The merry spinster : tales of everyday horror

Title:

Author:

Ortberg, Mallory, author.

Personal Author:

Ortberg, Mallory, author.

ISBN:

9781250113429

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

190 pages ; 21 cm

Contents:

The daughter cells -- The thankless child -- Fear not: an incident log -- The six boy-coffins -- The rabbit -- The merry spinster -- The wedding party -- Some of us had been threatening our friend Mr.Todd -- Cast your bread upon the waters -- The frog's princess -- Good fences make good neighbors.

Abstract:

"A collection of darkly mischievous stories based on classic fairy tales."--Front flap.

Subject Term:

Fairy tales -- Adaptations.

Horror tales, American.

Short stories, American.

Genre:

Summary:

"A collection of darkly mischievous stories based on classic fairy tales."--Front flap.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... West End	Book	FICTION ORTBERG	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Westover Hills	Book	FICTION ORTBERG	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"Empowering, subversive. . . . Daniel M. Lavery twists fairy tales into elegant garrotes. . . . There's not a single weak link in the cat's-breath chain of this collection." -- The New York Times Book Review

Adapted from the beloved "Children's Stories Made Horrific" series, The Merry Spinster takes up the trademark wit that endeared Daniel M. Lavery to readers of both The Toast and the bestselling debut Texts from Jane Eyre . Sinister and inviting, familiar and alien all at the same time, The Merry Spinster twists traditional children's stories and fairy tales with elements of psychological horror, emotional clarity, and a keen sense of feminist mischief.

Unfalteringly faithful to its beloved source material, The Merry Spinster also illuminates the unsuspected and frequently alarming emotional complexities at play in the stories we tell ourselves, and each other, as we tuck ourselves in for the night.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

This delightfully disturbing collection of folk tales, fairy tales, and Bible stories from Ortberg (Texts from Jane Eyre, 2014), an expansion of her series Children's Stories Made Horrific from the cult-favorite website The Toast, delivers on chills, laughs, and much more.A version of "The Little Mermaid" that is more concerned with cultural perceptions of property rights than singing crabs. A retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" in which the former title character is a dreadful bore and the latter is unbearably pedantic. A reimagining of The Velveteen Rabbit starring a far more ambitious stuffed animal than the depressing original version. There is plenty of humor to be had here, with Ortberg's signature biting wit and nerdy whimsy out in full force ("Daughters are as good a thing as any to populate a kingdom withif you've got them on hand. They don't cost much more than their own upkeep, which you're on the hook for regardless, so it's not a bad strategy to put them to use as quickly as possible"). Pointing out the darker aspects of children's stories and Disney movies has become as much a clich as the original princesses and fairy godmothers were, but Ortberg's point of view is thoughtful, insightful, and unpretentious. Gender is entirely fluid, as characters debate "which of us gets to be wife," there is a girl named Paul, a brother named Sylvia, and "daughters" who use "he/him" pronouns. One story that borrows from the Grimm stories "The Six Swans" and "The Twelve Brothers" comments on the different ways men and women are subjected to suffering. Riffs on Frog and Toad Are Friends, "Cinderella," King Lear, and "The Frog Prince" reflect on abusive relationship dynamics. If anything, Ortberg doesn't twist the stories so much as illuminate how layered and complicated they really are.A wholly satisfying blend of silliness, feminist critique, and deft prose makes this a collection of bedtime stories that will keep you up at night for all the right reasons. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.