Review: Carthick's Unfairy Tales

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Carthick's Unfairy Tales Carthick's Unfairy Tales by T F Carthick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“You think fairy tales are only for girls? Here's a hint - ask yourself who wrote them. I assure you, it wasn't just the women. It's the great male fantasy - all it takes is one dance to know that she's the one. All it takes is the sound of her song from the tower, or a look at her sleeping face. And right away you know - this is the girl in your head, sleeping or dancing or singing in front of you. Yes, girls want their princes, but boys want their princesses just as much. And they don't want a very long courtships. They want to know immediately.”
― David Levithan, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

As the quote suggest fairy tales are not so innocent after all. These have implied sinister meanings below the pretty façade. Carthick tried to bring to surface these implied meanings in his book.

This book is an attempt to see the classic tales from the hidden perspective. Then they are not so fairy. They become unfairy and that’s why the name. Like the tale of three bears is told from the perspective of bear. The part where the bear and girl see each other is hilarious. To tell the truth why the girl shouts. It should be the other way around. Then in the end the message is that humans are invading animal’s spaces.

Similarly, Cinderella’s tale brings forth the hypocrisy of society. Every girl wants to marry a prince and forgets about his pals as soon as she goes to palace.

“The frog who would be king” is the story of a princess who does not want to marry him even when he becomes a handsome price. She somehow gets rid of him but that is not the end of her ordeal. Or is it? Read to find out.

The book is dark satire/ comedy and not easy to read. This is a strong statement against the hypocrisy of society. I will sign off with this quote of Taylor Swift:


“When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.”



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