Review – Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: February 8, 2005
ISBN-13: 978-1400075607
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Gift
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

“Little Black Book of Stories offers shivers along with magical thrills. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women, childhood friends reunited by chance, venture into a dark forest where once, many years before, they saw–or thought they saw–something unspeakable. Another woman, recently bereaved, finds herself slowly but surely turning into stone. A coolly rational ob-gyn has his world pushed off-axis by a waiflike art student with her own ideas about the uses of the body. Spellbinding, witty, lovely, terrifying, the Little Black Book of Stories is Byatt at the height of her craft.”

This is a collection of five stories that are supposed to be inspired by fairy tales. There were two in this collection I really enjoyed. “The Thing in the Forest” did an amazing job of blending history and fantasy and I love how is spanned so much time and told such a broad story. “A Stone Woman” was incredibly creative and I loved the imagery in this story; it was just beautiful.

The other three stories had some irony to them, but they were a bit to stridant for my taste. They kind of beat you over the head with their social commentary and principles and I really didn’t enjoy them as much. You can see below for short reviews of each story.

Overall this was a unique collection of stories. The writing style has a high literature feel to it and is very beautiful. These are stories you need to read slowly and savor; they don’t make for quick reads. I would recommend to those who are interesting in literature that has both a feminist and fairy tale feel to it. I think fans of Angela Carter would enjoy this book as well.

“The Thing In The Forest” (5/5 stars)
I really loved a lot of elements in this story. The writing was beautifully descriptive. I loved the blending of history and fairy tale. This was about two young girls sent off to a country plantation during the London bombings. While there, they see something truly disturbing and of a monstrous variety. This sighting effects both girls in very different ways as they grow into women, but the effect on them both is profound. I love how much story was in this 50 page short story, and how it spanned so much time and was so complete.

“Body Art” (3/5 stars)
This was an interesting story about a young woman artist who comes in to decorate a OB/Gyn ward at the request of the lead Ob/Gyn doctor there. Additionally there is a collection of strange antiquated medical objects that need to be catalogued and displayed somehow. The doctor gets very involved with the artist and her painful past, but he takes objection when she comes up with a creative way to display the medical objects. This was a bit of an odd read; there are some interesting statements on women’s rights, motherhood, and feminine pain throughout. However I didn’t like this as much as the first story.

“A Stone Woman” (5/5 stars)
I loved this story about a woman who slowly turns to precious gemstones. It was a beautiful story; very intriguing and creative. I love how she meets a stonemaker that takes her to Iceland where a stone woman can truly belong. I also really enjoyed the descriptions of Iceland itself, I have always wanted to travel there.

“Raw Material” (3/5 stars)
This was about a man who teaches a creative writing class and his obsession with the writing of an old woman who takes his class. I actually really enjoyed the stories the old woman wrote but the rest of the story was just kind of blah. I kept feeling like I was missing something at the end of this story and I reread it a few times but still don’t get it.

“The Pink Ribbon” (3/5 stars)
This was a story about a man who is taking care of his mentally disabled wife. We get some insight into how she ended up mentally disabled. There is a little twist at the end that I thought was actually a bit silly. This wasn’t my favorite of the bunch and actually took me a long time to read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge