I read Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels weeks ago, and am just now getting around to reviewing it for a reason: I have no idea, still, how I feel about it. It seriously left me a jumbled mess. The only other books I can think of that have come anywhere close to haunting me like this one are Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro Kazuo and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
And yet, Tender Morsels is nothing like either of these two novels. It is a re-telling of the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red. In this version, it is Liga, the girls’ mother, who is the focus, rather than the daughters, and if you’ve got visions of Disney’s plump little dwarves and sweet and sleepy Snow White, stop now. The source material for this version is the far more sinister Grimm tale, and the brothers’ last name describes it to a tee.
And yet, Tender Morsels is nothing like either of these two novels. It is a re-telling of the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red. In this version, it is Liga, the girls’ mother, who is the focus, rather than the daughters, and if you’ve got visions of Disney’s plump little dwarves and sweet and sleepy Snow White, stop now. The source material for this version is the far more sinister Grimm tale, and the brothers’ last name describes it to a tee.
