Rating: Summary: Only if it's the last book possible to read Review: I only give this book one star because they don't give you the option of giving it no stars. This is probably the worst book I've ever read in my life. People who like strange poetry or simply incomplete sentences will love this book. Personally, it was the quickest thing I've ever read and put out of my mind in my life. I will read the back of every box in my kitchen before picking this book up again. Really, if you want to try it pick it up and read the first three pages before you buy it. Make sure it's your thing or you'll wish (like me) that you had never even paused to look at it.
Rating: Summary: VERY WELL WRITTEN! Review: I read this book in 5 hours, could not put it down. I love FLB's books! This one is among her best. Other books by FLB you shoudl read: "Dangerous Angels" " Violet and Claire" "I was a teenage Fairy" "The Hanged Man" and "Nymph"
Rating: Summary: An enchanting collection that will ensnare your heart Review: I read this whole book just today in fact and I am in love. A new and modern look at our favorite fairy tale classics. Block re-tells Snow White, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Ridding Hood, Blue Beard, Snow White and Rose Red, Beauty and the Beast and The Snow Queen.I read someones review where they said that the story "Bones" was about Hansel and Grettle, and that it was very confusing, and Im sure it was because the story "Bones" was the re-telling of Blue Beard, which is less well known so maybe thats why she didnt get it. Anyway, this book is wonderful, and I recommend it to all FLB fans and everyone who loved these stories as children.
Rating: Summary: I fell in love within the first 5 pages. Review: I was in a book store while on vacation this summer and was looking for a book to read on the beach that day. I was browsing Anne Rice books when I happened upon this book. I picked it up, read the back and figured "hey, why not, it's on sale." Well I couldn't have made a better decision. I finished the book within the first hour. Some of the stories are a bit confusing as to the original fairy tale they were taken from. But all in all I fell in love with the poetic writing that is almost cryptic (at times). Some of the parts are exceptional poetic. Being the book geek I am, I immediately began searching for more of her books. when I got home I ordered the Weetzie Bat books and fell in love with them as well. So I suggest beginning or furthering your Francesca Lia Block obsession with this book. Here are a few of my favorite lines and such: "Fish girl, storm girl, mirror girl.....but sometimes art can't save you." "The way it feels when you get hot wax on your wrist and while it's burning, just as sudden; it's like a cool thick skin. Like it tastes to eat sweet snow, above the daffodil bulbs, but clean snow that melts to nothing on the heat of your tongue so you're never sure if it was even there." "When Rose Reds heart quickens and her skin flushes like her hair Rose white listens to her until she is quiet, tells her she is right. The world is a strange and mad place; it isn't Rose Red who is mad." "A bird landed on my flower box. I asked it had it seen him? The bird said, ask the flowers."
Rating: Summary: A natural step from this modern fairy tale author Review: I was very excited to read "The Rose" & "The Beast" because it is largely due to the fairy tale settings in Block's other books that has made her my favorite author. I was not disappointed! This was a very quick read because I found each of the stories quite intriguing. I was always eager to read the next one. Some of the stories (Snow, Beast, Glass) are fairly similar to their classic version while others (Charm, Wolf) take on a very new modern twist. I wasn't familiar with all of the original plots (Bones, Ice) so I assume them to be lesser known stories (i.e. not a Disney movie!) And these were the ones that turned out to be my favorites. Fans of Block's should not be let down...
Rating: Summary: Horribly Krass Retellings! Review: I'm as big a fan of fairy tale retellings as the next person, but these stories were horrible. The prose is horrible with little or no magic or rhythm, and the retellings themselves leave on aghast.
Don't bother with this collection, unless you have considerable amounts of both time and money to waste!
Rating: Summary: Striking Review: In classic Lia Block style Francesca has done it once again. Using prose so potent it's almost poetry she retells some of the most famous (and obscure) faery tales of all time. The most outstanding being Glass (Cinderella) and Ice (Snow Queen) Not to be missed.
Rating: Summary: I'll give it an extra star for potential, but... Review: It was poorly written. Lots of run-on sentances, incomplete thoughts and overall bad sentance structure. This book really needed more proofreading. I skipped through most of "Wolf" because it was so bad. I agree with one of the reviewers, "Snow" and "Beast" was at least readable, Tiny and Glass were okay, but still not good enough to save the book. After reading this I'm now disinclined to look for anything by Francesca Lia Block. If you still want to read this book, check it out at the library.. it's not really worth buying in my opinion.
Rating: Summary: Magnificent Review: Rose and the Beast is a collection of 9 re-told fairy tales. Being Snow White, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rose White and Rose Red, Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, and the Snow Queen. Each story has twisted plots, and different endings, and are much more detailed. With much more peculiar lives of each character, then the "original" tales. This is one of Francesca Lia Blocks' best, and definitely most stunning. Each story is captivating and in most ways bittersweet.
Rating: Summary: Seriously unimpressed, but not surprised. Review: SERIOUSLY UNIMPRESSED. I've read a bunch of her other books before (the Weetzie Bat books, Nymph, I Was a Teenage Fairy) and I must say - I really don't like her style. I can't stand the way she writes, I really dislike her heroines, and in general her stories annoy me. HOWEVER, I thought I would give this one a chance because I live for fairy tale retellings. I was really hoping she could put a new spin on some of my favourite stories. Unfortunately I was wrong. They sounded exactly like everything else I've read by her. For some of the stories, I wasn't even able to figure out which stories she was retelling. 2 of the 9, though, weren't too bad...I enjoyed "Snow", the retelling of Snow White that was the first story in the book. I liked how after she was revived, she didn't swoon into the arms of her "saviour," in this case the gardner who brought her to live with the 7 brothers after her mother gave her up as a baby - she immediately called for the brothers, the people who had raised her and loved her like their own all her life. And I enjoyed in "Beast," the Beauty and the Beast retelling, Beauty totally wilded out with the Beast - she ran through the woods with the Beast and got hard callouses on her feet, and she stopped brushing her hair so it got wild and tangled and matted, and how she seemed to take on some of the characteristics of the Beast and come to love him so much that every now and again she wished the Beast had remained a Beast. But those 2 stories weren't enough to save the rest of them. I will definitely not be picking up any more of her books. Her stories all sound exactly the same.
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