Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: black bride, bloody chamber, seal wife, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, White Bride (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The virginal princess, the ugly stepsister, the wicked witch: through timeless fairy tales and their contemporary adaptations in films and novels, such caricatures have become deeply embedded in the collective consciousness and have helped shape society's standards for feminine beauty and behavior. Assigning them real-life counterparts, Gould examines how such stereotypes influence a woman's life as she moves from maiden to matron to crone through a comprehensive analysis of these familiar storybook characters. If Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty represent a young girl's confrontation of parental authority and cultural expectations, then Rapunzel, Jane Eyre, and Scarlett O'Hara symbolize her coming-of-age, and the tales of Hansel and Gretel and Demeter and Persephone explore ways in which elderly women face their final years and eventual death. In an engaging and erudite analysis of how these metamorphoses have been informed by or reflected in our ancient myths and contemporary mores, Gould reevaluates the personas women adopt in real life and in literature. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Brilliant . . . belongs by any woman’s bedside, inside any commuting woman’s briefcase, next to any woman’s reading chair, for its surprising yet deeply recognizable truths about women’s lives.”
–Elizabeth Berg, author of The Year of Pleasures and Open House

“Open Joan Gould’s lovely book anywhere and you will find something recognizable, as relevant today as when you were a child. That’s the magic of fairy tales. Be wise, be strong, and grab life like the heroes and heroines in Spinning Straw into Gold.”
–Nancy Friday, author of My Mother, My Self and My Secret Garden

“Taking the life of woman through her changes, from maiden to matron to crone, Joan Gould has written a passionate song of praise for life itself. Her book is as nourishing as the fairy tales she treats. Her inspired Spinning Straw into Gold rejuvenates us all.”
–Robert Fagles, translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey

“This is at once a deep yet thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable book.”
–Maggie Scarf, author of Secrets, Lies, Betrayals and Intimate Partners

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (February 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812975456
• ISBN-13: 978-0812975451
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #566,219 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maiden, Mother, Crone, May 24, 2005

By	Kelly L. (www.FantasyLiterature.com) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life (Hardcover)

For the record, my answer to Joan Gould's first question--"What's your favorite fairy tale?"--is "Beauty and the Beast".

This question begins a beautiful, lyrical exploration of many fairy tales, both famous and obscure, and how they relate to the different stages of women's lives. In the Sleeping Beauty chapter, for example, she delves into the psyche of a young woman just awakening into sexuality; for Beauty and the Beast she explores a woman's experience with courtship and the beginning of marriage, and for the tale of Demeter she talks about being an older woman, watching one's child choose her own path. These are just a few examples. For every tale Gould draws parallels to other, more modern novels and movies that contain fairy-tale archetypes, like Jane Eyre, Pretty Woman, The Story of O, Harry Potter, and Wuthering Heights. I saw myself reflected over and over in these pages, both in the chapter that best fit my current circumstances and in all those that preceded it. I concur with the reviewer who says she wished she'd had this book when she was 18. It just "clicks" so well with things I'd experienced but not known how to name, and ties them in with the stories I've always loved, revealing to me just why those stories never lose their resonance with me.

My only quibble is that Gould focuses more on the biological aspects of womanhood--menstruation, sex, childbirth, menopause--than on other sorts of choices women make, like career and creativity. She does mention these things, but they are not given as much emphasis.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Sleeping Beauty to Star Wars -- our universal stories, March 14, 2005

By	Suzanne Js Davidson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life (Hardcover)

This is an eye-opening guide to the themes which underlie all of our great stories, no matter what culture we come from. Describing and exploring the significance of the well-known fairy tales as they exist in different countries and societies, as well as some of the most successful movies in our popular culture, Joan Gould delivers countless "ah ha!" moments, both about the threads that run between the fairy tales, and the themes that are always present in any story that achieves wide-spread success -- regardless of the media form in which it's told.

This is a book which looks at the heroine of the fairy tales, rather than the dashing hero, and is perfect

for women working to make their daughters' life transitions successful,

for girls and young women, for whom the book puts in both a personal and a universal context some of the key pre-adolescent and adolescent struggles they didn't even know they were having

and for anyone who enjoys figuring out what it is that makes a story strike a deep chord.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Women who love Joseph Cambell or Jung will love this book!, March 13, 2005

By	Julia H. Galdo - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life (Hardcover)

We have always known that fairy tales speak to our souls. If you want to know why, you will find this book fascinating. Think of a combination of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung and you have Spinning Straw into Gold. It is amazing how these stories speak to us across centuries. And it is also fascinating to see how differently - and richly -- they are interpreted in this book. Most of what I knew was in the Disney versions, and I have seen here there is a lot more to explore! So reach over the oceans, back over time, into our collective unconscious to see what messages there are for you. I highly recommend the journey!