Grimm’s Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
I give this book a 4.
This is one of those cases where you’ve heard of something for so long that you think you’ve already experienced it, but then you realize that you haven’t so you give it a try and it’s not what you expected…Does that make sense?
Everyone is familiar with some aspect of the Grim Fairly Tales, but how many of us have actually read any of the original stories. A fan a fairy tales for as long as I can remember, I decided it was time for me to right a great wrong I had committed against myself. I had never read any of the Grim stories until recently and I was shocked, amazed, weirded out, and a little disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved these stories, they were awesome, but they were not what I think of as fairy tales. I have been so brainwashed by mainstream modern thinking that I almost wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy these stories for what they truly are, brilliant.
I think the main two reasons I didn’t give this book a five is: 1. that I would never actually read these to any child under the age of 10. If a nine-year-old happened to pick these up and love them, good for them, but I’m not planting crazy dreams into the minds of any kids anytime soon…oh and fables these are not; not many good lessons to be learned here. 2. Some of the stories seemed to overlap or repeat. I know that in this day and age, everyone borrows ideas from everyone else, but I figured back then, these guys should have been able to come up with a collection of stories that didn’t all sound the same…but of course, I’m exaggerating. Most of the stories were quite original, but the little bit of repetition there was, drove me crazy.
I must give the brothers Grim and whoever influenced them, some French guy I can think of, a clap of praise for inspiring and influencing storytellers for centuries beyond their time. I might, just for fun, one day write my own versions of these wonderful stories. I mean, they are now permanently stained onto my brain, I might as well do something with them…Truthfully, I’d recommend this to anyone ten or over, but a mature adult mind may appreciate them better.
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4 replies on “Review: Grimm’s Fairy Stories”
I have read many of the originals but it has been a while, I was thinking of re-reading SNOW WHITE as someone pointed out some interesting parallels with certain spiritual teachings. In my next book Defined By Others I use in a small part Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid (THE REAL ONE) I know some famous authors I feel that the general overview of many of their books is very similar, was that the repetitiveness? Or was it trying to convey similar social or spiritual messages?
I get what you are saying, but that’s not what I meant by repetitiveness. Many of the stories seem to barrow from one another using the same tropes, settings, names, idols, you name it. Some of the stories were great original pieces while others seemed to be derriatives of previous ones.
I’ve heard the stories are far darker than what we’d expect even with a warning. They probably would traumatize a child raised on Disney.
Totally.