- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Non Basic Stock Line; Reprint edition (April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0064407721
- ISBN-13: 978-0064407724
- Product Dimensions: 20.7 x 12 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 477,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"Stunning. "-- "The Boston Globe""Sophisticated, provocative, and bracing. "-- "The New York Times Book Review""A masterful, gorgeous, and wickedly well written book.-- Francesca Lia Block, author of "Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books""These tales are revolutionary."-- "The San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Thirteentales are unspun from the deeply familiar, and woven anew into a collection of fairy tales that wind back through time. Acclaimed Irish author Emma Donoghue reveals heroines young and old in unexpected alliances--sometimes treacherous, sometimes erotic, but always courageous. Told with luminous voices that shimmer with sensuality and truth, these age-old characters shed their antiquated cloaks to travel a seductive new landscape, radiantly transformed.Cinderella forsakes the handsome prince and runs off with the fairy godmother; Beauty discovers the Beast behind the mask is not so very different from the face she sees in the mirror; Snow White is awakened from slumber by the bittersweet fruit of an unnamed desire. Acclaimed writer Emma Donoghue spins new tales out of old in a magical web of thirteen interconnected stories about power and transformation and choosing one's own path in the world. In these fairy tales, women young and old tell their own stories of love and hate, honor and revenge, passion and deception. Using the intricate patterns and oral rhythms of traditional fairy tales, Emma Donoghue wraps age-old characters in a dazzling new skin.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence
ILL she came it was all cold. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
ILL she came it was all cold. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A book only deserves 5 starts if there is truly something special and unique about it. When the writer has dared to venture beyond the normality and boundaries of the expected structure, topics or style of present literature; and in doing so not only creates a gripping, expressive work, but also introduces a challenging new concept.
Emma Dounoghue's Kissing The Witch has succeeded. There is no other work like this, it's not a novel, and yet it is so more than just a collection of short stories.
Emma Dounoghue's Kissing The Witch has succeeded. There is no other work like this, it's not a novel, and yet it is so more than just a collection of short stories.
To simply describe the book it is a re working of classic fairytales, retold from a distinctly feminine and at times feminist view point, each one intimately connected to the next. As one character ends her tale she asks the central character in her life, almost always a woman, sometimes a mother, a lover, a servant, or friend, to reveal her past. Each tale we hear sheds light on the motives and actions of the woman in the previous one, and through these revelations we begin to understand the impact one person can have not only on the lives of those they touch directly, but others who they will never meet.
The reader will find a comfort and security in the familiarity of the foundations of the fairytale each story weaves its self about. But never for a moment are we allowed to relax. Subtle variations plot twists, and new insights into the motives and feelings of the characters bring dazzling new life into dusty old tales. Donoghue brings back the spontaneous joy that these tales should and would have had when told on a cold winters night from the memories of countless generations, each adding their own subtle mark and character to the plot. In a modern age of correctness where everyone has access to a "standard" version of the tale we have forgotten the passion of the imagination, the true essence of storytelling. In this collection Donoghue has rekindled dying flames, the reader is immersed in her fairytale land built on the love, joy, power, sadness, and longing of women, it is an inspired version, and a tale she hands over to the reader on the final page to continue the tradition she has reawaken.
Truly and inspiring work, very easy to read, and thoroughly enjoyable, I would recommend this book as one of my all time favourites!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An impressive book on the whole. It is comprised of several short stories but each one is linked so that one story leads to the next. It is made even more unique by the use of characters of classic childrens stories to give them a new meaning/view/ even ending. If you don't know the stories you'll probably miss the relation as it can be subtle at times but I think it's a brilliant touch.
Worth a read if you're just looking for something out of the box or short but interesting.
Worth a read if you're just looking for something out of the box or short but interesting.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book from cover to cover years ago and gave it away as a present and have regretted it ever since. There is just something about this book, must be the fairy in it, an essence of it never leaves you. I agree with all the other reviews, tecnically, metaphorically, etc. but there is just an extra something that sinks into your unconscious never to be forgotten, the voice or sound of our sisters in the past and future. A subtle simple evocative book that touches some chord within. Definitely one to possess and keep on the shelf. mmmmmm
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Kissing the Witch was worth it.
A very clever new 'take' on fairy tales, which I read in two and a half bedtimes! The stories, clearly recognisable in their new guise, are linked to one another in an ingenious... Read more
Published 9 months ago by L. Heffer
A Celebration the Storytelling Tradition
A book only deserves 5 starts if there is truly something special and unique about it. When the writer has dared to venture beyond the normality and boundaries of the expected... Read more
Published on 29 April 2005 by Mew Blackburn
Forgive me
Forgive me, but I truly do not understand all the excitement about this book. It was poorly and unimaginatively written, and Donoghue's takes on traditional fairy tales were... Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2000
A fresh approach to fairy tales
This book is so inspiring it makes you twitch! It weaves fairy tale narration with beautiful prose and sweet humour. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2000 by A. Steffe
Beautifully written escapism
Donoghue paints an ethereal, dreamlike fantasy which soothes the spirit through her gentle use of language and rhythm in this collection of fairy tales. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2000
13 beautifully told, warm stories linked by one word: LOVE
All emotions of life can be found in this book. Donoghue uses old fairy tales and makes them, in her own special way, ready for the 20th century. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 1999
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