The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief and Sinister

Bachmann, Stefan et al The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief and Sinister, 479 p. Greenwillow (Harper), 2014.  $17.  Violence:  PG-13; Mature Content: G; Language: G.  

Take the title of this book literally.  Most of the tales are so brief that they don’t have time to construct a narrative that makes sense and just leave the reader bewildered at what happened and, most importantly, why it happened.  The tales are cursious  - throwing out odd settings, places, creatures and actions that are not developed into something cohesive enough to engage the reader, before abandoning the story line, never to reappear.  The tales are sinister – they delight in being cruel and twisted without any sort of context, just brutality for brutality’s sake.  Instead engaging my sense of wonder, I felt violated by many of the tales, especially because most of the tales lack any like of plotting.  Only when the stories were longer, when the narrative was allowed to develop, did I feel like I was reading something worthwhile.  I don’t mind dark stories, in fact I rather enjoy a dark tale, but being dark without purpose is just a crime.  I know these authors are better than this – I have read at least one other thing from all of them.  

NOT RECOMMENDED.  Cindy, Library Teacher.