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A review by kevin_shepherd
Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter
4.0
“…strive for something a touch more hard-edged, intentional, altogether less arty…”
Angela Carter mines the depths of human depravity in a manner that makes my beloved Shirley Jackson look like Mother Goose. In fact, many of her stories are familiar fairytales (e.g. Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.) that have been reimagined with blood and mayhem and debauchery.
“…this art, if viewed theologically, may, perhaps, be blasphemous.”
I can’t say that every story worked for me. A few of them were so fundamentally bizarre that even I, as sick and twisted as I am, came away wondering “what dafaq?” But even the off-target misses have an odd appeal. Carter infuses all of her stuff with a kind of feminist fortitude—Knights in Shining Armor and Prince Charmings need not apply—and that worked for me in a big way. 4 stars.
Angela Carter mines the depths of human depravity in a manner that makes my beloved Shirley Jackson look like Mother Goose. In fact, many of her stories are familiar fairytales (e.g. Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.) that have been reimagined with blood and mayhem and debauchery.
“…this art, if viewed theologically, may, perhaps, be blasphemous.”
I can’t say that every story worked for me. A few of them were so fundamentally bizarre that even I, as sick and twisted as I am, came away wondering “what dafaq?” But even the off-target misses have an odd appeal. Carter infuses all of her stuff with a kind of feminist fortitude—Knights in Shining Armor and Prince Charmings need not apply—and that worked for me in a big way. 4 stars.