices.
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
David Bennett’s novella Lady into Fox, published in 1922, narrates a fable of metamorphosis of a well-bred Englishwoman into an increasingly bestial vixen. The tale can be read as an allegory of the degradation of upper-class English culture into the savage wilderness that surrounds Oxfordshire. This regression of Richard and Silvia Tebrick into the seemingly uncultured, zoophilic life corroborates with the idea of bestiality as a perverse sexual act. Garnett outlines that animals are creatures that, if humans engage in sexual contact with them, debase humanity and degrade human culture (i.e., civilization); in that way, Garnett celebrates human morality, cleanliness, and the upper-class English culture at the same time that his allegory critiques these standards. Consequently, Garnett emphasizes human supremacy and beasts’ immorality, dirtiness, and savagery by his shaming of Mr. Tebrick’s night of bestial passion, and his assumption that when Mr. Tebrick is with Silvia and with her cubs, he is less cultured than when he returns to his former lifestyle at the end of the novella.
celistamar's review against another edition
5.0
“‘Silvia, Silvia, is it so hard for you? Try and remember the past, my darling, and by living with me we will quite forget that you are no longer a woman. Surely this affliction will pass soon, as suddenly as it came, and it will all seem to us like an evil dream.’
Yet though she appeared perfectly sensible of his words and gave him sorrowful and penitent looks like her old self, that same afternoon, on taking her out, he had all the difficulty in the world to keep her from going near the ducks.”
A tragedy whose impossible premise is treated with so much sobriety and candor that I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout. Loved it.
Yet though she appeared perfectly sensible of his words and gave him sorrowful and penitent looks like her old self, that same afternoon, on taking her out, he had all the difficulty in the world to keep her from going near the ducks.”
A tragedy whose impossible premise is treated with so much sobriety and candor that I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout. Loved it.
weedleeedle's review against another edition
5.0
Very much enjoy stories like this. If you like Kafkaesque, somewhat disappointing reads, this is defintely the book for you. A nice afternoon read you can finish in one sitting but haunts you long afterwards.
olicavanna's review against another edition
He f.cked the fox, need I say more. Plus he's suck a d1ck in the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
HE F.UCKED THE FOXserena_dawn's review against another edition
4.0
mattsjaeger's review against another edition
4.0
"Where his wife had been the moment before was a small fox, of a very bright red."
A man's wife turns into a fox, and he can't help but still love her. A beautiful fable about the boundaries of love.
A man's wife turns into a fox, and he can't help but still love her. A beautiful fable about the boundaries of love.
gerd_d's review against another edition
3.0
Liked it a lot better than Kafka's "Metamorphosis"
Garnett's for one a lot more humourous, although it's that typical dark british humour at work all over, and for other his observations about how we love and about relationships work feel a lot easier to relate to than Kafka's darkly nihilistic satire on family (the latter however may depend on your family).
I felt there to be something especially troubling, yet still pertinent to our modern thinking, to the way the husband's love and worry for his transformed wife drove him to try to shield her from danger by cutting her off from the world and what was her (new) natural life - I wonder if that was a conscious comment made by Garnett on the restraints put upon women by society.
Garnett's for one a lot more humourous, although it's that typical dark british humour at work all over, and for other his observations about how we love and about relationships work feel a lot easier to relate to than Kafka's darkly nihilistic satire on family (the latter however may depend on your family).
I felt there to be something especially troubling, yet still pertinent to our modern thinking, to the way the husband's love and worry for his transformed wife drove him to try to shield her from danger by cutting her off from the world and what was her (new) natural life - I wonder if that was a conscious comment made by Garnett on the restraints put upon women by society.
oldpondnewfrog's review against another edition
2.0
I remember once I was really excited about this book; I think back when I was into Japanese myths, and foxes. That may be how I came across it. Anyway, it was effectively told and written, but it didn't move me much. Short. Clever narrative tricks, definitely, not that there were any amazing twists, just pleasant narrative cleverness that I appreicated, the way he made it seem as if he were reporting a real story, real events. Otherwise not too noteworthy for me.