YA Book Review: Grim

“Someday my prince will come…”

“When you wish upon a star…”

Thanks to the ubiquity of Disney in our culture, these are often what we associate with fairy tales. To many people, fairy tales are light and enjoyable wisps of stories that make perfect fodder for bedtime stories and animated musicals. Grim, an aptly-named collection of 17 stories by various young adult authors, tacitly acknowledges this in its back cover synopsis:

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today.

Although this is accurate in that the stories in Grim tend to be dark and sinister, the stories in the anthology are closer to the original tales than the back blurb suggests. Despite fairy tales’ reputation and treatment in much of the media, the original works have another, more sinister side to them. Cannibalism, incest, and child abandonment and abuse are par for the course in many fairy and folk tales, and they sometimes more closely resemble the work of David Lynch than that of Walt Disney.

Grim’s stories aren’t as twisted as many of the works from the David Lynch oeuvre, but they are dark and edgy. Imagine the original Grimm’s tales combined with the classic Twilight Zone and a (very) small pinch of the “Fractured Fairy Tales” shorts from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and you’ve essentially got Grim. The end result is a collection of compelling and often memorable tales that will undoubtedly delight fans of fantasy YA.

While the stories in Grim are united, in theory, by the theme of fairy tales, the authors, who include Ellen Hopkins, Jeri Smith-Ready, and Sarah Rees Brennan, take different approaches. Some stories, such as “Before the Rose Bloomed” and “Thinner than Water,” are essentially retellings of the original tales (“The Snow Queen” and “Donkeyskin,” respectively), and others, such as “The Brothers Piggett” and “The Twelfth Girl,” take the original’s themes and plots and reimagine them. There are also stories, such as “The Key” and “Untethered,”  that contain fairy-tale-like elements but don’t seem to have a direct basis in any specific tale (at least that I know of). Additionally, the tone from story to story ranges from lighthearted to creepy to downright dark.

As with many anthologies, this is both a strength and a limitation. On one hand, readers who like fantasy are certain to find something in Grim that appeals to them, and the variety helps prevent this long anthology from becoming too repetitive (the two stories based on “Beauty and the Beast” notwithstanding). However, it can also make the book seem uneven, and the sheer number of stories results in some of the stories fading from memory. Just 12 hours after I finished reading the book, I had a difficult time keeping the stories and their titles straight. The shifts in tone might also some readers. While I found the lighter stories a much-welcome respite, I know others found these tales less enjoyable and incompatible with the darker tone found in much of the book.

If I had a major reservation with the book, it is in the graphic, if brief, depictions of sexual abuse in some of the stories. Warning – minor spoilers ahead! “Thinner than Water,” which is based on “Donkeyskin,” deals with incest and abuse, and while this is a key plotline in the story, part of me wishes the author hadn’t gone quite so far in depicting the issue. While the scene does help us understand the main character’s disgust, it also was very disturbing. Additionally, there is a rape scene in “Better” that might be too much for some readers. Despite my misgivings and concerns, I also realize that this more about my default reaction to depictions of sexual abuse rather than anything that has to do with the stories and the writing. Neither scene is gratuitous, but I’d advise readers and teachers to proceed with caution, especially if this sort of content could stir up memories of past traumas.

Overall, Grim is worth reading, and while I don’t know if I would read the entire book over again, there are definitely some stories I’d like to revisit. It would make a solid addition to a school or classroom library, and it would be interesting to pair some of the short stories with the tales that inspired them.