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Reviews tagging 'Grief'
Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Naomi Booth, Emma Glass, Irenosen Okojie, Daisy Johnson, Natasha Carthew, Eimear McBride, Liv Little, Mahsuda Snaith, Kirsty Logan
4 reviews
nicnevin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.5
A wonderful collection of reimagined folk tales I had never heard of before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
annick's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A book of short stories written by contemporary female writers, based on a selection of English-language folktales.
I only recommend reading :
The Holloway
The Tale of Kathleen
The Pantherโs Tale
I found the rest were tedious and uninteresting.
I only recommend reading :
The Holloway
The Tale of Kathleen
The Pantherโs Tale
I found the rest were tedious and uninteresting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, and Murder
syllareads's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This anthology is a wild mix of different Folktales from the British Isles brought back to life by 10 talented authors from all around the Isles. These retellings focus both on the magical aspects of the folktales but manage to quietly plant some modern approaches to feminism as well, giving these ideas ways to grow within ancient settings - it was quite magical to witness.
I can't clearly say that I have a favourite, as all of these tales were beautiful in their own ways, but two I particularly enjoyed were The Panther's Tale, where a lost and bewitched Princess is brought over to the Isles, ripped from her homeland and imbued with a curse that turns her into a large panther, and meets a miller's wife and her daughter - and Between Sea and Sky, a rather different take on selkie legends, where a young woman bears a selkie man a child thus born between sea (the selkie man) and sky (her name is Skye).
All of these tales had a fascinating way with words, imbueing old legends with queer, free and beautifully fierce women intend on telling their stories, if nothing else, and I am very glad I read it. I did not know about most of these tales beforehand, either, and I'm doubly glad the book includes the old legends which these authors took to make them their own, so I could look them up afterward and trace what inspired them through the original lines.
I highly recommend these short stories to anyone who feels like the magical, whimsical and horrifying world of fairytales and folktales is preferrable to our own; though be warned: a lot of these stories deal with the real world as well, just perhaps through the lense of something older walking the earth.
I can't clearly say that I have a favourite, as all of these tales were beautiful in their own ways, but two I particularly enjoyed were The Panther's Tale, where a lost and bewitched Princess is brought over to the Isles, ripped from her homeland and imbued with a curse that turns her into a large panther, and meets a miller's wife and her daughter - and Between Sea and Sky, a rather different take on selkie legends, where a young woman bears a selkie man a child thus born between sea (the selkie man) and sky (her name is Skye).
All of these tales had a fascinating way with words, imbueing old legends with queer, free and beautifully fierce women intend on telling their stories, if nothing else, and I am very glad I read it. I did not know about most of these tales beforehand, either, and I'm doubly glad the book includes the old legends which these authors took to make them their own, so I could look them up afterward and trace what inspired them through the original lines.
I highly recommend these short stories to anyone who feels like the magical, whimsical and horrifying world of fairytales and folktales is preferrable to our own; though be warned: a lot of these stories deal with the real world as well, just perhaps through the lense of something older walking the earth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, and Grief
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
๐๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ข๐ธ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.
Hag is a bunch of English Folktale retellings from a selection of authors. It's been such a long time since I read a short story collection, especially one featuring different writers, but this was just what the doctor ordered. I've been feeling a bit bogged down with my reading lately and it was so nice to dip in and out of this one, just to read a story or two at a time.
I definitely don't know enough about English Folklore, so I had a lot of fun delving into these weird and unnerving stories. The majority of these are super dark, so definitely perfect reading for this time of year. I loved how diverse all the stories were, featuring queer protagonists and women of colour.
Some of the stories I loved and others I felt tried a bit too hard. My two favourites were Between Sea and Sky by Kirsty Logan and The Dampness is Spreading by Emma Glass. I've already been looking into their other books and hoping to buy some very soon (when I'm no longer on a book buying ban๐๐ปโโ๏ธ)
I find it really hard to rate short story collections, especially when they feature different authors so here are all the stories and how I felt about them:
A Retelling 2โญ
Sour Hall 4โญ
Rosheen 4โญ
Between Sea and Sky 5โญ
The Panther's Tale 4โญ
The Tale of Kathleen 2โญ
The Sisters 4โญ
The Dampness is Spreading 5โญ
The Drill of the Mermaid 4โญ
The Holloway 4โญ
Overall, it was a great collection of stories and if you love retellings, I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy. I mean this amazing cover was enough to sell me on it. Thanks so much to Virago Press for the gifted copy๐งก
Hag is a bunch of English Folktale retellings from a selection of authors. It's been such a long time since I read a short story collection, especially one featuring different writers, but this was just what the doctor ordered. I've been feeling a bit bogged down with my reading lately and it was so nice to dip in and out of this one, just to read a story or two at a time.
I definitely don't know enough about English Folklore, so I had a lot of fun delving into these weird and unnerving stories. The majority of these are super dark, so definitely perfect reading for this time of year. I loved how diverse all the stories were, featuring queer protagonists and women of colour.
Some of the stories I loved and others I felt tried a bit too hard. My two favourites were Between Sea and Sky by Kirsty Logan and The Dampness is Spreading by Emma Glass. I've already been looking into their other books and hoping to buy some very soon (when I'm no longer on a book buying ban๐๐ปโโ๏ธ)
I find it really hard to rate short story collections, especially when they feature different authors so here are all the stories and how I felt about them:
A Retelling 2โญ
Sour Hall 4โญ
Rosheen 4โญ
Between Sea and Sky 5โญ
The Panther's Tale 4โญ
The Tale of Kathleen 2โญ
The Sisters 4โญ
The Dampness is Spreading 5โญ
The Drill of the Mermaid 4โญ
The Holloway 4โญ
Overall, it was a great collection of stories and if you love retellings, I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy. I mean this amazing cover was enough to sell me on it. Thanks so much to Virago Press for the gifted copy๐งก
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness
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