Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
My rating: 4/5 cats
wow, this was a gorgeous, dark, unsettling marvel of a book.
and like jaye davidson in the crying game, it’s got a little secret to it, so i’m going to dance around that part of it in this review. but know that, yes, there is a twist, but it is not the kind of book whose appeal lies solely in this twist. this novel stands on its own merit, and the little “aha!” moment at the end just enhances what is already a stunner of a book.
this is not the first book i have read in which fairy tales are used to offset the horrors of WWII. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel also used this conceit very well, but this book is a much more ambitious exploration of the idea.
there are three storylines here. the brief tease that opens the book follows two fearful and bruised children and the shadow they carry between them as they escape from an unknown foe through an enchanted forest, while the girl tells remembered fairytales and plots revenge upon the one responsible for their situation. it ends with a threat and a promise.
the second story takes place in vienna in 1899, and features the psychoanalyst josef breuer and a mysterious woman he calls “lilie.” she was found all alone, nude and bruised, with a shaved head and tattoos on one arm, and insists that she is not a woman at all, but a machine. breuer is captivated by her beauty, and sets her up in his home until her identity can be established, over the huffy protestations of his maid gudrun. while she is under his care, black-and-white butterflies infest his home, and lilie’s strange behavior manages to infatuate both breuer and his servant benjamin, while outside of his walls, the city simmers with violence and anti-semitic sentiment.
the third story takes place years later, in germany, and stars one of the most beastly little girls ever to grace a page. she is a spoiled creature, the daughter of a doctor who works with “animal people” in a “zoo” and her favorite word is “won’t.” her mother is dead, and her only companion is greet, her changeable servant, who fills her head with fairy tales, which get darker and more violent depending on her mood and krysta’s behavior. krysta’s understanding of the world around her becomes infected with these fantasy elements, and her impulsive and destructive behavior leads her into dangerous circumstances, which she continues to interpret through a veil of make-believe.
these three disparate narratives will converge in a most satisfying way, but even if they hadn’t – if the “aha!” hadn’t been successful – it would still have been worth reading for krysta’s storyline alone. the arc her character experiences is incredibly effective and well-written, and the fairytales themselves are stories within stories within stories in that way i love.
there is so much to talk about here, but six months away from pub date, i don’t want to do more than just offer a glimpse into what’s coming. definitely check this one out, because – wow.
