Superb work of fiction a must for Carter virgins (The Magic Toyshop - Angela Carter)

Member Name: LauraSquires

Product:	The Magic Toyshop - Angela Carter
Date:	04/09/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Readable, structured story, vivid characters and powerful imagery

Disadvantages: dark imagery - not for the easily depressed

The Magic Toyshop is an ideal starting point for Angela Carter virgins. A gripping well-written novel, the story contains Carter's hallmark dark and eerie imagery and shows off her limitless imagination while following a clear beginning, middle and end structure. The novel has a story that readers want to follow and lively characters even Carter first-timers will want to know more about.
Carter is escapism at its best. Her work allows us to consider things we never thought possible and come to think of fantasy and fairytale as perfectly normal and almost achievable.
But her writing also encourages us to explore gender, feminist and class themes, usually through female protagonists.
The Magic Toyshop provides us with stark images of poverty, violence and desire. As we follow the protagonist through her emergence into womanhood we are transported into another world and can almost smell the toyshop where Melanie spends so many hours thanks to Carter's description.
This book stayed vividly in my mind for days after reading it and made me desperate to revisit Nights at the Circus which I had dipped into before. It also led me on to read Carter's first novel and find out more about the author's life.
Highly recommended, a superb work of fiction.

Summary: A wonderfully gripping and memorable novel full of unforgettable imagery