Tag: fairy tale

Coraline

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury, 2002); read by Neil Gaiman (Harper Audio, 2003)

Gaiman_Coraline

A dark modern fairy tale, dreamlike, eerie and grounded in odd little incidental details. Gaiman reads the audiobook himself, his delivery evoking a calm avuncular foreboding while (unsurprisingly) bringing out every nuance of the text. Sadly, this is a little too drawn-out.

 

 

Hansel & Gretel

Hansel & Gretel

retold by Neil Gaiman; ill. Lorenzo Mattotti (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Gaiman_Mattotti_Hansel & Gretel

Neil Gaiman retells Hansel & Gretel with gentle fairy-tale prose and an eye for the framing details (war-begotten famine). The impression conveyed by Lorenzo Mattotti’s shadowy illustrations is one of dark despair; apposite, yet hardly cause for more than a lingering glance.