These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories [Paperback]

Jim Knipfel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1439154120 | ISBN-13: 978-1439154120 | Edition: Original

From the irresistibly droll mind of Jim Knipfel comes These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, a series of twisted fables that echo with pinpoint acuity. A masterful storyteller whose memoirs and novels have earned him widespread acclaim, this is Knipfel’s first foray into the short story, and he delivers in spades: this wickedly dark satire on the notion of happily ever after turns the traditional fairy tale on its head. Among the array of lonely losers wallowing in discontent, the enterprising reader of this volume may meet a talking chicken who learns the world has little patience for intelligence, a foul-mouthed gnome set on world domination, and a magical snowman wrestling with the horror of being alive. In These Children Who Come at You with Knives, Knipfel’s singular and brilliantly funny mind reinvents the bedtime story and offers up a wildly entertaining meditation on the perils of human nature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of Knipfel's offbeat collection of creepy stories makes one thing immediately clear—this, thankfully, isn't a typical collection of fairy tales. While there are the standard fantastical elements—talking animals, elves, and even a princess thrown in for good measure—these twisted stories horrify the reader, provide ample shots of humor, and, of course, offer lessons: in the title story, it's intimated that a gnome should not be ignored, for he will seek revenge. Six-Leggity Beasties makes it clear that people should be nice to their neighbors, because they may need help when cockroaches take over their home. The talking chicken of The Chicken Who Was Smarter Than Everyone may think she's smarter than everyone, but she can still be tricked. Funny, sarcastic, and disturbing, Knipfel's stories will cause readers to squirm in their seats and laugh out loud at the same time. (June)
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From Booklist

Cult memoirist and novelist Knipfel (Slackjaw, 1999; Unplugging Philco, 2009) presents his first foray into short fiction, a collection of 14 sly, mordantly comical fairy tales. These bleak fables about the hazards of greed, vanity, and other follies are filled with eccentric loners, such as a dreamer lost at sea clinging to a rapidly depleting piece of wood and an impoverished woman whose only friend is a hungry, sombrero-sporting maggot. In spite of their forlorn existences, each of Knipfel's characters learns a hard-earned lesson. A shoe-factory worker's wife leaves him, taking everything but a chatty plant that soon outgrows the house and the man's biggest problems. A despondent, jobless outcast befriends a talking monkey named Misery that convinces him to sell his possessions and drink the money away. And in the disturbing title story, unruly hippies infest a contented seaside village called Happytown, resulting in an epic, bloody battle. Although the stories' morals are sometimes unclear, Knipfel fashions a wildly entertaining and wicked world where few live happily ever after, if they live at all. --Jonathan Fullmer

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439154120
• ISBN-13: 978-1439154120
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted Tales to set Father Grimm on His Head, June 5, 2010

By 

R. M. Dellifraine (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories (Paperback)

I devoured this book in a day. I was completely sucked in from the preface on, and you cannot skip the preface! After all, it only explains the creation of the universe with the sort of humor that would have had Douglas Adams rolling in the aisles back when he was among the quick. Basically, this is a collection of fables and fairy tales complete with gnomes, trolls, princesses, and even a talking chicken thrown in for good measure (to list just a few), but the book reads like they are all connected, like this is all happening on the same whacked out, funny, ludicrous version of Earth where a gnome can seek world domination and a brilliant young chicken can learn a lesson about what the world really thinks about smart people. These stories are funny, entertaining, and I'm looking forward to reading them again.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For only those that truly enjoy very dark humor, June 20, 2010

By 

J. Lee "imajeel" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories (Paperback)

This is a collection of very dark, bizarre, definitely unique and occassionally flat-out revolting fairy tales written for adults by a creative, good writer with a really weird (or some might say - sick)sense of humor.

The book begins with the story of how Satan creates the world and stupid mankind for his own amusement. After that it's a ride through the strange world they live in. From the first tale of a talking chicken who sets off to find her destiny - it becomes clear that these are the complete opposite of "happily ever after" stories.

For me, I found that, up until the last one, they became progressively more predictable and vulgarly revolting.

But, even the names of the tales should make that pretty clear:

- Stench: The Crappy Snowman (a tale of the miserable life of a poorly made snowman who was created with dog poop for a nose)

- Maggot in a Red Sombrero (in which a crazy lady befriends a maggot who needs to be fed)

- Tubercular Bells (in which a man discovers a band of gnomes is soiling his sidewalks and driveway with poop and bodily excrements each night)

- Misery & Co. (in which a talking monkey named Misery befriends a man)

While, there's no question that Knipfel is incredibly creative and a clever writer, and as much as I generally appreciate a unique approach (all of which, I've given the book 3-stars for), most of these were just too dark for me.

BOTTOM LINE: Since it is well-written and clever, if you are a fan of Grimm's Fairy Tales or really enjoy very dark, sarcastic humor, or think you'd enjoy a couple of the tales I mentioned, you'll probably enjoy this one far more than I.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WTF?, September 17, 2010

By 

Paul J "striderman" (NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories (Paperback)

I've only read a few of the stories in the book. I would read more but I don't want to invest anymore time with stories that have the stupidest ending I've read in a long time. The preface "World without end, amen" was good, I liked it and was hoping that the rest of the book would be like that. "The chicken who was smarter than everyone" and "The boy who came to his senses" were a complete waste of time. While the stories were slightly interesting the endings just made it not worth reading. I don't know, maybe its just me but I can't justify reading anymore of this book if there is a chance the rest of the stories will leave me completely unsatisfied after finishing them. I would not recommend this book.