Short Stories

The Bloody Chamber

The Bloody Chamber

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  • Create Date：2021-08-20 08:55:29
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Angela Carter
  • ISBN：0099588110
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Summary

Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress， the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman， David Mitchell， Audrey Niffenegger， J。 K。 Rowling， Kelly Link， and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction。 In her masterpiece， The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood，” “Bluebeard，” “Puss in Boots，” and “Beauty and the Beast，” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition。

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Reviews

Tom Meade ，

I originally read this for university many years ago and didn't really enjoy it， as I was too preoccupied with analysing it。 Twelve years and a significant bump in reading comprehension later， I really liked it。 In particular I enjoy the way Carter writes。 Her prose in and of itself is practically electric。 She takes big risks， and while they don't always pay off its fun to go along for the ride。My two favourite stories were The Bloody Chamber and Puss in Boots。 I especially enjoyed the latter， I originally read this for university many years ago and didn't really enjoy it， as I was too preoccupied with analysing it。 Twelve years and a significant bump in reading comprehension later， I really liked it。 In particular I enjoy the way Carter writes。 Her prose in and of itself is practically electric。 She takes big risks， and while they don't always pay off its fun to go along for the ride。My two favourite stories were The Bloody Chamber and Puss in Boots。 I especially enjoyed the latter， as it points towards the rich， rabelaisian， ironic style of comedy that Carter perfected in Nights at the Circus and Wise Children。 The other stories are good， particularly the variations on beauty and the beast， but most of them tend to wander a bit too far into conceptual wank。 So there are many five star stories in this book but I'm only giving the collection four overall。 。。。more

Madeleine Wills ，

You guessed it。。。 A level lit reading again， although this text I enjoyed infinitely more that its predecessor， Frankenstein。 Before this book I was reading to condemn gothic literature as a genre， protesting that I found it wordy， dull and difficult to read， but this book has completely changed my perspective。 Perhaps all I needed was Angela Carter; she is able to craft intense atmosphere， write comically， and provide one of the most overt perspectives on female sexuality for her time all in th You guessed it。。。 A level lit reading again， although this text I enjoyed infinitely more that its predecessor， Frankenstein。 Before this book I was reading to condemn gothic literature as a genre， protesting that I found it wordy， dull and difficult to read， but this book has completely changed my perspective。 Perhaps all I needed was Angela Carter; she is able to craft intense atmosphere， write comically， and provide one of the most overt perspectives on female sexuality for her time all in the same book。 It is admirable how she can switch from gory， gothic horror， to a genuinely funny and comical tale （Puss in Boots）， and the short story format ensured that I was never bored。 Many critics argue that carter 're-tells fairytales' from a 'feminist perspective' and I completely dispute that; I felt as if she simply took inspiration from classic tales and completely reformulated them in a fantastic way， leaving only the essence of the tale to remind readers that it was once something else。 My one complaint across the whole text was the that titular tale felt slightly detached from the others， as it was much longer。 It didn't necessarily drag down the text but it made the collection feel slightly less cohesive。 。。。more

The happy bookgeek ，

‘The bloody chamber - and other short stories’ by Angela Carter。 Quick blurb - Familiar fairy tales we’ve been told throughout childhood such as Bluebeard， beauty and the beast and puss in boots have been given an electrical surge of feminism， sensuality and dark gothic intensity。 Book review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The bloody chamber didn’t seem to hold my attention at first but I soon got into it and became consumed with knowing the outcome。 The narrator， a newly wed 17 year old girl from Paris， leaves the ‘The bloody chamber - and other short stories’ by Angela Carter。 Quick blurb - Familiar fairy tales we’ve been told throughout childhood such as Bluebeard， beauty and the beast and puss in boots have been given an electrical surge of feminism， sensuality and dark gothic intensity。 Book review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The bloody chamber didn’t seem to hold my attention at first but I soon got into it and became consumed with knowing the outcome。 The narrator， a newly wed 17 year old girl from Paris， leaves the bosom of her mother to travel to her new home with her older husband， the Marquis。 Throughout the story there lies a thick layer of dread; you know something is coming and although I knew what that might be， I didn’t know the outcome for the narrator。 After her husband had been called away on business the evening of their first day of honeymooning， The narrator is left to her own devices in her new home， a castle half on the sea， half on land ‘…。that castle， at home neither on the land nor in the water， a mysterious ， amphibious place， contravening the materiality of both earth and the waves’ but with strict instructions not to enter a certain room even though she is given the key to this said room。 Her naivety that this isn’t a trap luring her in to danger by her husband; and her curiosity paves the way to her own fate。 The story is a shake up of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale ‘Bluebeard’ but with an erotic， strongly feministic perspective。 Carter’s love for gothic is apparent throughout all of the stories in the book and infuses fairy tales and Influences from Edgar Allan Poe perfectly。 This being said， these stories are nothing without Carter’s own dark imagination。 She alone has conjured up these stories of violence， sex and desire， kissed with a gothic atmosphere。 This all being said， I found some of the other short stories not so compelling。 I understand that when writing short stories you have to keep up the pace but sometimes it felt as though I was missing something， in a lot of the stories her writing was convoluted and I found myself having to reread sentences over and over again to achieve some clarity about what was going on…。。sometimes the writing just didn’t flow well for me。 I particularly didn’t enjoy ‘the tiger’s bride’ and all these reasons yet the plot itself intrigued me， the gothic eeriness was something I really enjoyed and I wanted to know how it all turned out but the style of writing let it down for me。 If I could segment my star rating， I’d give ‘the bloody chamber’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and the rest of the stories in the book ⭐️⭐️ （maybe a 2。5！） 。。。more

Lily M （miss_at0mic_bomb） ，

ranking:1。 The Erl-King2。 The Bloody Chamber3。 The Werewolf4。 The Company of Wolves5。 The Lady of the House of Love6。 The Courtship of Mr Lyon7。 The Snow Child8。 Wolf-Alice9。 The Tiger's Bride10。 Puss-in-BootsI liked most of these， but hated Puss-in-Boots。 These are not appropriate for children。 ranking:1。 The Erl-King2。 The Bloody Chamber3。 The Werewolf4。 The Company of Wolves5。 The Lady of the House of Love6。 The Courtship of Mr Lyon7。 The Snow Child8。 Wolf-Alice9。 The Tiger's Bride10。 Puss-in-BootsI liked most of these， but hated Puss-in-Boots。 These are not appropriate for children。 。。。more

imanzzz ，

puss in boots is definitely the highlight of this book。

Adele ，

Rating - 3。75I came to this book through my school as assigned reading 😅 and I love the concept that Carter uses as by extracting the ‘latent content’ （violence， desire， sexuality） from these traditional stories to create a strikingly more gothic， darker and more subversively feminist twist in comparison to the originals。 Through the short story format she includes lots of different folklores and fairytales all through different styles and so of course， although I enjoyed all the stories there w Rating - 3。75I came to this book through my school as assigned reading 😅 and I love the concept that Carter uses as by extracting the ‘latent content’ （violence， desire， sexuality） from these traditional stories to create a strikingly more gothic， darker and more subversively feminist twist in comparison to the originals。 Through the short story format she includes lots of different folklores and fairytales all through different styles and so of course， although I enjoyed all the stories there were some that I preferred much more than others for the writing style。 I loved the longer stories and The Snow Child for the intense， rich and graphic imagery and symbolism that characterised the stories : thorny white and red roses， cages of singing birds， a huge choker of rubies resembling a slit throat， hundreds of flawlessly white， staining funeral lilies and tarot cards being just a few such examples。 I found it was also the most in these longer， lush， more descriptively gothic tales that Carter explores her most interesting themes with the interconnected relationships between pain/pleasure， love/desire， fear/arousal and sex/death/control。 Amongst this mismatch of stories connected by blood， sex and animals， there is an abundance of disquieting， dark and disturbing imagery and scenes leading the way for some truly wonderful quotes: 🤣🤣🤣“…they’re at it， hammer and tongs， down on the carpet since the bed is occupé” （with her dead husband on the bed） （93） “…thrust his virile member into the dead girl” （106）。 My favourite quote in this book and it is branded in my mind as almost every word in this sentence is so awful: first of all we have the words ‘thrust’， ‘virile’ and ‘member’， then the necrophilia of ‘dead’， ending with the pedophilia of fucking the ‘girl’ （his daughter btw！）。 This sentence is then swiftly followed by “He was soon finished”。 “His genitals， huge。 Ah！ huge。” （136） - need I say anymore 😂Final point - it was probably some really artistic thing I just didn’t get but I found it a tad confusing when the narrative constantly switched from sentence to sentence between 1st and 3rd person。 。。。more

Meags ，

Didn’t connect with the stories in this one。 Maybe I just don’t get it but I struggle to see the feminism in these。

Ashley ，

Gorgeous short stories with memorable， rich prose。

Eily Mac ，

Angela Carter makes me feel as if I have never seen anyone describing anything before。

Miranda Hale ，

3。75 stars。 My feelings about this are complicated。 This is probably one of the best uses of the short story collection format; the prose is so affecting and singular and the themes are skillfully woven into and across the stories。 Still， it took me quite awhile to get through it and I’d sometimes get lost within a passage because of how Carter uses commas， tenses， pronouns。 I haven’t quite determined my thoughts on the collection as a whole; there is a lot more I still need to think about and I 3。75 stars。 My feelings about this are complicated。 This is probably one of the best uses of the short story collection format; the prose is so affecting and singular and the themes are skillfully woven into and across the stories。 Still， it took me quite awhile to get through it and I’d sometimes get lost within a passage because of how Carter uses commas， tenses， pronouns。 I haven’t quite determined my thoughts on the collection as a whole; there is a lot more I still need to think about and I’d like to read some academic articles too。 I’d like to reread this sometime soon， probably in autumn or winter。 Favorite stories: The Bloody Chamber， The Tiger’s Bride， The Erl-King， The Lady of the House of Love， and The Company of Wolves 。。。more

Josephine H。 ，

I finally powered through this （well， through a reading slump， not this book itself）！！AND I ADORED THIS！！！！！！！ Angela Carter reimagines classic fairytales we're all told as children into these gritty， dark， feminist， adult， sensual， and nuanced stories that really put the source material into perspective！ Her writing was an absolute joy to read， it's so beautiful！ It's beautiful， lyrical， whimsical， and fantastical， and Carter does an excellent job evoking emotions through her writing and charac I finally powered through this （well， through a reading slump， not this book itself）！！AND I ADORED THIS！！！！！！！ Angela Carter reimagines classic fairytales we're all told as children into these gritty， dark， feminist， adult， sensual， and nuanced stories that really put the source material into perspective！ Her writing was an absolute joy to read， it's so beautiful！ It's beautiful， lyrical， whimsical， and fantastical， and Carter does an excellent job evoking emotions through her writing and characters， whether it be emotions like terror， love， or excitement。My favorite story has to be 'The Bloody Chamber'。 The Gothic elements and the terror presented within the final quarter of it after a story filled with nothing but mounting dread truly make it a memorable tale， the most memorable of the bunch。I cannot wait to come around to rereading this collection again， and I certainly am excited to read Carter's other works！ 。。。more

Carlos ，

The language was absolutely lovely but the story itself was meh。

Charlotte ，

si on enleve le côté scolaire， grave bien en vrai ！ （je viens de le finir）

Zain ，

No Comment…

Ha Minh ，

WOw， gore。 Short stories and fairy tales re written under a feminist point of view。 A lot of gothic elements from ex deus machina to melodrama， etc。。。

Emma Paulet ，

The Erl-King was my fave。

Kinyorda Sliwiak ，

There are a couple of decent stories in this collection but， for the most part， the stories are confusing and not relatable to the original fairy tale。 Carter goes for shock value with hints of bestiality， incest and sadomasochism。 If the stories were good， these themes would have added to the stories。 The lack of substance and consistency in the stories is frustrating。 When a female author is lauded as being innovative and edgy she should be a good writer。 Giving someone praise for the "clutch There are a couple of decent stories in this collection but， for the most part， the stories are confusing and not relatable to the original fairy tale。 Carter goes for shock value with hints of bestiality， incest and sadomasochism。 If the stories were good， these themes would have added to the stories。 The lack of substance and consistency in the stories is frustrating。 When a female author is lauded as being innovative and edgy she should be a good writer。 Giving someone praise for the "clutch the pearls" moments is an insult to credible female authors and good authors in general。 。。。more

Anoushka ，

3。5 rounded up

Ellie ，

Really was surprised at how much I enjoyed this！ Though I do like the Gothic and this was certainly that， to put it mildly。 Some of the later stories weren't quite as impactful to me， hence the slightly lower rating， but otherwise I loved the imagery and atmosphere conjured by Carter in these tales。 And this is coming from someone who generally dislikes 'fairytales with a TWIST' and finds that concept a bit naff。 Really was surprised at how much I enjoyed this！ Though I do like the Gothic and this was certainly that， to put it mildly。 Some of the later stories weren't quite as impactful to me， hence the slightly lower rating， but otherwise I loved the imagery and atmosphere conjured by Carter in these tales。 And this is coming from someone who generally dislikes 'fairytales with a TWIST' and finds that concept a bit naff。 。。。more

Kashila ，

I liked the overall tone and themes。 My favorite was by far The bloody chamber。 I mostly followed the audiobook production featuring Emilia Fox and Richard Armitage， both of which were marvelous narrators。 However， some stories （perhaps most） just failed to gain my full attention， or to retain my interest for their whole duration。So for example despite the beautifully vivid narration of Puss-in-boots I simply don't know what in heaven that was about。 I enjoyed the overall atmosphere， though some I liked the overall tone and themes。 My favorite was by far The bloody chamber。 I mostly followed the audiobook production featuring Emilia Fox and Richard Armitage， both of which were marvelous narrators。 However， some stories （perhaps most） just failed to gain my full attention， or to retain my interest for their whole duration。So for example despite the beautifully vivid narration of Puss-in-boots I simply don't know what in heaven that was about。 I enjoyed the overall atmosphere， though some tales were better than others。 Other than the titular one， my favorites were The Earlking and The lady of the house of love。 Wolf Alice was very interesting and i want to give a more thorough read to The tiger's bride and The company of wolves。 I think the stories are probably best consumed separately， as in small doses， for better enjoyment。 。。。more

Rani ，

*3，5 stars。 Some stories like The Bloody Chamber were amazing， some I found too much alike。

Sophie Moore ，

Bloody chamber is good。 Very eerie。The rest got progressively worse， very boring retellings of fairytales。。 puss in boots finished it for me。 It was too much horny cat-ness。

Bhav ，

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 *Vague Spoilers below！*I really enjoyed reading this book - I only wish that some of the stories were longer！ I can hardly find any fault with it， and it had me captivated from the first story。 This book can be described as dark fairytales， but in reality it’s so much more than that - even when reading this for fun I could find some links and connections to the original fairytales， the darker ones and other myths surrounding the ideas。 There is so much to unpack from these， and not enough time。 *Vague Spoilers below！*I really enjoyed reading this book - I only wish that some of the stories were longer！ I can hardly find any fault with it， and it had me captivated from the first story。 This book can be described as dark fairytales， but in reality it’s so much more than that - even when reading this for fun I could find some links and connections to the original fairytales， the darker ones and other myths surrounding the ideas。 There is so much to unpack from these， and not enough time。 However， I do have to say that these aren’t the fairytales that you’d expect; each story is a different take on a different fairytale， with different themes and ideas and connotations each time。 The inclusion of more adult themes didn’t feel forced and made sense within the context of the story being told。 Overall， I really enjoyed reading each and every one of these stories， and I can totally see myself coming back to this book over and over again。 This is totally deserving of its 5 star rating from me！ 。。。more

__lesh __ ，

i really wanted to like this。。。。and im not saying its not good。。。but i barely got throught it。。。。i was just so bored

Nora ，

DNF at 14%

Michel Reynoso ，

3。5⭐Una lectura fuera de mi zona de confort con ilustraciones preciosas。

Mariana ，

La prosa de Carter es hermosa y te envuelve de una manera increíble。 Quisiera un cuadro que capturara su descripción sobre el Rey de los Trasgos， uno sobre la vampiresa de La dama de la casa del amor y otro más sobre El hombre lobo。 El tema de la sexualidad es recurrente en todas estas historias: mujeres que la descubren y disfrutan de ejercerla， pero también episodios torcidos， macabros， que nos recuerdan que el sistema patriarcal limita y lastima。 Me gustó mucho， seguro que lo vuelvo a leer。

mar ♡ ，

Angela Carter takes beloved fairytales and folktales and reinvents them， giving them a modern twist。 Her descriptions and overall writing is beautiful， and while I was more engaged with some stories than with others， all of them have a perfect atmosphere that’s difficult to leave。 “No。 I was not afraid of him; but of myself。 I seemed reborn in his unreflective eyes， reborn in unfamiliar shapes。 I hardly recognized myself from his descriptions of me and yet， and yet – might there not be a grain o Angela Carter takes beloved fairytales and folktales and reinvents them， giving them a modern twist。 Her descriptions and overall writing is beautiful， and while I was more engaged with some stories than with others， all of them have a perfect atmosphere that’s difficult to leave。 “No。 I was not afraid of him; but of myself。 I seemed reborn in his unreflective eyes， reborn in unfamiliar shapes。 I hardly recognized myself from his descriptions of me and yet， and yet – might there not be a grain of beastly truth in them？” - The bloody chamber。 。。。more

Alicia ，

3。5， not big into fairy tales but Angela Carter’s writing is beautifully descriptive。 The tales are revisioned in a feminist light。 I wanted to read this because a few of the short stories included were the basis of a little known 80’s movie that I love- The Company of Wolves。

Jack ，

Absorbing stories。 The writing sometimes made it a chore to read， and reminded me of when I first discovered the thesaurus on a Microsoft Word。

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Bloody Chamber

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Bloody Chamber&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Bloody Chamber&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0