Tag Archives: Angela Carter

The Tiger’s Bride by Angela Carter

September 16, 2016Book ReviewAngela Carter, Classics, Romance, The Bloody Chamber and Other Storiesskyebjenner

Title: The Tiger’s Bride
Author: Angela Carter
In: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Classics, Romance
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Year: 1979
5th sentence, 74th page: The doors of the hall let the bright day in; I saw that it was morning.

A woman moves in with a mysterious “Milord”, after her father loses her to him in a game of cards. He is eventually revealed to be a tiger. But in the end, transformations reinforce identities…

The Tiger’s Bride was a great commentary on the stark difference between man and beast. Man and woman. Starting with the selling of a daughter to another by the father, Carter shows us the stark difference between beast, man and woman and our places in the world.

I loved that throughout this short story, the Beast and his servants are displayed as odd, not entirely okay, but far less in the wrong than the father. And that, eventually, the girl decides to join the Beast for after all, that is what makes her free and happy. Not being married or sold off as her father has done.

<- The Courtship of Mr. Lyon Review

Puss-in-Boots Review ->

Image source: Goodreads

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

August 12, 2016Book ReviewAngela Carter, Classics, Romance, The Bloody Chamber and Other Storiesskyebjenner

Title: The Bloody Chamber
Author: Angela Carter
In: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Classics, Romance
Pace: Slow
Format: Novella
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Year: 1979
5th sentence, 74th page: ‘Oh God,’ he said.

“The Bloody Chamber” is based on the legend of Bluebeard. The nameless heroine tells the story many years after the events in it happened. She narrates in present tense, going back to the age of seventeen, when she is married off to a Marquis.

It took me a little while to become enthralled with The Bloody Chamber. It was recommended to me by a lecturer, and, although it didn’t fascinate me in the first words, I decided to give it a go. And, in a round-about way, I’m glad that I did. This isn’t a story that I would read again and again and again. But, it is one that I would recommend to anyone who likes to read and wants to broaden their horizons.

Even a month after reading The Bloody Chamber, the story and its power sticks with me. The technicality of the writing gives you a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach from the first, opening words (or it could have just been the title). The innocence of the main character shrieks from the pages, and the words. The way that the words and prose flows, gives the entire story a musical flow that has left phrases and words spinning through my head since the moment I read the story.

<- The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Review

The Courtship of Mr Lyon Review ->

Image source: Angela Carter