Plumedini's True Tales of Super Chicken Freaks as Retold by C... by John Brady Woodson

Oyeyemi’s voice is hypnotic her deft blend of realism and myth casts a spell that’s both unsettling and luminous.Ĥ. But when she gives birth to a biracial child, the story transforms into a masterful dark allegory about race, secrets, and all we fail to see. She marries a widower, drawn to his radiant, motherless daughter. In this Snow White retelling, the daughter of a violent rat-catcher escapes to an idyllic town filled with artisans who craft beautiful things. This gratifying, big-hearted story seamlessly weaves together Shakespearean comedy, saag paneer, gossipy aunties, pro wrestling, spoken-word poetry, Ikea furniture, Fajr prayer, AA meetings and every variety of love. Navigating mix-ups and microaggressions, unwelcome rishta proposals and unexpected twists, both confront questions of faith v certainty, identity v community, heritage v individual desire. He, in turn, is lonely and awkward, clinging to the hope that his overbearing mother will choose his ideal bride. Ayesha, an aspiring poet, outspoken and independent, dismisses the devout Khalid as patriarchal and judgmental. This Pride and Prejudice update recasts Darcy and Elizabeth as Khalid and Ayesha, Muslims of Indian descent living in Toronto. A powerful story of rage and grace, healing and becoming, told in shimmering prose. We learn of the casual, bored cruelty of the Titans and Olympians, the “great chain of fear” in which they delight, and the reason for Circe’s exile (as with all witch stories, it’s because Circe discovered her powers, and used them). Thousands of years later, Circe gets her due in Miller’s fierce – retelling. In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe plays a minor role as the goddess/witch who transforms Odysseus’s men into pigs, only to be outwitted, defeated, and bedded by the wily mortal.

Here are 10 terrific books that breathe fresh life into the familiar: I took inspiration from others who dared find new relevance in old tales. I decided to recast Wharton’s classic as The Smash-Up, setting it during a volatile week in 2018, when nothing was simple and no place isolated from the madness. This time, Zenobia intrigued me: why was she so angry? Meanwhile, Mattie’s ultimate transformation – from adorable innocent to some monstrous new thing – seemed less tragic than inevitable. Who could choose Zenobia, Ethan’s sickly crone of a wife, over the sparkling young Mattie Silver? A few years ago – by then a wife and a mother of daughters living inside the chaos and rage of Trump’s America – I returned to the book. The story is spare, quiet: a farmer, trapped in a loveless marriage, longs for warmth amid the isolation of a cruel New England winter. At 15, I read Ethan Frome, a 1911 Edith Wharton novella about a small-town love triangle.

Plumedini's True Tales of Super Chicken Freaks as Retold by C... by John Brady Woodson