08 April, 2019

#BookReview :: Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm


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I did not read much of fairy tales growing up. My mother introduced me to historical fiction in its stead early on. My idea of fairy tales was what I had seen in cartoon and in a few Disney movies as a kid. I discovered about Grimms’ Fairy Tales quite late in life, but was attracted to it immediately. But it was only this year that I finally read it.

I truly believed that Fairy Tales were stories of love, bravery and kindness and bought into the whole Disney franchise. A kiss can raise a dead princess or wake a sleeping princess or a turn a frog into a prince or even turn a beast into a handsome prince. When a girl is in trouble, running from a stepmother or imprisoned by a witch, a handsome prince will turn up to save the day and sweep her into his loving arms. Isn’t that what fairy tales are about?

Not the Grimm’ Fairy tales. They paint a much darker and more violent side of humans. They serve as a stark reminder of the reality that we live in while still imparting the moral that good wins over evil. I read the original version and not the ones written for children and as such the brutality in some of them left me a bit shocked. It was difficult for me to connect an arc from the Disney version that we grew up on to these originals that give you goosebumps. 

I would certainly recommend this book to everyone who can leave behind the song and dance perception of fairy tales and look into the same stories with a bigger dose of our reality – even in the fantastical world that the brothers have set up. Also, I would suggest to read a story a day, otherwise it gets bit sombre and monotonous at the same time.


This post is a part of A to Z Challenge and BlogchatterA2Z


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