I never thought I would say it, but the overly lyrical prose eventually got a bit too much for me. Granted, I read this in Estonian - language is a a bit angular and cornery and what not anyway - but when something was being likened to the taste of amniotic fluid I just thought- wth!

That said... these are fairy tale retellings from 1979! In their most gothic, with surprise moments of eroticism and female freedom and nakedness and .... yeah, I was taken by surprise! Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots, Bluebeard... Quite a few based on Beauty and the Beast.

I liked this, but as I said, it was way too wordy for me, perhaps it works better in English. The vibe of this collection of stories is intriguing enough so I might reread it in original language at a later date.