Hansel and Gretel - Jacob Grimm I am not impressed.
The narrator chose to voice all the characters as Southern (USA), when the stories and characters are German, which puzzles me quite a lot, I must say.
The story was decent enough, and her narration was good, it's the dialogue that's cringeworthy if you think about the origins of this tale by the Grimm Brother's.
Not that I can complain since it is a free audiobook by LibriVox *shrugs*

This traditional fairy tale would be perfect for a lesson on morals. It is easy yet challenging to determine the moral of this story. You could also use this book to address the sequence of events. It could also be used to determine right and wrong. The possibilities are endless with this book. It is leveled 430 L.

I was not really a fan of this story. It was too long and drawn out for me. The story felt unnecessarily stretched and may have worked better if it were more concise. Also the narration felt disjointed. While the narrator remains third-person omniscient throughout the story, the focus of the narration switches characters to focus on a certain person's thoughts and feelings. This also felt unnecessary and didn't really add to the work. For me, the ending was pretty predictable. There is a fair amount of gore in the story, but not as much as Richey's stories about Pinocchio and Cinderella (from what I recall; it's been a while since I read them). Overall, the story was long and dull in my opinion.

Disclaimer:  ARC via Open Road Media and Netgalley

 

                I was first introduced to Anne Sexton in college during an American Poetry class.  Actually, I was introduced to Sexton’s poetry because by that time she was long dead.   Shortly afterwards, I read her Transformations which will always be one of my favorite books.  In her poetic retellings of various Brother Grimm stories, from the most famous to less well known, Sexton shows how fairy tales are still current and powerful, and still can be connected to the modern day.  Therefore, when Open Road Media put this up on Netgalley, I immediately downloaded it.

 

                If you are someone who has been following my reviews for a while what I am about to say is old hat.  If not, then you should know that I am Auto-Approved for Open Road Media titles on Netgalley.  For me, Open Road Media is one of those publishing companies that synonymous with excellence.  I love their reprinting of various lesser known feminist books as well as various studies of current issues (such as abortion).  The Complete Poems of Sexton continues in this tradition.  Care was taken in producing the digital version.  As most readers of digital media can tell you, poetry is not always formatted well for e-readers.  This is not the case here.  Open Road Media took care to preserve each poems structure and look.  The only criticism I have on this front is the lack of illustrations for Transformations.

 

                Sexton’s poetry is dark and hits the reader hard.  There is something unflinching or uncompromising in her writing.  In this collection, one can not only see that but also how fairy tale and myth inspired/influenced her writing even before Transformations.  Take, for instance, “Where I Live in This Honorable House of the Laurel Tree”, a poem written from the viewpoint of Daphne after her transformation into the tree when trying to escape from Apollo.  In Sexton’s poem, the lines are more blurry, the anger subdued, and the tragedy up front and center.  Or “The Farmer’s Wife” a poem that showcases a marriage that isn’t as blooming as would first appears.  Here, she is tapping into the ideas and themes in the Feminine Mystique or for the more modern reader as expressed in the music of Paula Cole.

 

                The witches are here as well, both as giver and taker.  They are tied with Sexton’s view of life and birth.  In fact, many of the poems mediate about birth and the connection to finding oneself.   This is most powerfully expressed in the poem “The Abortion” as well as the poem “Water”.  In fact, it is impossible to read either one of those poems without thinking about current issues before the US Supreme Court.

 

                Considering Sexton’s struggle with mental illness, it is no surprise that many poems, even those about birth, also connect to death or even a struggle against an unimaginable though not evil darkness.  There is “Sylvia’s Death”, about Plath, which eventually gives way to poems that meditate on religion.  And in many ways these poems (“Protestant Easter” being one) that are the most powerful because they are about that quest of understanding and a desire to come to terms with something that in many ways defies description.  The poems are not just about doubt, but even a desire, a need, to believe. 

 

                Sexton’s poetry has long had the reputation being dark, but that is a simplistic description.  Her poetry is human.  This collection showcases that.

You know these early Pratchett books get better with time.

This is a wonderful look at the danger of spellcraft and magic, and rose tinted glass.

Of course, everyone loves Cohen. Finally, a May-December romance that makes sense.