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banana04's review against another edition
5.0
I keep coming back too him and his tales, how he metaphors his whole life with little stories and, while it explains the tragedy aspect, there's something so special about this, I would've love to hear this mans thought nowadays but I consider his legacy as important
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
“Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.”
Anderson really could make children's stories out of anything. The best stories sometimes had a sad ending to them. Anderson also probably had a lot of imagination even though some of the stories contained in here might not be best for little kids - far from happily ever afters their Disney-ised versions. Although it was always going to be a five-star book because of some amazing stories, the author's religious values spoil some others. There is also a lot of Christian cruelty in many of these stories (I should have seen it coming, 'Christian' is literally the author's middle name) where good people including children are punished with years of misery for very small acts of folly.
Anderson really could make children's stories out of anything. The best stories sometimes had a sad ending to them. Anderson also probably had a lot of imagination even though some of the stories contained in here might not be best for little kids - far from happily ever afters their Disney-ised versions. Although it was always going to be a five-star book because of some amazing stories, the author's religious values spoil some others. There is also a lot of Christian cruelty in many of these stories (I should have seen it coming, 'Christian' is literally the author's middle name) where good people including children are punished with years of misery for very small acts of folly.
amethystangel777's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous!!! I mostly bought this for the Little Mermaid but it has several of his stories. Everything from the cover to the artwork is beautiful. I wanted a book with an older look but more detailed this book delivered.
kelley016's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
nenich19's review against another edition
4.0
This is definitely something I would recommend to read to young children.
annushka79's review against another edition
5.0
The non-disney version: you won't find traditional "happy endings" here, but incredible stories. I am reading this to my kids now.
sohxpie's review against another edition
4.0
I always enjoy reading fairytales and nothing compares to the originals. My favourite thing about Hans Christian Andersen is that his fairytales have a range of endings. Some of them are happy and some of them are downright tragic. I personally enjoy the tragic ones more as they always tend to be a bit more captivating. Little Claus and Big Claus is one of my favourite tales from the collection, it's clever and witty. I do love this original version of The Little Mermaid too, the dark ending fits the story better than Disney's happier version though that's just me and my preference for darker stories.
ameserole's review against another edition
4.0
So I've had The Complete Fairy Tales book in my family for like ever. Never really dove into though. Well, until now. Before diving into the book, though, I knew that these were going to be somewhat dark or different than other books I've read - like the retellings. Especially if anything resembles a Disney movie I grew up with. So, I'm just going to state that I wasn't really surprised by any of the stores because of knowing this.
Now this book has so many short stories in it. So it's not really surprising how quickly I went through this either. Some of them, I actually knew about because my parents either read them to me when I was little, watched a movie or show that was about it, read a retelling for fun, or I had to read about it in school. Lots of options but this book had lots of stories to dive into.
Each and every story just completely sucked me in. Out of all of them, I definitely had a few favorites and a bunch of others that were cute (in a way). Yet, the dangerous, dark, and mysterious ones were the most memorable for me. Some make you sit and ponder and others open new doors for you. Honestly, this book dives into so many things that it's hard not to find one thing likable (for me).
In the end, I'm definitely happy that I found the time to dive into this and get to re-read some of the stories I knew about already - The princess and the pea, the ugly ducking, the snow queen, the little mermaid, and the emperor's new clothes.
Now this book has so many short stories in it. So it's not really surprising how quickly I went through this either. Some of them, I actually knew about because my parents either read them to me when I was little, watched a movie or show that was about it, read a retelling for fun, or I had to read about it in school. Lots of options but this book had lots of stories to dive into.
Each and every story just completely sucked me in. Out of all of them, I definitely had a few favorites and a bunch of others that were cute (in a way). Yet, the dangerous, dark, and mysterious ones were the most memorable for me. Some make you sit and ponder and others open new doors for you. Honestly, this book dives into so many things that it's hard not to find one thing likable (for me).
In the end, I'm definitely happy that I found the time to dive into this and get to re-read some of the stories I knew about already - The princess and the pea, the ugly ducking, the snow queen, the little mermaid, and the emperor's new clothes.
_thngan_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
2.5
Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars
I do really want to love this book, I truely do. But there were so many things in between, and maybe just a maybe that I might have a lot of expectation while picking this book up.
I'm always a fairy-tale fan to the very core, I grew up listening, reading and then watching every movies adaptation to every single one. Aside from the famous one like Thumbelina, The little Mermaid, etc the reste were just enough to make it to the okay level. I read somewhere that Andersen once said that you could find every fairytale in every single thing in life, and he truely did it as he told. His stories were full of whimsical for some specific ones, the rest were as reality as they could be.
Though I couldn't love this book as I wanted it to be, Andersen will always be my favorite fairytale writer and I'll cherish all his works forever more.
P/S: It might be brutal but my a-half-star was added by the lovely cover of this version. It was truely aesthetic, magical and whimsical vibe, that made me bought it in the first place and then never forget to pick it up then read.
I do really want to love this book, I truely do. But there were so many things in between, and maybe just a maybe that I might have a lot of expectation while picking this book up.
I'm always a fairy-tale fan to the very core, I grew up listening, reading and then watching every movies adaptation to every single one. Aside from the famous one like Thumbelina, The little Mermaid, etc the reste were just enough to make it to the okay level. I read somewhere that Andersen once said that you could find every fairytale in every single thing in life, and he truely did it as he told. His stories were full of whimsical for some specific ones, the rest were as reality as they could be.
Though I couldn't love this book as I wanted it to be, Andersen will always be my favorite fairytale writer and I'll cherish all his works forever more.
P/S: It might be brutal but my a-half-star was added by the lovely cover of this version. It was truely aesthetic, magical and whimsical vibe, that made me bought it in the first place and then never forget to pick it up then read.
eshalmahmud's review against another edition
2.0
It started off really well and then went downhill from there.