Y’know, I’m just realizing now that I don’t have a column
that’s really about reviewing new collections of traditional folk and fairy
tales. I suppose Fairy Tale Fandom Book
Report will have to pull double duty on this and retellings.
Anyway, not too long ago (coinicidentally, right around the
time of the Women’s March) I found out about a new audiobook being released
titled Fairy Tales of the Fiercer Sex narrated
by Alison Larkin and published by Alison Larkin Presents. And not long after I was
actually gifted a copy by the publisher for review purposes.
Fairy Tales of the
Fiercer Sex is the latest in what seems to be a growing subset of fairy
tale collections: collections centered around strong female protagonists. Other such collections include Tatterhood and Other Tales edited by
Ethel Johnston Phelps, Fearless Girls,
Wise Women and Beloved Sisters edited by Kathleen Ragan and Not One Damsel in Distress by Jane
Yolen. The reason books like these
probably have been published a lot more lately is to counter one of the more
persistent stereotypes about fairy tales: that they’re full of submissive,
damsels-in-distress.
Of course, we all know the problem with stereotypes. Just because something is sometimes or often
true doesn’t mean it’s always true.
Now the thing that makes Fairy
Tales of the Fiercer Sex stand out is that it’s an audiobook. A lot of books get turned into audiobooks,
but this one was an audiobook from day one.
I don’t listen to many audiobooks, but I thought it would be fun to give
this one a try.
The collection itself is made up of European tales. Most are folk tales, but there are some
literary ones present too. In fact, the
whole collection starts off with a real doozy.
The first story in the whole audiobook is “The Snow Queen” by Hans
Christian Andersen. I kind of question
whether it was a good idea to start off with such a long story. On one hand, it’s a story that maybe has a
little extra clout since Disney used it as the inspiration for Frozen, and thus has some credibility as
headlining story. At the same time, it could be a little
daunting for someone who’s just trying this audiobook out. The other stories are not quite as long and
are a little bit easier to listen to in bite-sized chunks. There are some decent story choices
here. There’s “Molly Whuppie”, “Cap
O’Rushes” and “The Iron Stove” as well as more well-known choices like “Hansel
and Gretel”, “Little Red Cap” and “Beauty and the Beast”. The thing that gives me pause is that there
are also some stories that feature foolish women like “The Three Sillies” and
“Frederick and Catherine” that I don’t think really fit the theme of the
collection. Also, I should note a
personal preference. When it comes to
themed collections like this, I usually prefer a more cosmopolitan
approach. While European stories are
fine, it would have been nice to have some from Asia, Africa and the Americas
too.
Alison Larkin does a good job as narrator. She’s got a good cadence and she’s easy to
understand. She does have a tendency to
use the same voices and accents for characters, though never in the same
story. One noticeable bit is a Scottish
accent she uses frequently. It stands
out, but she does it well. Especially
when compared to the Russian accent she attempts when narrating “Baba Yaga”.
It’s really a solid collection in audiobook form. Maybe not anything surprising or
mind-blowing, but solid. A handy
collection if you want to do something like listen to fairy tales while using
the treadmill at the gym (which is how I listened to a good chunk of it).
Another nice thing is that you can actually get this
audiobook for free! You can actually
download it for free if you sign up to try audible.com. So, not a bad deal.
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