Truly Grim Tales

by Priscilla Galloway

Book Overview

A guilt-ridden prince with a foot fetish seeking his glass-slippered dance partner and a beauty contest winner as Snow White's murderous stepmother are featured in two of the original grim plots in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385322003
• ISBN13: 9780385322003
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.8" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Never judge a book......

I was fully prepared to dislike this book. The author has taken some famous children's scary stories and re-written them in today's environment. The book is very small and very slim; I thought it might be one of those self-published things. Boy was I surprised!!! The stories that the author has chosen to modernize (like Sleeping Beauty) are fully realized with a BIG ladle of horror and suspense. This author should really be snapped up by a big publisher and allowed to publish a much larger set of stories, as I was left wanting more. A great book.

Amazing..in a dark, grim, interesting way

I read this book years and years ago, when I was in middle school, and it completely intrigued me. These story are very creative, complex, complicated, and way more realistic (if 'fairy tales' could ever be realistic) that the simplistic fairy tales you know could ever be. I suspect Madame d'Aulnoy, the original 'founder' of fairy-tales who wrote chilling and dark tales far from being suitable for children (which were then re-written by men), would be very proud of Calloway!

Intriguing

Ever since I was a kid, Fairy Tales have always left me wanting more. This lead to me looking more and more for the most complete versions I could find.This book ads new spins and perspectives that keep you interested in a way that Disney never could.This book is imaginative, eerie, and absolutely delightful! The author manages to completely warp our classic tales into totally different stories, and somehow they feel like Fairy Tales are supposed to feel! It's like the other side of the story that just didn't quite make it into the original.

An interesting and clever spin on some old tales

I've always relied on the likes of Angela Carter, Datlow & Windling, and Tanith Lee (among a myriad of others) to feed me my daily dose of fairy tale interpretations, but Priscilla Galloway has prepared such a sumptuous offering of delightful shorts that I've added her to my collection of favorites. You have to applaud the gorgeous Rapunzel tale told from the birth-mother's point of view and set among the Bedouin peoples. If not, try the Cinderella story told by a heartbroken Prince with an undeniable foot fetish, or a Jack and the Beanstalk story in which giants must grind 'pygmy' bones for their bread to curb the effects of a fatal genetic bone disorder. My favorite of them all, though, is the retelling of Hansel and Gretel from the witch's/stepmother's point of view...delightful, dark, and desperate. The writing flows well, perfect for an early teen to adult audience without being either condescending or insultingly simple. Give it a chance, and you won't be disappointed.

Both intriguing and entertaining, young adult or not.

Ms. Galloway is able to put an interesting and very entertaining spin on the retelling of classic tales, we've all heard as children. Her unique writing style is both humerous and captivating. I found her Truly Grim Tales to be an imaginative and unique collection. I would highly recommend it to any young adult who enjoys, mystery, science fiction, horror or folklore.