A Wild Swan: And Other Tales

"Michael Cunningham calls his reworked fairy tales “curses” and “incantations”; he plays with the sexy, warts-and-all stuff that happens after the happy ending “fell on everyone like a guillotine’s blade.” Snow White’s prince harbors a fetish for ogling his beloved in deathlike sleep — a scenario he asks her to re-enact over and over again. The most human and heartbreaking character you’ll encounter is classically one of the more odious ones: Rumpelstiltskin, who desperately wants a child of his own. And the witch from Hansel and Gretel? By the time the twins — recast as libidinous and broken punk teenagers — shove her aged flesh and bones into the oven, it’s a mercy."