Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6890 in Books
• Published on: 1992-08-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

Synopsis
'This crazy world whirled around her, men and women dwarfed by toys and puppets, where even the birds are mechanical and the few human figures went masked...She was in the night once again, and the doll was herself.' Melanie walks in the midnight garden, wearing her mother's wedding dress; naked she climbs the apple tree in the black of the moon. Omens of disaster, swiftly following, transport Melanie from rural comfort to London, to the Magic Toyshop. To the red-haired, dancing Finn, the gentle Francie, dumb Aunt Margaret and Uncle Phillip. Francie plays curious night music, Finn kisses fifteen-year-old Melanie in the mysterious ruins of the pleasure gardens. Brooding over all is Uncle Philip: Uncle Philip, with blank eyes the colour of wet newspaper, making puppets the size of men, and clockwork roses. He loves his magic puppets, but hates the love of man for woman, boy for girl, brother for sister...In this, her second novel, (awarded the 1967 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) Angela Carter's brilliant imagination and starting intensity of style explore and extend the nature and boundaries of love.

Customer Reviews

The Magic Toyshop
This novel thrusts the reader into what they believe to be a world in which fantasy and reality merge effortlessly. However, subtle cues by the author move the reader rapidly from a mere engagement with plot and suspision that the main character is in a world of make-believe, into the reality that horrendous circumstance can almost create the same effect. This book will never disappoint and leave you with a true sense that the outcome ordained for the central characters could not, and should not have been anything other than what was to be. A chilling and gripping read.

Macabre
I adored this exquisitely written book and found it to be a captivating read, although at times it's quite disturbing too. Some of the contents made me shudder, and took me slightly unawares. I won't say more, for fear of spoilers, but did feel I needed to mention the artfully written shocks that are in store for the reader. Angela Carter's descriptions of her characters are so vivid that they almost come to life on the page. She has a remarkable writing style that will draw you in and hold you until you've read this book from to start to finish. It's an uneasy read due to the presence of some very sinister characters - toys included - but one that is sure to delight fans of the macabre.

Out of this world
I couldn't get enough of this novel. From an unenthusiastic start this soon took off at chapter 2 and then I couldn't put it down. I love Carter's writing style and I was surprised to see that this was only her second novel; it seemed so structured and confident. A super super novel! In discussion with others I was trying to work out why this a fairy tale when we tend to associate them with fanciful tales of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children; however a fairy tale can also be a fictitious, highly fanciful story or explanation and I think it falls into the latter. It is an explanation of Melanie finding herself as a woman or an object in society. All the different representations of woman that Melanie goes through at the beginning, using the art form and then again the different interpretations of woman through the female characters - Mother, Mrs Rundle, Aunt Margaret, child (Victoria) and young adult (Melanie) were put together so well. Very clever!

Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytical theory of the Mirror Stage struck a chord with me, especially the opening pages in relation to this. It's all about Ego, the body image and the mother. Then the mirror was taken away from her when they moved to Uncle Philip's house. He reminded me of the Evil Queen in Snow White, which is again representative of the Mirror Stage. I think the title is quite apt, the toyshop is magic. Magic is a mysterious quality of enchantment and to be magic you possess distinctive qualities. Uncle Philip tried to perform his own magic by recreating a world he wanted and that he could control - Evil Queen? In one way or another they all possessed distinctive qualities and even down to the toyshop from the title, what is a toyshop? A toy is something you play with - which Uncle Philip did all the time, he played with them. An overwhelming 5/5 for me! It's now my fourth Angela Carter book and it certainly won't be my last.