BOOK REVIEW - BEYOND FAIRY TALES BY DEEPIKA AND SHALINI

 

We have all grown up on fairy tales which have piqued our interest, mainly due to a sense of adventure and excitement, of worlds populated by princes and princesses, mythical creatures and folk, magic and fantasy, and a feeling of happily-ever-after. Children across the world have been tucked into bed with these bedtime stories, and have gone to sleep, dreaming of them as well.

 What, then, is different about these posts that narrate tales that were rewritten by the oh-so-popular Grimms Brothers, who tried to preserve the features of oral tales that had evolved over the centuries? Or Hans Christian Andersen whose stories were more classical with a tinge of satire?

 It has always been difficult to debunk stories that have taken root in the human imagination. This is exactly what Deepika, the narrator who has analysed and reinterpreted them, and Shalini, the poet, have done in the 26 posts that span the alphabet in their #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge.

Most of the most well-known stories have been showcased – Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. Tales from the East like Aladdin and Ali Baba have also been analysed carefully. However, while these are extremely interesting, the stories that are unfamiliar are even more so. For example, Iron Hans, Old Sultan and The Devil with Three Golden Hairs, originally German tales, and the last story of all titled The Story of Zoulvisia, an Armenian tale.

Two heads are better than one, as the saying goes, and both Deepika and Shalini shine in their individual roles of narrator and poet. The reader meanders through the history of a particular fairy tale, its roots and origins, the original texts that referred to it, and a mention of the various versions it has been adapted into – movies, television series, opera, animation and theatre. Some of the original stories, like Goldilocks, were originally poems. In fact, there is a piece of interesting trivia about the Goldilocks Zone, but I will not let the cat out of the bag here. Another intriguing piece of trivia is titled The Snow-White Syndrome.

Many of the tales appear simple, but much more lies beneath the surface, especially when Deepika deciphers every tale with an eagle eye, giving her own unique interpretation of it, which brings out both the positives and the negatives, revolving around traits as complex as gratitude, kindness and love on the one hand, and envy, greed, cowardice and cruelty on the other. At the end of the narration, the reader waits eagerly for the verdict – thumbs up or thumbs down.

From there onwards that Shalini takes over, pouring her heart out in poetry, as she experiments with rhyme and free verse to bring out “thoughts that often lie too deep for tears”. The grace with which she brings alive each story through poetry is amazing.

This is a book that needs to be read and savoured.

The book link is as follows:

file:///C:/Users/deept/OneDrive/Desktop/1621516879_DeepikaShaliniBeyondFairyTales.pdf

 

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