Book Review: Grimmest Fairy Tales

                                                                 Reviewed by Avinash , Grade 12

Title: Grimm’s Grimmest

Author: Grimm Brothers:  Jacob and Wilhelm

Illustrator: Tracy Aran Dackray

Genre: Horror, Fairy tale

Rating: 6/10

So I  recently read a novel authored by the Grimm brothers. After finishing the book, I was so astonished and was so flabbergasted that I couldn't believe that the stories that I had been reading since my childhood with my brother were so gothic and dark in origin. The book is titled “Grimm’s Grimmest”, which is illustrated by Tray Dackray, and contains the fairytales from our childhood. Though the book contains fairy tales for children, it has different reasons to exist. While the modern adaptations of the books are for the children to enjoy and use as their bedtime stories, the Grimms’ original versions are for the kids to be obedient, as they were never meant to be entertained. Perhaps the originals were like horror anthologies; thus, they served as the fear fuel to those who read it. Therefore, the book contains darker and unholier versions of the stories from our childhood fairytales. 

The stories like “The Death Of The Little Hen”, “The Girl With No Hands” , “Rapunzel” and many more. But the thing that stood out the most to me about these stories was their gothic and dark plot, as every single one of the Grimm’s stories was full of heinous acts like murder, abuse, decapitation, etc., and since I’m a huge fan of the horror genre, I loved it. The stories also had lessons to learn in them, which the writer had emphasised very well just for the sake of children being obedient and well-mannered.

Like how “ The Juniper Tree” emphasises how your actions have consequences, and how your deeds always follow you. The story was about how a step-mother, due to being extravagantly drenched in jealousy, kills her step-son and puts the blame on her own daughter. She then also chops him into tiny pieces and cooks a stew out of him, which she then feeds to her husband. Then, he reincarnates into a bird, takes his revenge on her and then rebirths into his former human body. Then, the family reunited and ate their dinner. The story of “The Juniper Tree” was very disturbing and had an obscure ending. I mean, what were those guys eating at the end? But it was still able to emphasize how the bad deeds of the step-mom followed to the end and led her to a disturbing and painful death by getting her skull crushed by a huge boulder. 

Similarly, in ”The Robber Bridegroom”, a story about a girl who approaches marriageable age and gets arranged to an unknown yet wealthy groom. The groom, wanting to know her even more, invites her to his crib. Though hesitant, she accepts his invitation. Reaching the house, she finds an old lady, scared and terrified. Then, the old lady spills the beans as she tells the bride that this is all a great trap, and the groom is a robber and a cannibal. Scared, the bride hides behind a few barrels, watches in horror when the robbers come home with an unconscious lady. They then kill that lady and chop her into many pieces, telling the old lady to cook her. As midnight arrives, both the bride and the old lady make their escape. Then, on the day of the marriage, the bridegroom and his fellow friends were captured by the villagers and were hanged serving justice. It has also emphasized how the bad deeds of the bridegroom led him to his downfall by being hanged in front of the villagers, serving justice to those who were mutilated by him to fulfil his cannibalistic urges.   

Though the stories of Grimm’s Grimmest were very dark and full of violence as they were meant to be by the authors, yet they are still able to provide me, the reader and the reviewer of this book, an uncanny and obscure feeling of entertainment and joy in reading them. Don’t get me wrong, the stories of the book are very disturbing and psychopathic in reading, as the stories themselves had many flaws and a few of them also lack a satisfactory resolution, as in “The Robber Bridegroom”. However, justice was served, and the robber met his end, though his end was equal to the torment he had given to his victims. Similarly, in “The Juniper Tree” too,  the step-mom had reached her end and was killed by her own victim, which was not justice enough for the sins she had committed. They were just not satisfying to me, but in the sight of the authors, these stories were never meant to have a satisfying/happy ending. 

The whole point of the creation of these stories was to keep the children humbled and obedient. The stories were never meant to be enjoyed or to be entertaining. So for that reason, the original, darker and danker versions of the stories were alternate to the more child and consumer-friendly modern versions. And for that reason, many of its readers may not like it for its horror stuff, but they will for sure like the rich plot of the stories, as the Grimm Brothers have done a great job in writing the flawless plot and bone-chilling horror of these stories and for that I  will be recommending this book to whoever will be reading this review. 

As a fan of the horror genre, I really enjoyed the stories and also really liked the artwork done by Tracy Dackray, the illustrator, as they had flawlessly engraved the fear in the art of the characters from the stories. Overall, if you are a huge fan of the horror genre like me, then make sure to read this book once. It will for sure be worth your time.

                                                                 Reviewed by Avinash , Grade 12