Girls

Annet Schaap’s “Girls: Life Isn’t a Fairy Tale” is a sharp, darkly funny collection that takes seven well-worn fairy tales and flips them on their heads. You think you know these stories—Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and the rest—but Schaap peels back the glitter to expose something messier and more human beneath. This isn’t your childhood bedtime reading; it’s a wake-up call wrapped in familiar frames.

Each story centers on a girl or young woman who faces not just external threats—wolves, witches, princes—but the internal wrestling of identity, autonomy, and desire. These characters aren’t passive damsels waiting around for rescue. They’re stubborn, scared, angry, and sometimes monstrous themselves. Take the miller’s daughter who can spin straw into gold but isn’t exactly thrilled about the prince who wants to marry her. Or the girl who refuses to kiss a frog just because tradition says she should. These aren’t fairy tale clichés; they’re real people questioning their roles.

Schaap’s writing style is bold and unpretentious. She doesn’t sugarcoat the darker aspects of these tales, and that honesty gives the stories a raw edge. The tone balances between ominous and wry, with illustrations that add a creepy, unsettling vibe without tipping into full horror. It’s like walking through a familiar forest at dusk—magical, but you know something’s lurking.

What stands out is how Schaap zeroes in on the girls’ autonomy. These aren’t stories about being saved by a prince or finding true love as the ultimate goal. Instead, they explore what it means to own your story, even when it’s complicated or uncomfortable. The characters wrestle with their desires, their fears, and their identities in ways that feel authentic rather than preachy.

The collection also shines a light on the darker undercurrents of fairy tales—the violence, the captivity, the monstrousness that’s often glossed over or sanitized. For example, the tale of a monstrous princess trapped on a deserted island isn’t just a spooky setup; it’s a meditation on isolation and longing for freedom, told from a female perspective rarely given in traditional folklore.

If you’re expecting neat moral lessons or a tidy happily-ever-after, this book will probably frustrate you. But if you’re interested in stories that challenge the fairy tale status quo and give voice to female characters who don’t fit the mold, Schaap delivers with flair and nuance. It’s a collection that invites readers to question the stories they grew up with and consider what’s left out when we only hear the sanitized versions.

In short, “Girls: Life Isn’t a Fairy Tale” is a smart, unsettling, and ultimately human take on classic narratives. It’s not about rewriting fairy tales to be more palatable or politically correct; it’s about digging into the shadows and giving the girls at the center of these stories the complexity they deserve. If you like your fairy tales with a side of grit and a dash of dark humor, this is worth your time.