Scan barcode
A review by projectmayhem7
The Big Book of Classic Fantasy by Jeff VanderMeer, Ann VanderMeer
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.
So this is a great compendium, and one I’ll definitely buy when it’s released, but it has flaws. I appreciate the variety of stories here, most of which I had never read, but a lot of them didn’t have satisfying endings and they’re all super weird. I love that they’re weird, but some of the endings annoyed me. I think a lot of it has to do with them being translated to English. Overall, I think this is an awesome collection of classic fantasy, fairy tales and otherwise. I don’t usually like to read eBooks, so that could have had something to do with it not being a 5 star for me. I’ll have to get the print copy to be sure.
At the beginning of this ARC it says to please not quote anything until I check it against the finished book when it’s published, so that kind of limits my review. I’ll go back and add quotes from my notes after it’s published. I’ll also probably go back and add more about different stories, but I’ll have to wait for a lot of them. Most of my notes for the stories I’m leaving off need quotes to go with them.
A few notes on random stories:
The Queen’s Son by Bettina von Arnim:
Very odd story, and an interesting choice for the first story in the book. A queen is pregnant for 7 years before the king throws her out to live with the wild beasts of the forest because he thinks god is punishing her (and he hates her ugly bloated body…yes, that’s in there). She eventually gives birth, alone, in the woods, and something interesting happens. The ending is pretty anticlimactic honestly, even though I can appreciate the bizarreness of this story. Not bad, just not great either. It’s really interesting up until the very end, even though the wording is weird and detached throughout. I think part of the problem lies with the translation from German to English.
Hans-My-Hedgehog by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm:
What a strange little tale. I actually loved it, up until the very last sentence, which didn’t fit and kind of annoyed me. It backpedals on the moral of the story. Basically, the townspeople mock this guy because he doesn’t have any kids, so he makes some joke about having a hedgehog kid. But then his wife has a baby who’s born with the head of a hedgehog. This hedgehog boy is abused and neglected by his family until the day he decides to leave, atop a rooster’s back. Some odd things happen that are actually pretty interesting, and the fairy tale vibe is definitely there. There’s a moral along the lines of “catch more flies with honey” and “be kind, or else,” and there is a happy ending, but the last line just messes it up for me.
The Story of the Hard Nut by E.T.A. Hoffmann:
Apparently, this story is an excerpt from the author’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” which the ballet is based on. Bizarrely humorous story that is pretty dark. It has to do with a curse of sorts, one cast by a mouse lady (who claims to be a queen related to the human king). This curse turns the most beautiful princess baby into a hideous human with a huge deformed head and a tiny body. All of this happens due to a pretty ridiculous sausage party mishap. Yes, I mean an actual sausage party thrown by the king and queen. I liked it, but there it's not a happy story, even though the ending is supposed to make us think there might be a happy ending someday.
The Nest of Nightingales by Theophile Gautier:
Again, very anticlimactic. Two hermit cousins have otherworldly singing abilities, and they teach 3 orphan birds their way of singing after the bird parent dies while trying to compete against the girls in a singing competition. Not my cup of tea and maybe my least favorite story in the book.
The Will-o’-the-Wisps are in Town by Hans Christian Andersen:
A fairy tale about fairy tales, luck, and poetry in bottle. Oh, and a Bog Witch who tells a story within a story. It’s interesting because I can see how he might have made this as a way of describing his writer’s block. The main reason I think this story was better than most is because there’s an actual ending that makes sense, and it’s even kind of funny in a way that’s hard to describe. I hadn’t read this fairy tale by Andersen before, so that alone was exciting. I love his stuff.
Looking-Glass House (Excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass) by Lewis Carroll:
I can’t help but love Lewis Carroll. The Big Book of Classic Fantasy calls his writing style “nonsense literature,” which I love. This story is the first chapter from his second book, and I’m sure you’ll be familiar with it.
The Goophered Grapevine by Charles W. Chestnutt:
I read this story in college actually, and reading it again I see that it holds up. It has a special writing style that includes the use of dialect writing. It’s stories within a story and it involves a plantation and a former slave, a “goophered” (cursed) vineyard, and a conjure woman who practices magic. There’s magic in the tale, but it’s not of the variety I’m used to. This is not a fairy tale, at least not to me, and it’s slower than the others, but it’s wonderfully written.
The Bee-Man of Orn by Frank R. Stockton:
Great little story with a good moral.
The Ensouled Violin by H.P. Blavatsky:
Black magic, sign me up! I really enjoyed this one, as ridiculous as it was. Darker than a lot of the other stories here.
The Fulness of Life by Edith Wharton:
Not for me. I get the sentiment, it’s lovely in its sadness and morals, but things like this usually don’t grab me. Marriage, regrets, blah blah blah.
The Plattner Story by H.G. Wells:
Very descriptive, in Wells fashion, but it’s pushing it to say that this is fantasy. A man is thrown into another dimension and meets aliens. I enjoyed it, but not my favorite.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka:
One of my all time favorites. If you haven’t read this, you are missing out on a this unnerving, dark fantasy story starring a roach person (or is it?). There’s a great hidden meaning here. I’m glad this was included in the collection of stories.
Uncle Monday by Zora Neale Hurston:
This is another story I remember from college. I like Hurston and I did enjoy this story. It’s about a mysterious hoodoo conjurer, singing stones, and magical snakes. It reads like a bogeyman legend to me, and the story itself isn’t in the style I usually like, but Hurston is a great writer.
(more to come)
So this is a great compendium, and one I’ll definitely buy when it’s released, but it has flaws. I appreciate the variety of stories here, most of which I had never read, but a lot of them didn’t have satisfying endings and they’re all super weird. I love that they’re weird, but some of the endings annoyed me. I think a lot of it has to do with them being translated to English. Overall, I think this is an awesome collection of classic fantasy, fairy tales and otherwise. I don’t usually like to read eBooks, so that could have had something to do with it not being a 5 star for me. I’ll have to get the print copy to be sure.
At the beginning of this ARC it says to please not quote anything until I check it against the finished book when it’s published, so that kind of limits my review. I’ll go back and add quotes from my notes after it’s published. I’ll also probably go back and add more about different stories, but I’ll have to wait for a lot of them. Most of my notes for the stories I’m leaving off need quotes to go with them.
A few notes on random stories:
The Queen’s Son by Bettina von Arnim:
Very odd story, and an interesting choice for the first story in the book. A queen is pregnant for 7 years before the king throws her out to live with the wild beasts of the forest because he thinks god is punishing her (and he hates her ugly bloated body…yes, that’s in there). She eventually gives birth, alone, in the woods, and something interesting happens. The ending is pretty anticlimactic honestly, even though I can appreciate the bizarreness of this story. Not bad, just not great either. It’s really interesting up until the very end, even though the wording is weird and detached throughout. I think part of the problem lies with the translation from German to English.
Hans-My-Hedgehog by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm:
What a strange little tale. I actually loved it, up until the very last sentence, which didn’t fit and kind of annoyed me. It backpedals on the moral of the story. Basically, the townspeople mock this guy because he doesn’t have any kids, so he makes some joke about having a hedgehog kid. But then his wife has a baby who’s born with the head of a hedgehog. This hedgehog boy is abused and neglected by his family until the day he decides to leave, atop a rooster’s back. Some odd things happen that are actually pretty interesting, and the fairy tale vibe is definitely there. There’s a moral along the lines of “catch more flies with honey” and “be kind, or else,” and there is a happy ending, but the last line just messes it up for me.
The Story of the Hard Nut by E.T.A. Hoffmann:
Apparently, this story is an excerpt from the author’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” which the ballet is based on. Bizarrely humorous story that is pretty dark. It has to do with a curse of sorts, one cast by a mouse lady (who claims to be a queen related to the human king). This curse turns the most beautiful princess baby into a hideous human with a huge deformed head and a tiny body. All of this happens due to a pretty ridiculous sausage party mishap. Yes, I mean an actual sausage party thrown by the king and queen. I liked it, but there it's not a happy story, even though the ending is supposed to make us think there might be a happy ending someday.
The Nest of Nightingales by Theophile Gautier:
Again, very anticlimactic. Two hermit cousins have otherworldly singing abilities, and they teach 3 orphan birds their way of singing after the bird parent dies while trying to compete against the girls in a singing competition. Not my cup of tea and maybe my least favorite story in the book.
The Will-o’-the-Wisps are in Town by Hans Christian Andersen:
A fairy tale about fairy tales, luck, and poetry in bottle. Oh, and a Bog Witch who tells a story within a story. It’s interesting because I can see how he might have made this as a way of describing his writer’s block. The main reason I think this story was better than most is because there’s an actual ending that makes sense, and it’s even kind of funny in a way that’s hard to describe. I hadn’t read this fairy tale by Andersen before, so that alone was exciting. I love his stuff.
Looking-Glass House (Excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass) by Lewis Carroll:
I can’t help but love Lewis Carroll. The Big Book of Classic Fantasy calls his writing style “nonsense literature,” which I love. This story is the first chapter from his second book, and I’m sure you’ll be familiar with it.
The Goophered Grapevine by Charles W. Chestnutt:
I read this story in college actually, and reading it again I see that it holds up. It has a special writing style that includes the use of dialect writing. It’s stories within a story and it involves a plantation and a former slave, a “goophered” (cursed) vineyard, and a conjure woman who practices magic. There’s magic in the tale, but it’s not of the variety I’m used to. This is not a fairy tale, at least not to me, and it’s slower than the others, but it’s wonderfully written.
The Bee-Man of Orn by Frank R. Stockton:
Great little story with a good moral.
The Ensouled Violin by H.P. Blavatsky:
Black magic, sign me up! I really enjoyed this one, as ridiculous as it was. Darker than a lot of the other stories here.
The Fulness of Life by Edith Wharton:
Not for me. I get the sentiment, it’s lovely in its sadness and morals, but things like this usually don’t grab me. Marriage, regrets, blah blah blah.
The Plattner Story by H.G. Wells:
Very descriptive, in Wells fashion, but it’s pushing it to say that this is fantasy. A man is thrown into another dimension and meets aliens. I enjoyed it, but not my favorite.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka:
One of my all time favorites. If you haven’t read this, you are missing out on a this unnerving, dark fantasy story starring a roach person (or is it?). There’s a great hidden meaning here. I’m glad this was included in the collection of stories.
Uncle Monday by Zora Neale Hurston:
This is another story I remember from college. I like Hurston and I did enjoy this story. It’s about a mysterious hoodoo conjurer, singing stones, and magical snakes. It reads like a bogeyman legend to me, and the story itself isn’t in the style I usually like, but Hurston is a great writer.
(more to come)