Author: Margo Lanagan
Cover Artist: Jodi Hewgill
Publisher: Knopf
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 2008
Readers who miss the days of reading fairy tales should really enjoy this book. Readers who still enjoy the retellings of fairy tales by authors such as Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow, and Angela Carter will enjoy this book even more.
Tender Morsels is a dark original fairy tale of a mistreated young woman who escapes the horrors of her life by escaping into a dream world. There are similarities to the traditional tale, Donkeyskin, but the story that Lanagan weaves becomes so much more than a simple cautionary tale. This is a story that follows the grand, macabre traditions of the Grimm’s original fairy tales and none of the brutality is left to the imagination.
It is a well-written novel that doesn’t wallow in self-pity or allow anyone to get very comfortable in their surroundings for long. Readers will recognize bits and pieces from other traditional fairy tales as characters make cameos into the story, but none of these visits are gratuitous. Instead, each one helps bring the story a little closer to its conclusion and forwards not only plot, but character development as well.
There are very clear heroes and villains in the story, but there are also plenty of gray areas in the characters as well. Even Liga, the main character, makes a few mistakes and has regrets at the end of the tale. No one is an utterly spoiled brat or a complete saint, and that keeps the story very compelling.
The book was not always easy to read, not because of the prose, which was beautifully written, but because there are parts that are frankly quite disturbing, which makes them difficult to read. If it were a movie, Tender Morsels would most certainly receive a good, solid R rating. It was never a question of putting the book down, I only stopped reading because I had to do something else, and I was always anxious to get back to it.
I would certainly recommend this novel to fans of the above mentioned authors, but I would steer especially sensitive or younger readers to a different book.
