Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses

I must have pressed the wrong button. When this book showed up, I could not recall ordering it. Still can't. But I have enjoyed its remaking of the old fairy tales in ... strange ways. NOT for children! NOT for traditionalists.

I have all of Koertge's in-print poetry collections and have managed to scavenge a few out of print volumes. I thought Indigo was a bust. Setting that aside, how does this collection feel? Frankly, I found most of the poems to be mean spirited. I know this is probably quite true to the original fairy tale versions, which have been diluted down tremendously for the modern audience. But I missed the oblique gaze, wry humor and affection found in Koertge's other "retelling" poems (Superman - several, vampires, 50's horror movies). Having read the book twice in the past 4 days, I'm sitting here trying to think of the most memorable poem. For me it's Hansel and Gretel or maybe Rapunzel. If you haven't read Koertge poetry before, this isn't the place to start. If you want a modern look at fairy tales in free verse form, with all the darkness left in, you couldn't do better than this book.

I have yet to read the book, but I really enjoyed the illustrations, which are truly wonderful and fanciful. That's all folks.

This book was an interesting take on the increasingly popular (and favorite of mine) Fairy Tale Retelling genre. A quick, engaging read, Lies, Knives, and Girls In Red Dresses is a compilation of several mostly lesser-known (re: haven't yet been raped by Disney) fairy tales, retold in quick, lyrical verse. Often humorous, always dark, these retellings capture the gist of the original tales, modernizing them, while for the most part, not losing the original cautionary nature. I didn't like every one. In fact, there were a few that I thought sucked, but there were at least twice as many that I loved. I thought The Little Match Girl, Bear Skin, The Robber Bridegroom, and Hansel and Gretel were great, and I especially loved The Princess and the Pea: A Monologue and Red Riding Hood, Home at Last, Tells Her Mother What Happened. I like dark wit and humor, and those traits abound in this book. I also need to comment on the illustrations; while I don't know if I would like them alone, they fit the context of this book brilliantly, so kudos to illustrator, Andrea Dezso.My biggest complaint about this book is that I don't really think it has much of a market, which is sad. I think the vast majority of YA readers aren't going to get it or find it interesting, and it's not really appropriate for younger readers. I think it really takes an adult mind to appreciate it, and I think most adults won't give it a fair shot because of its length (a mere 96 pages) and subject matter. Of course, they would be mistaken...My Rating: 4 starsGrade Level Recommendation: This book would be best suited for a more intellectually-minded, older teen or adult.

If prose poetry or novels in free verse is new, you are in good hands with “the wisest, most entertaining wise guy in American poetry” according to Poet Laureate Billy Collins, of Ron Koertge, b. 1940 (He is 74 years old!)Winner of Publishers Weekly Best Book 2012 and Kansas City Star’s Top Books 2012, Lies Knives and Girls in Red Dresses is a wonderfully chilling knock outside the door. It is a free verse treatment of classic and obscure fairytales for the modern retelling; hand in hand with visually sharp and deeply lined woodcut art formed illustrations by Transylvania born, Andrea Deszo who currently serves as art professor at Amherst College. Twenty three archetypes or tales reappear in an imagined space with varied voices viable with points of view which open up the conversation and inner landscape for the life-long reader. A sixteen year old, a twenty six year old, a forty six year old and a seventy six year old scans the same text but reads necessarily not the same book from each’s pressed fingerprints and prisms.The truth Koertge carries through all the voices and personas led me to read these fairytales as archetypes from the collected unconscious. These stories allow the reader to be predator and prey, light and darkness, lost and omniscient against the classic backdrop. I leave you with a quote from the book’s illustrator, Dezso who shared, “We didn’t have access to contemporary publications (in Communist Romania), so we read the classics. We lived in books. Traveled through them.” For those of us who lived through political oppression, violence and censorship about the threatening Brave and Modern World, we retreat through the portals of fairytales no longer to restore our Innocence but to spread light of Experience onto what was once absent in the dark corners and to name those who Appeared to speak Lies and wield Knives.

Dark, sometimes gory retellings of classic Fairytales. That about sums up Lies, Knives, and Girls In Red Dresses by Ron Koertge, with illustrations by Andrea Dezso.The fairytales you hold near and dear to your heart are completely twisted and will open up your eyes to a darker side of storytelling. Inside you'll find a different side to stories such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, The Princess and the pea, among others. Cleverly written, original, and delightfully entertaining.Not only are many of the stories written in short verse, but there was one in particular that stood out in my mind. The retelling of Little Red Riding Hood where Red Riding Hood explains to her mother what happened in the woods when she encounters the wolf, told in the voice of your modern day teenager. I was chuckling all throughout that one.Accompanying these stories are some fantastic illustrations by Andrea Dezso which just seem to pop out of the pages and assists in getting my more gruesome imagination going.Not for the faint of heart, Lies, Knives, and Girls In Red Dresses is a quick read for anyone interested in more of the darker side of a fairytale, with voices from the characters you least expect. A quick read that will turn your fairytale world upside down.

This is a beautiful harback book.Retellings of traditional fairytales in less than traditional way. The papercut illustrations are beautiful!