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Roses And Bones: Myths, Tales, And Secrets (2010)

by Francesca Lia Block(Favorite Author)

3.76 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062019546 (ISBN13: 9780062019547)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

HarperTeen

review 1: Okay, Roses and Bones is a book with three different stories contained. The three tales are the following: "Psyche in a Dress", "Echo" and "The Rose And The Beast". Among all three, the first story is my favorite. I find it unique and written well. I enjoyed reading the story. It was really interesting and the way Block wrote was simply amazing. To sum it all up, Psyche in a dress is a free-verse poem with bits of narrative tales about its characters. Combined with a modern twist, "Psyche in a Dress" is simply alluring and won't get hold of you no matter how short this work is. (3/5)Echo would be my least favorite. Block's characters are messy. Her writing here is messy. Everything is messy, except Echo's "emotional" personality. Block describes Echo as a girl who tries to... more find love the way sees in her parents by being rebellious and by dancing/strip-teasing a boy. I find Echo as nothing but a slut and a highly-jealous person. I find it disgusting that she attempted to dance in front of her father. (1/5)The Rose And The Beast is another unique as well among other modern fairytale novels / fairytale retolds, since the author attempted to wrote tales in pretty words. Sometimes, we need to admit that pretty words don't make a good story, especially when you find a character who licks her hand as if it was a paw and an author who keeps describing unnecessary things in the story. My favorite among the retolds would be "Tiny".Tales in The Rose And The Beast:- Snow = Snow White (If you want a story that is slightly different from the usual Snow Whites who picks the prince, then I think you would like this one. Love is not always the heroine's happy ending, sometimes it's about family as well.)- Tiny = Thumbelina (I enjoyed this. Although Block just nonchalantly described everything here, I adore the ending.)- Glass = Cinderella(A Cinderella who deeply adores her siblings.)- Charm = Sleeping Beauty (Mindfuck alert.)- Wolf = Red Riding Hood? (I was confused on this tale. I wasn't certain if it's Red Riding Hood or not, but oh well. There are a couple of Red Riding Hood stories out there and if you compare this to those, then there would be a huge gap. Wolf would be in the bottom while the others would be on top of it.)- Rose = Rose Red and Snow White (Sheesh.)- Bones = Bluebeard (I read a fanfic about Bluebeard's tale and compare to an amateur writer and the professional one, the amateur acted the part of being a pro.)- Beast = Beauty and the Beast (A heroine who enjoyed her freedom from her father and enjoyed the Beast's company not until he became human. She prefers a beast over a man.)- Ice = Ice Queen (Bah.)
review 2: This collection of three stories, all retellings of myths and tales, is absolutely lovely. As a huge fan of lyrical writing, I won't embarrass myself by mentioning how little I've read of Francesca Lia Block's, but I loved her story in Kate Bernheimer's anthology and am so happy I picked this up.The first story, "Psyche in a Dress" is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche and is told in verse, but it's by the stories of the many fabulous women of the Greek tradition. Psyche's trials and tribulations after she reveals Eros's appearance is expertly woven together, and as a reader you admire her growth as you watch her assume the identities of Persephone, Eurydice, Echo, Demeter and others.The second, "Echo" more convoluted, urban, and gritty, but much more faithful to the fairytale ideal of "true love." Echo's mother is an angel, perfect in every way. Her father's a painter. They grew up loving each other and Echo felt like (alas) an echo, and spends most of her youth meeting people and trying to find herself. Eventually her father's dying from cancer, and he leaves her paints and a blank canvas. This is my favourite of the three.The last book, "Roses and Beasts" one is a collection of tellings and retellings of fairytales. Some were straightforward if a little off-kilter (Beast), others were looser and had a bit more edge (Wolf, Tiny). I liked them all, but my favorite was "Rose", a retelling of Snow White and Rose Red.The magical part of all three stories is Block's evocative writing, and her skilled execution. If I'm still thinking about it next week, I'm rounding up.Also, the way this woman describes food is incredible. This book makes me hungry. less

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