Pros: completely warped witty stories, really bad puns
Cons: really bad puns, it ends
The Bottom Line: Whether or not you watched Rocky and Bullwinkle, whether or not you like fairy tales, Fractured Fairy Tales will appeal to anyone with a warped sense of humor.
quasar's Full Review: A. J. Jacobs - Fractured Fairy Tales
I remember coming home from school every day in 4th grade just in time to catch Rocky and Bullwinkle on one of my four local stations on the black & white television in our family room. It was 1982 and everyone who was anyone was watching in color. Alas, I am nobody, so I sat there in front of my mom's old B&W dreaming up ways to surreptitiously break the set...but I digress. Really what I did was sit there waiting for my favorite part of the episode. You guessed it....Sherman and Mr. Peabody in the Wayback Machine. What does that have to do with Fractured Fairy Tales you ask? Very little. And therein lies the point - Fractured Fairy Tales are twisted, drop-dead funny stories that have very little to do with the actual fairy tales they are based on, designed for those with an abnormal cracked sense of humor.
I have met people who do not get Fractured Fairy Tales. They sit silent, starting at the screen, completely still when faced with such warped visions of childhood lore. I do not understand this, for I myself can frequently be found rolling around on the floor laughing so hard I cannot breath. Literally. Be warned, I suffocate when I laugh. It's not a pretty sight.
A few years ago, my days of black & white television long behind me, and alas too my days of Rocky & Bullwinkle reruns but a distant memory, I was wondering through a B. Dalton's (as I am wont to do) and I stumbled on a pile of books. Literally. Cursing under my breath, I noticed that I had knocked one of the books across the aisle. Being the good little bookstore patron I am, I picked it up. It came home with me.
I had stumbled on The Biology of Star Trek. But while I was picking it up another book caught my attention that also came home with me. It was Fractured Fairy Tales (yes, she finally gets to the point! I bet you were placing bets on whether that would ever happen). My first thought? "So that's what the witch looks like in color. She's so much more normal looking than I imagined." Then I opened the book.
Once upon a time, long, long ago... witches fell in love with mortals, frogs were turned into princes only to long for swamp life, there lived a funny little PR man Rumpelstiltskin, and Pinocchio became a product pitchman.
Yes folks, this is not a world for the faint of heart. This much laughter can be a dangerous thing. If you decide to abandon all hope of maintaining a straight face and enter this book, you will find wonderfully twisted tellings of these punderful stories:
* The Witch's Broom
* The Frog Prince
* Rumpelstiltskin
* The Seven Chickens
* Sir Galahad
* The Tale of a King
* Hansel and Gretel
* Pinocchio
* The Elves and the Shoemaker
* Thom Tum
* Princess and the Pea
* Son of King Midas
* The Golden Goose
* The Flying Carpet
* Beauty and the Beast
* Aladdin's Lamp
* The Absentminded King
* The Goblins
* Cutie and the Beast
* Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
* Son of Rumpelstiltskin
* The Enchanted Gnat
* Jack and the Beanstalk
* The Enchanted Fish
* King Midas
A lot of care was put into this book. Aside from the delightful stories filled with twists, turns,and bad puns worthy of loud groans, the book itself is filled with wonderful little drawings, purple title pages, curly-cues and whirled watermarks, and a delightfully childish purple font. Every detail of the physical presentation was well planned to add to the whimsy.
As told by A.J. Jacobs who "toils in a dark room in a tall tower in Manhattan," Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales truly come to life in this book. The critics agree:
"It's a great book - no lie!" -- Pinocchio
"I couldn't lay it down!" -- The Golden Goose
"Pure Gold!" -- King Midas
Of course, these are all impartial statements from the stars of the book as seen on the back cover. I'm so sure that you'll love this book that I'll grant you three wishes if you don't. Just rub my lamp...oops, wrong story.
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