#25 A Tale, Dark and Grimm #1 by Adam Gidwitz

Hansel and Gretel by Adam Gitwitz

EBook format

Rating 3/5

What do you remember about the story of Hansel and Gretel? What can you under-stand about it?

I chose this fairytale for this posbar after I did a kinda quiz of what kind of fairytale character are you, I got Hansel and Gretel. And you know what? I have no memory of anything about the royal siblings.

The story starts from a king from Grimm palace gives his mandate to his oldest and the most faithful servant, Johannes. This servant has served his father, and his father's father and his father's father's father so loyally (can you imagine how tottered and crooked he is as well as how loyal he is?). His message is to show what the king's son got in that palace, the treasure and anything he got but one thing he cannot show; a room where there's a picture of a very beautiful princess. It is destined that the prince would suffer if he falls in love with her.

And......... That's the beginning of Hansel and Gretel story. Ring a bell? Nope? I didn't at first since I was looking for the wicked witch. There should be a witch. Is the beautiful princess the witch? No no no...

Here we go again.

The prince and the princess finally meet each other and get married. So, where will the destiny take effect on how suffer the prince if he marries her? Don't forget about the loyal Johannes who has under-stood this royal family for the rest of his life?. He takes a very important role on Hansel and Gretel's life. He sacrifices himself to get the curse of the prince and the princess so they can tie the knot. He shows that he doesn’t only understand the family, but above all, he under-stands them—standing under them in any circumstances.

The end.

Hey, where are Hansel and Gretel then?

Well, after the couple get married, they get two children, Hansel and Gretel. So, what happened to Johannes who sacrificed himself by taking the curse and now remains as a statue? Will they show some gratitude to him for saving the royal family? Well, they do. But they have to sacrifice the innocent siblings to replace Johannes 's life. The parents are to cut their heads off

They die.

The end? Nope.

This one is the one I'm familiar with, I mean the story. The banishment of the siblings to the woods and then meet the witch. But, instead of witch, Adam changes her into a wicked baker who eats flesh and bone. She favors children flesh and bone.

How do Hansel and Gretel meet the baker since their life seems normal after Johannes is back and by miracle, they come back to life. Well, they seem to get trauma after their heads cut off (hey, who doesn't?). They don't want that to happen again. So, they escape to the woods and meet the flesh-and-bone-eat-baker.

Well, the rest of the story is quite familiar to me. But, I still don't find something I remember happened in the story. Then I got it in the twist story of Hansel and Gretel.

As a children story, it reminds me a bit of Lemony Snickett's series, The Story of Unfortunate Events. It has evil, sadism, and gloom. I couldn't agree more with reviews from goodreads, stated that this fairytale is not for children. Another thing reminds me of Lemony Snickett is the way Adam narrated the story. It has some spoilers telling about the next story in a witty way. Yet, the readers, for sure, would continue reading, would not be spoiled for the world since it contains curiosity for what will happen next.

As a fairy tale, it meets the requirements for having magic and a witch. However, don’t expect too much. It has a happy ending though but not so happy ending. Perhaps, the writer expected for children that life is not as happy as what they know. Life is not as sweet as fairytale, does not always end like Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, The Snow White and others.