Through The Water Curtain- Cornelia Funke
Published By Pushkin’s Children
Book Review By Gemma McLaughlin
For this book review I’m moving away from novels to look at a collection of fairy tales. This is something that I was a little hesitant about originally because I don’t often find myself enjoying the type of fairy tales that we are most often exposed to in pop culture. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the book to discover that Cornelia Funke had set out to find tales of a rather more rebellious and unique perspective to share. As, although I’m not always a fan of fairytales, I love short stories I found myself quite excited to learn what was inside.
All of the fairy tales came from different countries with wildly different cultures, and whether they were directly translated or retold after some time, they all had different styles and ideas to offer. One of my personal favourites was actually the namesake of the collection, Through The Water curtain, which, without giving away too much, involved a monk, a secret waterfall and devious monkeys. The stories ranged from messages that I felt had to be important to whoever wrote it but I couldn’t quite decider to very clear moral lessons and almost everything in between.
I think while reading, I learned a lot more about the nature of fairy tales than I had ever known before. I read a lot of kinds of fairy tales from countries with ideas that I have never considered, and learned a lot about the way fairy tales in general are structured, and the ways they can differ in plot, ideals, and most importantly the picture that they paint for the reader. There is something mystifying and exciting about the effect fairy tales can have on us, even and sometimes especially, those with the simplest of plot lines.
Although I enjoyed the fairy tales, I think my favourite part was the contrast they created with the little notes written at the end. I almost wish that when reading other texts I could have a little explanation or fun comment from Cornelia Funke to bring me back to reality, and to reflect on what I’ve just read. I think somehow reading would be an even more enjoyable experience. When I found those little pieces of text at the end, talking about the hunt for whatever tale I’d just read, or even the ideas that may be taken from it I felt as though I was being let into an exciting secret.
I think there must be something incredibly special about this book to have made me treasure the stories within as deeply as I did and I hope others find the same enchanting, and enlightening experience that I did. I suggest anyone who is sceptical, as I was, about fairy tales reads Through The Water Curtain for a lovely surprise.
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