The remaining two stories were a bit too abstruse for me. How I loved the twist created by the time slip! Some other tales that I relished were The Lake, On a Clear Day, A Thing of Beauty is a Joy to Behold (Was this a variation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis?), A Day in the Life of Abraham Marainein, How my Father Taught Me to Hate Myself (that ending blew my mind!), From the Blood of Innocence and In a Perfect World. Of the ten stories, my favourite was The Sins of the Fathers. The author has a background in philosophy and it shows in his writing as every protagonist seems to have a deeper personality than what is revealed through the words. The entire collection is strongly hinged on atmosphere and plot. You will not find any typical or even likeable characters in this collection. (This last point sounds bad but is good! Consider it an existentialist way of understanding the short variant of storytelling.) You will find yourself introspecting over the thoughts, words, and actions of the characters, over the abrupt ending, over the purpose of the story. Every story is mind-boggling, in the sense that it will not leave you even after you complete it. Quite like the original Grimm Brothers tales, these convert the mundane into the extraordinary. All the stories are set in the Victorian era and that time period adds to the creepiness of the tales. Grim Fairy Tales is a collection of ten dark Gothic stories. If your answer is anything but (a), you have one more strong reason to go for this book. (d) Where the ending will leave you feeling “What the heck did I just read?” (c) a surface-level read doesn’t suffice and you need to delve deep into the lines to understand what’s happening? (b) the plot is more of a slice of life recounting than a progressive narration? (a) the plot goes from point A to point B to point C in a straightforward and predictable manner? If at least four of them appeal to you, you have a strong reason to go for this book. Check out this word list: dark, Gothic, atmospheric, creepy, weird, twisted.

Grim Fairy Tales by Adam Nicke