Fractured Fairytales

I was quite excited seeing the cover of the new book by Vivian Vande Velde -- Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird -- nice title, good cover art, well-designed pages, etc. The 13 "twisted" tales are, however, quite let-downs for the most part. Several of the "tales" are just one or two page "poems" that really do not say a whole lot. Others are twisted in such a way that do not surprise or satisfy. They just left a very disappointed reader behind. I only like two stories -- the Rumpelstilskin story in which instead of an ugly imp, he's this handsome and understanding young spirit, and the Hansel and Gretel fractured -- chilling story about how Hansel and Gretel are the cold-hearted, murderous twins whose mother died of a mysterious cause and who have also done great harm to their old neighbor woman and take over her property.

But, over all, the writing is flat and left little to be savored.

I was wondering whether I have exhausted my great interest in fairy-tale parodies when I picked up the third book in the William Brooke series of fractured tales -- Teller of Tales. To my great pleasure, this one was satisfying, complex, deeply moving and entertaining. There are several fractured stories inter-woven with a bigger "frame" story of Teller, the old scribe who found creating stories to be an utmost satisfying endeavour, and his tormenting relationship with Tiler/Toiler/Toller/Teller -- a little street-wise girl who never let on whether she cared about his deep love for her.

The parodies serve not only as individual re-working of traditional stories, but also as reflection of the relationship of these two characters. Teller, through these tales, tells HER what he thinks and feels. The subtlety may be a little hard to grasp for very young minds but I was so moved and cried, with both sorrow and joy, at the last few pages.