The Magic Toyshop

A tour de force for Angela Carter. This novel is a perfectly formed gem cut in the inimitable Carter style. The story of Melanie, the 'bourgeois screamer' and her journey 'through the mangle' in the form of her experiences in the magic toyshop is a gripping read which sheds much light on Carter's stance towards, among many things, the subjugation of women and the role they take, or are forced to take, in society. This being a Carter novel, the character of Melanie is particularly well drawn, and her exploits operate within the framework of numerous fairy tale paradigms, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty being the most obvious. Melanie is orpahned at the novel's outset and is transported 'from rural comfort' to the grimy, gritty, basic world of real life in london, in the form of her Uncle Philip's home and livelihood, the magic toyshop. There is very little truly magic about the toyshop however. Despite the numerous fairy tale motifs and subtle literary allusions woven into the novel's fabric ( the younger siblings are reliable literary jokes, while uncle philip is a wonderfully overblown carboard cut out of the melodramatic victorian villain) the plot makes Carter's renounciation, and eventual deconstruction of the role the patrairch takes in society clear. Carter may wish us to consider deeper issues, yet, as with all her work, there is a profound sense of fun imbuing the magic toyshop with an inherent readability. Melanie is of course an upper crust adoloscent thrown into a nightmarish, 'dirty' world, and we can take sadistic delight in observing her naivety, her bizzare reasoning, and her faltering steps into puberty. Yet Carter allows Melanie a strong elemnt of adaptibility: she rarely complains about the lot fate has thrown her, so the strength of the female (espacially when we consider the role of Aunt margaret and her moral immutability) is never far from our minds.This was the first carter I read and I havent looked back since. The fairy tale elements and strong narrative, as well as the skillful characterization of Melanie ( a character in whom there is little reflection of Carter herself) make this an easy and enjoyable read, while there is plenty of meat in the prose for anyone to chew on: feminism, sixties culture, family units, growing up, romance and love, art, clothing and the nature of theatre, of drama itself, are all tackled in detail. Highly reccomended for carter virgins and afficiandos alike.

Angela Carter was a genius. The book is written in a very floral, descriptive language that perhaps wth other writers would present a shallow novel. However, with Carter, every word counts. It is about a rich adolescent girl, Melanie, whose parents die and has to move from the country to working class london into her Uncle Phillips care. It is about patriarchial Power, a journey through adolescence and an exploration of sexuality, about classes and the roles that people are socialised into through society. It is about dreams and faerytales and her themes and ideas are all channelled through this.It is a bizarre yet very very powerful novel and the ending is never very clear leaving the reader to sit and wonder. It provokes both thought and emotion and I strongly recommend this book to anyone buying a novel not just for enjoyment but also for an interest on the literary content.

This early Angela Carter novel is one of her simplist and best. I recently read a book , SIGHTS by Susanna Vance, that carries on Carter's otherworldly tradition of writing.

In 1991 I saw the film version of this book on A & E and was immediately hooked. Carter wrote the screenplay, and while the film had many elements of magical realism not in the book, it was an almost perfect adaptation. I wish I could see it again! After searching in vain for a copy of the book in the US, I finally found one in a small bookstore in Sydney, Australia in '92, and have been reading it at least once a year since then. Although it was one of Carter's earliest works, its strange rhythm and imagery are spellbinding and very mature, and yes, it does have echoes of traditional fairy tales, something that became somewhat of an obsession for Carter in later years. It's a wonderful story.

I've been knocked out by every Angela Carter book I've read, but for some reason this early effort is my favorite. It doesn't contain her most gorgeously drunken prose (I think that honor goes to "Wise Children") or showcase her unique storytelling gifts as well as her short fiction does, but it's a powerhouse all the same. There are some great scenes here: the sensuality of the girl's private dream world at the beginning of the novel, the crushing finality when she and her brother arrive at their uncle's house and she realizes what a grim turn her life has taken, the descriptions of her brother, their monstrous uncle, his long-suffering wife and hapless brothers-in-law, the bizarre puppets her uncle creates.... This is highly imaginative stuff, and it doesn't let up for a minute. "Nights at the Circus" and "Wise Children" are both very funny novels, and even their darkest episodes can't diminish the humor. "The Magic Toyshop" sinks into darkness very early on and remains there for most of the novel. But Melanie is such an engaging and sympathetic character that you never once give up hope that somehow, she'll find some kind of escape from the dismal world into which she's thrown. If you've never read Angela Carter, this is a good place to start. It's a bit more traditional than many of her other novels, but it has plenty of bite and a set of characters you'll never forget.