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Briar Rose (Coover, Robert)
by: Robert Coover

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780802135414
ISBN: 0802135412
Label: Grove Press
Manufacturer: Grove Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 96
Publication Date: December 19, 1997
Publisher: Grove Press
Sales Rank: 424256
Studio: Grove Press

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Coover puts his unique spin on one of the oldest and best-known of all fairy tales, 'Sleeping Beauty', telling the story of a prince trapped in the briars; a sleeping beauty who cannot awaken, dreaming of a succession of kissing princes; and the old spell-casting fairy who inhabits the princess's dreams, regaling her with legends of other sleeping beauties and trying to imagine the nature of human desire.

Amazon.com Review:
Robert Coover has a power over the language matched by few authors and a curiosity about the nature of stories and narratives that keeps his work intellectually charged, if sometimes difficult to follow. Students of postmodernism and fans of metafiction will be interested to read Briar Rose, Coover's funny deconstruction and retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- It's cynical.
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest rating I could give, I rate this book a 7. It's hard to stay with. The writing is not bad, but the approach is cynical. Actually, it gives me a feeling that the author does not really like females, and is taking out his aggression on the fair sex by these writings. I could do without being so much in the prince's "head", or the evil fairy's "head" - especially before bedtime. Nobody wants a rotting princess full of worms, either. What ever happened to the other fairies? They aren't here. I can't read this book before I go to sleep. It's not a soothing experience. It's dark; but some people like that kind of thing. I don't find it to be an erotic book in any sense of the word - it is more aggressive than feeling. In fact? the prince does everything short of squatting in front of a mirror to comb his hair back like "The Fonz" from Happy Days, before meeting the princess. ... Read More

Rating:

- Excellent exploration of the symbolic overtones of the Sleeping Beauty story
Briar Rose is the name of the princess in Sleeping Beauty and the name of the Grimm brothers version of the story is Little Briar Rose. Robert Coover tells the story from three points of view. First is the point of view of the prince entering and cutting his way through the briars on a heroic/erotic quest. Then there is the princess dreaming of her rescue by a kiss from the spell induced by a spindle prick and the promised handsome prince who will do the kissing. Lastly, is the evil fairy who cast the spell and who keeps the princess company by telling her stories during her 100 year slumber. The story keeps switching between these three perspectives, with much repetition. Each character explores their own expectations and fears through this process.

This is a story rich in mythic and erotic symbolism, and Coover explores these in depth as each character relives the event in their mind from slightly different ... Read More

Rating:

- And you thought the Brothers were Grimm
I kept falling asleep when I was reading this--and all I can remember now, its been a year. Is how weird I found it. It kept giving me weird ideas, that perhaps the author would have loved to seen Sleeping Beauty as a porno flick instead of a fairy tale.

Strange, strange book. Though it certainly has some unique ideas in it.

This is a really dark book, even if it is amazingly short.

Rating:

- An Existential Sleeping Beauty
While reading Coover's book, you might find yourself confused. This is only appropriate, as Coover wrote an existential masterpiece. The prince's efforts to penetrate the briar hedge lead him nowhere. Beauty dreams of a series of princes waking her, each worse than the last. They seek eachother because they seek the only concept they know will not melt away.

If you consider the phrase "someday my prince will come" sacrosanct, this is probably not a good one to read.

If you need a traditional narrative, this is probalby not a good one to read.

If you're looking for a read aloud for your children...perhaps try a different book.

Otherwise, enjoy.

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