Captivating blend of monster horror and gothic fantasy
What Big Teeth is a Gothic fantasy and it is the perfect balance of grim fairytale and horror. Szabo uses a slow pace that builds unease and danger until it explodes into action with an exciting end. The family is reclusive, so most of the story is set inside the mansion. This adds a claustrophobic feel to the story. At the same time, there is a sense of isolation and profound loneliness both physically and emotionally. Characters hide in secret corridors or one of the many rooms. Eleanor has deep loneliness as she is the black sheep of the family. She doesn’t know who she is and doesn’t feel like she belongs with her family.
Szabo wrote a gothic fantasy that both feels familiar and new. They put many fairytale tropes into the story, such as the wise grandmother, young girl, wolves, castles, and omens. What makes the story feel new is that What Big Teeth doesn’t feel like reading a familiar fairytale. Szabo uses tropes but never specifies the type of monsters the characters are. We can infer they are werewolves or vampires, but we’re not entirely sure. By using some traits found in these monsters, Szabo evades readers’ preconceived notions about how these monsters behave. There’s no happy ending or moral lessons about good or evil. It feels like you are in a new dark fairytale. It was creepy, scary, and exciting.
The story is odd, but captivating. It’s a story charged with emotions like anger, hunger, fear, desire, love, and jealousy. The Zarrins are not kind to one another. They operate on this intense survival instinct, which leads them to make horrible decisions. And yet, they still feel like a family connected by love. They accept each other for who they are and will do anything to protect each other from others. By the end of the book, I couldn’t help feeling attached to them and hoping they will continue to survive for ages.
Szabo wrote a gothic fantasy that both feels familiar and new. They put many fairytale tropes into the story, such as the wise grandmother, young girl, wolves, castles, and omens. What makes the story feel new is that What Big Teeth doesn’t feel like reading a familiar fairytale. Szabo uses tropes but never specifies the type of monsters the characters are. We can infer they are werewolves or vampires, but we’re not entirely sure. By using some traits found in these monsters, Szabo evades readers’ preconceived notions about how these monsters behave. There’s no happy ending or moral lessons about good or evil. It feels like you are in a new dark fairytale. It was creepy, scary, and exciting.
The story is odd, but captivating. It’s a story charged with emotions like anger, hunger, fear, desire, love, and jealousy. The Zarrins are not kind to one another. They operate on this intense survival instinct, which leads them to make horrible decisions. And yet, they still feel like a family connected by love. They accept each other for who they are and will do anything to protect each other from others. By the end of the book, I couldn’t help feeling attached to them and hoping they will continue to survive for ages.