Tender Morsels

by Margo Lanagan

A brief bit about this book. It was my first pick for our Non-Structured Book Group, and I had specific reasons that I picked it. First of all, it sounded good. For much of my life as a reader I have enjoyed fantasy, and specifically re-workings of fairy tales. Based on a few good reviews of the book, it seemed like this was a well done re-envisioning of the tale Snow White and Rose Red, which I appreciated because it’s a lesser known fairy tale.

I’ve been having trouble with this genre lately though – YA Fantasy, to be specific – and have been finding it increasingly less engaging. In the last year or so, I’ve picked up and then put back more than a few titles with an unhappy sigh while browsing at the library, and the few books that have made it home have more often than not been set aside. I’m not entirely sure why this is. I believe that if a book is well written and compelling, I will enjoy it no matter what the topic, be it unicorns, magic harps, or Parisian apartment buildings. Perhaps I’ve just been picking up a bad crop of books lately. Or perhaps my tastes are in fact shifting.

In spite of my confused feelings about the matter, I went ahead and picked this book for our group read because I knew that as much as it might challenge me, it would challenge other members of the group. And crossing my fingers, I hoped that we would all find it to be something great.

Unfortunately, not.

I did not particularly care for this book. The list of things I didn’t like about it far out-weighs the list of things I liked. Content wise, I found my sensibilities only mildly offended. My problems had more to do with the mish-mash of ideas about how the story was presented. And perhaps just the mish-mash of ideas. I’d rather not say more. There are many reviews of this book out there, both glowing and dismal, and my reluctance to post about it – a peevish kind of irritation in regards to it that has chased me through the weekend – has culminated in a refusal to post anything coherent about it.

For a particularly great comparison of reviews within our own small group, I will point you to Emily’s review for some really thoughtful insights, and Richard’s for a bluntness of feelings that I find admirable and justified. Regardless of my own disappointment and my bemused acceptance of my less than awesome choice for our group read, it’s still been an interesting experience.

Coming at the end of June will be our discussion of Moo Pak by Gabriel Josipovici, a book that I am looking forward to a lot! 🙂