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 enlarge | Author: Angela Carter
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy Used: $4.71
You Save: $8.29 (64%)
New (43) Used (42) from $4.71
Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 22622
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 014017821X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140178210
ASIN: 014017821X
Publication Date: January 1, 1990
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| Customer Reviews:
 grown-up fairytales February 18, 2003
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
up until recently, i had heard ms. carter's name mentioned in conversation but i'm all the happier for having finally read a collection of her short stories. we've all heard about the adult fairytales which exist & many of us have even read a few here or other. whether you picked up one of anne rice's trilogies written under a pseudonym or found another author's collection of modern fables, you'd have to admit that almost all of us were intrigued by the grown-up fairytales at one point in time or another. well, i'd like to say for starters that i've read the anne rice books & a few others who have taken classic myths, legends, or fairytales & given their twist to the story but none of them have captivated me nearly as much as the bloody chamber has done. it's difficult to say which story perhaps is the best although i love the company of wolves. this having been my favorite film for nearly a decade, i was excited to see that ms. carter wrote the original short story as well as the screenplay. some of the others great stories which i love are ofcourse the book title, the courtship of mr. lyon which is simply gorgeous, & the tiger's bride. although i don't want to pidgeon hole her writing in any particular category but she remind me a bit of joyce carol oates or margaret atwood although i enjoy ms.carter's work a bit more i believe. her attention to detail is almost divine & the ironic humor here only makes the read that much more pleasurable. although not quite graphic, there are layers of sensuality are fleshed out on every page which are tastefully done so as not to offend too many readers. although not excesseviley gory, her books are often steeped in violence which may not be suitable for all readers. excellent read highly recommended. it's a shame we no longer angel carter in the world of literature & i'm sure her writing is greatly missed by many.
a collection of "grown-up" fairytales November 6, 2002
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I first read this book in college and it has become one of my all-time favorites. In this collection of short stories, Angela Carter takes the fairytales, nursery rhymes, and the images and themes they contain and perverts/illuminates them. What is most striking about this collection is Carter's writing style. Her language is simultaneously poetic and profane. The stories are heavy with her purple language, which is what makes them so satisfying to read. In additon to the exquisite language, Carter's re-telling of classic tales such as "Snow White," "Red Riding Hood," "Puss in Boots," etc., never fails to pay off. Carter creates a world in which Red Riding hood is the savvy hunter, not the innocent hunted. These stories make us focus on the overly simplistic (and often slanted) messages we were taught as children when these tales were first presented to us. In particular, Carter makes us question what fairytales have taught us about gender roles, marriage, and sex. For a trip into the fantasic that will make you laugh and make you really THINK, read this book!
 Gory but entertaining October 5, 2002
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is very well written and I really enjoyed some of the stories. I found some of them a bit too gory for my taste. But the Bloody Chamber is great and The courtship of Mr. Lyon is beautiful.
Unique February 19, 2002
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Before it was trendy to adapt fairy tale themes into adult fiction, there was Angela Carter. In _The Bloody Chamber_, Carter works with a variety of fairy tale and folkloric themes, crafting them into very adult stories written in a style all her own. Somehow, her prose manages to be hauntingly strange and deliciously earthy at once. I didn't like all of the stories in this collection, but I very much liked some of them, and I'm glad I read the book. I especially enjoyed the title story (a retelling of "Bluebeard"), and "The Lady of the House of Love", quite possibly my favorite vampire tale ever. In it, the tragic lady Nosferatu reads her Tarot cards every night, and every night draws cards signifying death--until one night she draws Les Amoureux, the Lovers, and everything changes. Splendid. There is more here--a raunchy "Puss in Boots", two takes on "Beauty and the Beast", several stories dealing with werewolves and/or Red Riding Hood, and much more.
Tales as rich as blood red roses February 13, 2001
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
"The Bloody Chamber" is a work of literature which transcends genre and unearths the thinly veiled erotic elements of the fairy tale form. Each of the ten stories in this collection are as rich and sensuous as red velvet, it is quite possible to open the book at any page and find yourself immersed in the beauty of the prose. Highlights include the eponymous novella "The Bloody Chamber" (Carter's subversive re-telling of the "Bluebeard" story) and "The Lady of the House of Love", which illuminates the notion of a decaying European aristocracy behind the myth of the vampire.Carter presents us with two contrasting (yet not conflicting) versions of the "Beauty and the Beast" story with "The Courtship of Mr Lyon" and "The Tiger's Bride". In the former, the fierce nature of the beast is curbed by the gentleness of the female protagonist, whilst in the latter, the heroine discovers the liberating power of the repressed animal aspect of her sexuality. Each story has a feminist flavour, exploring both male and female sexual desire, and the darker domains of eroticism. A book which will increasingly be hailed as a masterpiece in years to come.
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