White As Snow (Fairy Tales)

Where do I begin? I don't know, but I will anyway.This book is beautiful. It is literary magic. The author combined two stories, a myth and a fairy tale to make a strong point about life? none-the-less it was potent. of course you will want to read the reviews that gave this book a 1, but believe me when I say you should give this book a chance. It's dark, twisted, and potently deep. don't believe those who tell you that the characters are hollow, the author had a fine point in making the characters the way they are. You'll meet an array of characters in this story and you can't help but strive to understand why they see and react to things the way they do. If you don't understand the characters then in reality you aren't understanding of others.Again, I think the story tried to emphasize reality and explain it through a fairy tale, by offering different perspectives.For example, snow white's mother is known as the evil witch, everyone is afarid of her, and you'll hate her yourself, but your job as the reader is to distance yourself while reading and take another approach. Ask your self if you were a 14 year old, naive, gullible girl who had a narrow view of the world, because you had no mother to influence you or lead you, how would you perceive the world after someone violated you? that's my point. I almost forgot why the queen was the way she was, but then I remembered, she had a dark upbringing to begin with, she remained a child of the past, even as she grew. Se felt alone and that fed her grief, hate and tendency of great evil.... she was traumatizedRead the book. It's deep.

The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros meet the Brothers Grimm. Tyrion Lannister meets Snow White. The Oracle of Delphi meets Alice thourgh the Looking Glass. Buckle your seat belt, this is a bumpy ride!An evil warlord storms a castle, killing everyone and kidnapping 14 year old princess Arpazia, whom he rapes and subsequently marries. She gives birth to a girl named Coira (white skin, black hair, red lips.) What follows is an unexpected and beautifully written plot. There is a torrid affair with a woodsman, many jealousies and banishings, a magic mirror, encounters with dwarves, torrid affairs with dwarves, a journey into an underground city, old hags, many bastards, sugary apples and much witchery. I think people should not try to find equal matches and parallels to the fairy tale, nor to the myths of Persephone, Demeter and Hades, all of which influence this story. Instead, read it for what it is. You will either love it or hate it. Expect rapes, abortions, incest, an exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins and other disturbing possibilities. These are themes that fairy tales were originally supposed to be about before their various sanitations by Disney, the B G's, Perrault and others.This book will not be for everyone, but if you like well written horror, dark retellings and moral ambiguity, don't miss it!

The newest entry in Terri Windling's "Fairy Tale Series," this loose adaptation and borrowing from the "Snow White" folk tale is Lee's third visit to this story for material, her earlier retellings being the short stories "Red as Blood" and "Snow-Drop." Here the outline of the original story is largely removed, presented loosely and at a distance, elements such as the seven dwarves, the mirror and the murderous jealousy of Snow White's stepmother recontextualized to address darker and more modern themes, as well as explore the psychological aspects present in traditional mythology.In many ways this is a story that explores and reveals the damage caused by sexual and emotional abuse, both of women and of children, the psychology of victimization which, as another reviewer has stated, causes the main protagonists to exist in an uneasy narrative world of indifference and self deprecation. At times it is difficult for the reader to truly relate emotionally with Lee's characters, but I suspect this is in part the author's intention, to force the reader into the deadening psychological and emotional world of victimization caused by rape and emotional child abuse. While there is an overall and depressing tone of hopelessness and lack of empowerment throughout the narrative, the book's conclusion ends on a note of redemption, despite the ugliness and depravity attending its circumstance. This is not, however, a novel for the emotionally or spiritually weak of heart, and I imagine that the traditional reader of fantasy will not find this tale to their taste, offering a story that is slight of action and is neither obvious in its moral or thematic aspects---any heroic elements are hidden from easy and casual observation.It will prove helpful to the reader for if they are familiar with the traditional and often disguised themes of folklore (in part here they will be helped here by the marvelous introduction offered by Terri Windling), as well as the symbolisms inherent in the Demeter/Persephone cycle of mythology, the triple aspects of the goddess discussed in Robert Grave's "The White Goddess," and the ritual of the king of the wood found in Frazier's "The Golden Bough," as well as Joseph Campbell's "The Masks of God," among other sources. Also, they will need some acquaintance with the Seven Deadly Sins, here associated with the seven dwarves. While I suppose the story can be read without a clear knowledge of these references, it is doubtful one will be able to fully appreciate or comprehend the author's intention without at least some knowledge of Lee's metaphoric and symbolic use of these story elements.This is a tale largely bound to its use of metaphor and symbolism, requiring some mental exercise, and as such maintains a certain intellectual distance from its evolving storyline. Because of this, the narrative and story elements, combined with the author's choice of characters, remained to a degree emotionally aloof for me, never completely engaging. In terms of adult retellings or modern inventions of the traditional fairy tale, I much prefer the work of Patricia McKillip, where the narrative is not so subsumed by intellectual contextualization. Nonetheless, this is a well-written and thoughtful work, which will appeal to those who enjoy gleaning their reading through metaphoric staging.

This book was so engrossing that often I forgot its "Snow White" premise, and was surprised often; I was delighted and haunted by its subtle touches on the original tale. It's dark, sensual, and twisted. I couldn't put it down...Note in the kindle version: I found a lot of little mistakes (typos) but they did not deter from the story.

I do so adore Tanith Lee. So when I picked up White as Snow I was expecting something good; I was not disappointed.The story follows two main threads: Arpazia and Coira, mother and daughter. They are very similar and extremely different and serve as mirrors and foils to the other. The whole set up is quite breathtaking and serves to tell a Snow White story unlike any I have read before.The imagery, the mythology woven into the tale, and the directions it took me in emotionally and psychologically were all new, refreshing, and interesting. I enjoyed not knowing how the story would end.I have a few complaints, but they are all stylistic narrative choices that were taken. I did find the narrative to ramble on at points, whether this was due to a PoV character's frame of mind or authorial decisions I don't know, but it dragged a little in those areas.Never the less, without fail it always picked up again and threw me back into the story.

Mit „White As Snow" hat sich die namhafte englische Fantasy-Autorin dem Schneewittchen-Märchen auf ungewöhnliche Weise genähert und es in ein exotisches Setting verlagert. Soweit ich es herauslesen konnte, spielt die Handlung im frühen Mittelalter irgendwo zwischen Ungarn und Griechenland.Zur Handlung muss ich nicht viel sagen, die meisten werden zumindest die Gebrüder Grimm Version des alten Märchens kennen, das hier natürlich in neuem Licht erscheint.Lee präsentiert die Geschichte abwechselnd aus Sicht von Mutter und Tochter und spickt ihre ungewöhnliche Variante mit viel griechischer Symbolik und keltischen Ritualen, was das Ganze doch recht ungewöhnlich erscheinen lässt.Erstaunlich, und das macht dieses Buch in meinen Augen auch so schwierig, ist, dass eigentlich keine einzige Figur in Lees Roman Sympathieträger ist. So gut wie alle Figuren, vor allem aber die Hauptcharaktere, werden fast ausschließlich von ihrer nüchternen, negativen Seite beleuchtet.Im Rahmen der Gesamthandlung und der Umstände ist zwar die Charakterentwicklung der Figuren nicht unglaubwürdig, für mich persönlich wurde es dadurch allerdings schwierig, überhaupt einen positiven Bezug zu ihnen zu entwickeln.In Lees Version sind die zentralen Protagonisten - Schneewittchen (hier Coira) und ihre Mutter (Arpazia) Opfer der Umstände, in denen sie leben. So sehr ich es begrüße, keine Schwarz-Weiß-Malerei präsentiert bekommen, war es doch sehr schwierig, dass Lee uns keinen Antagonisten gibt. Oder eigentlich keinen PRO-Tagonisten, sondern nur Antagonisten. Sowohl Arpazia als auch Coira sind über den größten Teil des Romans nicht liebenswert und so gefühlskalt, dass sie keine Identitätsfiguren werden können.Vielleicht hat sich die Autorin einfach mehr auf die Symbolik des Märchens konzentriert:Vor allem den symbolhaften Teilen des Schneewittchen-Märchens und des Persephone-Mythos nämlich hat sie sich auf interessante Weise genähert und präsentiert diese in oftmals neuem Licht.Auch hier greift sie teilweise zu solch drastischen Maßnahmen, dass die Handlung doch recht abgedreht wirkt (was nicht gleichbedeutend schlecht ist).Als groß angelegte Erzählung über das Verhältnis von Müttern und Töchtern kann der Roman jedoch m.E. nicht gewertet werden. Er bildet einen schönen Kreis, vor allem am Schluss, aber das Verhältnis von Mutter und Tochter - über den größten Teil des Romans nicht vorhanden - wird eigentlich viel zu wenig beleuchtet.Eine ungewöhnliche Märchen-Nacherzählung in exotischem Setting, manchmal vielleicht etwas zu verkünstelt, deren Beurteilung stark vom persönlichen Lesegeschmack abhängt. Nichts für Mainstream-Fantasy-Leser, nichts zum Wieder-und-Wiederlesen. Drei Sterne, wobei hier der Tanith Lee-Bonus mit eingerechnet ist.

A lot of very unplesant violence, and rape scenes every other page. My copy went in the bin as i wouldn't pass that on to a charity shop.