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Fairy Tales of the Fiercer Sex
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
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Fairy Tales of the Fiercer Sex
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Summary
Hailed by the Times as "hugely entertaining", award-winning narrator Alison Larkin selects fairytales of strong, brave, independent, at times irreverent girls and women who take charge of their lives, go on their own adventures, rescue themselves, and sometimes even save the men they love.
These are not stories of helpless females shut up in high towers waiting around for a handsome man to rescue them while they sleep for years or brush their golden hair a lot. These heroines have far more to distinguish them than the fact that they (sometimes) end up married to a prince.
Selected and introduced by Alison Larkin, the stories are:
"The Snow Queen", "Molly Whuppie and the Double-faced Giant", "A Pottle of Brains", "Cap o' Rushes", "Hansel and Gretel", "Mr. Fox", "Clever Grethel", "Kari Woodengown", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "Felicia and the Pot of Pinks", "The Iron Stove", "The Hedley Kow", "The Six Sillies", "Baba Yaga", "The Old Woman in the Woods", "The Idle Spinner", "The Twelve Brothers", "Frederick and Catherine", "Little Red Cap", and "Beauty and the Beast."
Award-winning audiobook narrator, comedienne, and best-selling author of The English American Alison Larkin is also a classically trained actress who has appeared on Broadway with the Royal National Theater and off-Broadway with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Recent narrations include her AudioFile award-winning recording of Peter Pan and The Inconsiderate Waiter by J. M. Barrie and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
Critic reviews
FAIRYTALES OF THE FIERCER SEX by Hans Christian Andersen, Flora Annie Steel, Joseph Jacobs, Brothers Grimm, et al.
Read by Alison Larkin
Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty (who didn't back down from the Beast), and Gretel (the smarter sister of Hansel) - these are just a few of the brave, inventive, and independent young ladies who populate this fascinating collection of folktales. Series editor and narrator Alison Larkin reads the 20 tales in this collection with a traditional approach, capturing the time-honored "once-upon-a-time" rhythms and giving an extra cackle or two to the witches and trolls. Underneath there's a historic nuance and a tone of scholarship that aligns with the dark themes of greed, gluttony, entitlement, and, of course, children as snacks. These stories of wandering in dark woods and knocking on the doors of giants may be couched as children's fare, but keep the lights on just the same. B.P. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2017]
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What listeners say about Fairy Tales of the Fiercer Sex
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matt G
- 13-03-17
Comfort food for the soul
This is a gem, and absolutely carried by Alison Larkin's performance. Her reading is stylised, with a particular tone of voice - and it is utterly wonderful, reminding me of being read bedtime stories as a small boy. Listening to this is warming, comforting and just as exciting as when I was young. The choice of stories is good, too - some familiar, and some I'd not come across before.
This book was given to me for free at my request (and boy, am I glad I did!) and I provided this voluntary review.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sara Niña
- 21-02-17
A splendid collection
This is a wonderful collection of around twenty one fairy tales, written by the Brothers Grimm and fairy tales written by other notable names as well as some anonymous writers. The collection is made up of the original tellings of the storIes, spoken in a language that is fairly easy for a young child of ten or eleven years to understand with some brief explanation. I listened to this audio book, primarily for my sister's amusement (she's eleven) as she has become quite a fan of audio books. She likes being able to share the book with others and talk and ask questions with someone who is following it at the same pace.
Together, we listened to the early chapters, and I plan to listen to the later chapters with her soon. For both of us, some of the fairy tales were quite new- the others I had already known, but my sister knew only very small fragments of. We enjoyed the collection, it was read wonderfully, my sister loved the different voices Alison Larkin performed and she loved to imitate the voices of the villains. She never could get them quite right but, it was a good deal of fun. I can't imagine reading the original fairy tales for myself anymore, with the collections as thick and heavy as they are. I feel this audio book is a far superior alternative: more magical, less burdensome and very enjoyable!
It's also worth mentioning that I haven't always been a huge fan of fairy tales, which is partially the reason that I chose to listen to this audio book. It was the mention of the 'fiercer sex' that appealed to me, and this ties in with one of the reasons I was so opposed to fairy tales: I didn't like how the females were treated as helpless and how they were 'rescued' by princes, and their problems solved by fairies, birds or fairy godmothers. A philosophy that is terribly misleading and something that isn't true of many of the original fairy tales at all- we learn that the characters are deserving of their great rewards for all their help, be that with saving the life of the prince, something that isn't ever emphasised as much in the Disney versions most of us have grown used to, or their families, or being so charmingly clumsy and unintentionally saving the day. Therefore, this collection of stories teaches the value of hard work, persistence and dedication, and how these help you in life as opposed to sitting around waiting for a nearby fairy to help you out of whatever tiffle you've gotten yourself in.
I received this audio book through Audiobook Boom.
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