The expectation that the reader isn't a complete moron is refreshing. Different aspects of the tale are presented and dissected without getting bogged down in asides, each point supported by appropriate context from the age without drifting into long winded lessons on unnecessary history. Her examination of the story's early history and metamorphosis over time is thorough without being dry, riveting enough to hold even a casual reader's interest. A surprisingly quick read, Orenstein presents her material in a succinct manner and makes each individual section stand on its own merits, thereby avoiding an overabundance of repetition. Part cultural study, part literary analysis, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked fed that fire and lived up to my expectations. My fascination with fairy tales knows no bounds. Written with lively prose, Orenstein has produced a book that will spark thought and conversation, encouraging readers to find the wolf, the grandmother, and the little girl within. In all, 10 tales are examined, as well as a vast historical study of the times they were published. In "Grandmother's Tale," Riding Hood's cannibalistic meal of her grandmother is reduced to a "symbolic reminder that the old will be reborn in the young." There is nothing mentioned of the talking cat who decries Riding Hood, saying, "She is a slut who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of her granny!" But what Orenstein lacks in depth, she more than makes up for in her encompassing study. Though expansive in her research, Orenstein's interpretations are occasionally too simplistic. the path of needles or the path of pins?" Orenstein also takes a look at more modern versions, including Anne Sexton's poem "Red Riding Hood" and Matthew Bright's film Freeway, taking on, as she examines these and other modern versions of the old tale, the machismo wolf and the Gen-X grrrl. In this version, she revives the symbolism that relates to the feminine by pointing out the odd questions of the bzou: "Which path are you taking. She traces the story further back to a shockingly playful rendition that includes bzous (werewolves) and cannibalism. Starting with the first-known published version, Orenstein points out Charles Perrault's lesson to young girls entering the lascivious and political court of Louis XIV. The result is a highly entertaining and interesting conversation about one of our best-known stories.
Choosing one of the few fairy tales that does not conclude with a wedding, Catherine Orenstein reinterprets the many versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" by setting the tale against the mores and values of its times.
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