When you read a book that tells folktales, you don't expect much. But this book was so well-written and the narrative so personal that it broke my expectations. I loved reading how Theresa Fuller explains her childhood and listening to folktales from an early age. Being an Asian myself, I'm familiar with most of the stories and I've heard or read renditions of a few of them myself. It was really refreshing to read the same stories with Asian characters, in an Asian setting. This book mainly takes inspiration from Singaporean/Malay and Chinese folktales, but I'm sure most of us would have heard one or two of these stories growing up.

However, the reason for my lower rating is that I couldn't enjoy the final story, The Girl Who Became a Goddess, all that much. The author explains how this story is her favorite and that she has taken liberties with narrating it her way. It also takes up about half the book and is the only story that spans more than one chapter. But I found Chang E's story of the ten sons a little too underwhelming for my liking, even though it was written quite well.

This book is short and quick. Anybody who enjoys some good folktales and a nostalgic ride through their childhood of believing in the impossible would definitely like this book.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This book reads like a collection of classic bedtime tales.

Fuller retells a number of folktales from the Singapore, Malaysian and Chinese regions. While they are adapted retellings, they maintain the atmosphere of a story that is based on some type of moral or cultural background, rather than a modern-day story. The cultural and personal context for each of the stories were a really nice touch as well.

Most of the stories are very short, with the exception of the folktale the book is named after, The Girl Who Became a Goddess. This book is told in several chapters and absolutely was my favourite. Fuller manages to instil the story with more depth and character than (I assume) the original tale would have.

I honestly wish more of the stories had been done this way. Despite a little delve into another culture, I felt I didn't gain a huge amount from the other stories.

Overall, however, I recommend this if you are looking for an introduction to the stories founded in these cultures.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

First off, this cover is gorgeous and so eye catching. When I saw it I immediately wanted to know more about it. Secondly, I was so surprised how short this story was at first (only 115 pages per my Fire), but after reading it, I think it was the perfect length. The Girl who became a Goddess is a collection of several short stories told from different parts of Singapore, Malaysia and China. These retellings are based on what the author remembers from her childhood, and I loved that either before or after each story to talks a little bit about them and how she doesn't guarantee these are the exact versions, but the versions that she remembers. Although some pages and stories looked like they still need some editing done to them, I did quite enjoy all of them and understood the message most of them gave.

I was first drawn by the cover. I mean look how stunning it is. "The Girl Who Became A Goddess" is a book of short Asian folklore tales. It's a a quick and easy read.

The cover of this immediately caught my eye and the translation seemed to be good. The best one was definitely The Girl Who Became a Goddess and I loved comparing the Asian folktales to ones I know and love.

Actual rating: 3.5 / 5 star

When I saw the cover and the title of this book on Netgalley, I was immediately sold, I requested for it. Guess what? Yes, I got it. I don’t really know how to organize my thoughts on this book, I guess I’m just gonna talk about my thoughts on this book as I went through the stories.

At first, I wasn’t digging too much on the explanation part. Mind you, this book is full of EXPLANATIONS. At certain point, I felt like the author is trying too hard to help the non-Asian readers or readers who live outside of Malaysia, Singapore and China generally to understand the context of these stories. I mean it’s great but for a reader from Malaysia, I was getting bored by the long winded explanations. However, once I got to the first folktale, which is sort of being retold but the author still keeps the main essence of the stories. It was amazing. It felt as if I was transported to my childhood again. Readers from Malaysia and Singapore are going to love this tale, Sang Kancil so so much; about how brilliant the mousedeer was. I loved this tale a lot.

So, I thought, we are going to have few more retellings like Sang Kancil. But then, I got to read like few-pages-kinda-folktales, which I’m not even sure are these actually retellings or just the author sharing some myths and folktales that she was being told when she was young. There were few stories, one of them being about the pontianak and again with lots of explanation after that short story and there are like different versions to the tale. At this point, I was confused with the format of the book and the way it was organised. Luckily this is just an ARC, I’m not sure how does the final copy look like, I hope was it is organized better because it’s really taking away all the fun when the stories were just thrown like that without any logical explanations or sort of sequence. It could be put together by starting off with some original short tales the author has heard before, then short retellings and ended up with the story of Chang Er.

Then, lastly, we have the story of Chang Er, the girl who became the goddess. This story is tad bit longer than other tales, I think this story stands about almost half of the book. It started off a bit slow and the way it was written was lacking of something, it could be more interesting in my opinion. However, the story did have a very well put climax and I really enjoyed the story of the 10 suns(sons). I’ve heard of Chang Er but I didn’t know about Hou Yi and the 10 Suns. I just searched about it and I think it’s another retelling that combined two folktales, which is written pretty well. It’s just that the way it’s being combined and the way it ended could be written a little bit more excitingly. I’m no writer, so, this is just a very humble opinion.

Overall, this is a really great book to inform people, especially non-Asian readers about Asian folktales. I enjoyed reading it. To me, this book wasn’t the most perfect one but it definitely brings back a lot of memory.

**Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

The Girl Who Became a Goddess is a compilation of many stories and fables that take place in Asia. When I heard about this book, I was really excited to request it. And I mean, look at the gorgeous cover. How could you not want to pick it up?

As a Chinese Canadian, I knew a few folktales from China, but I wanted to explore more stories around East Asia. In addition, it was nice reading the few that I was familiar with and see how Fuller’s version differed from the ones I grew up with.

Some of the stories were quite short (just 2-3 pages) while others were very long (half the book). I definitely found that some stories were more interesting than others. Personally, I kind of wished that Teresa had added more flair to the writing and plot. There were times when I felt like the story was delivered bare to the bone with all plot and no sustenance, and a bit of description and detail could have gone a long way for the stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed the concept and diversity that this book had. I believe this would have done more nicely as a children’s book of Asian fables if Fuller compiled even more stories and added in some illustrations.

Theresa Fuller’s The Girl Who Became a Goddess immediately drew me in with the beautiful cover (I’m a sucker for well-done cover art.) But the beauty doesn’t end there. It’s on every page in this folktale collection—in every story, in Fuller’s mesmerizing words.

The Girl Who Became a Goddess dips into Fuller’s past as she recounts the stories she grew up hearing as a child in Singapore. As is the case with folktales—and the stories Fuller shares—there can be many versions of one particular story. In her retellings, Fuller combines common traits so the reader understands the “point” to the stories (as she explains after each folktale) while also adding her unique perspective.

I loved reading folktales from other cultures as a kid (except the scary ones,) and I loved reading The Girl Who Became a Goddess. While most of the stories have morbid undertones, they were beautifully written and captivating. Other than “Stone Soup,” I’d never heard any of these stories before. I wish Fuller would have included more!

For folktale lovers, Fuller’s collection is a must read. Five stars to The Girl Who Became a Goddess.

I really enjoyed this book and learning about other cultures folktales. I learned that the tales told in this book are different from the ones I grew up with. I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. What makes this book different is the author writes why she chose these tales and lets the reader see why they are important to her. She also gives background information on each story to help you understand it better. My favorite one had to be the last story which was titled "The girl who became a goddess". It was so empowering to see a young woman, who lost everything fight to save her village and other lives
It gave me strength when I was having a rough day and made me learn that I needed to create a solution so I could be happy. If you love learning about different cultures and love good tales, than you need to start reading this book as soon as possible. I appreciate the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with this ARC.

This book is a collection of tales from China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

In addition to making me discover stories I had never heard of, the author delivers her interpretations, but also the original versions that led to them.
The title of the book refers to the last tale transcribed by the author, which represents half of the book. Strangely, it's not my favorite story. Despite its short number of pages, I struggled to get into the story and I lost myself quite quickly ...

In short, a nice discovery, despite some reading difficulties. ^^

Theresa Fuller has a wonderful collection of Chinese fairytales in her book, The Girl Who Became a Goddess. Fuller gives the original tale alongside her interpretation of it which gives a beautiful rendition of the stories. I would have liked it better if the book was divided into 2 separate parts. The first, where I could enjoy all of Fuller's tales and the second where I could read through the original tale as it was told to her as a child. Currently, with each version of the story right after the next, it almost feels like too much is given. Either way, the stories give an amazing view into the history of the Chinese which most in the Western world are not familiar with.

Beautifully written stories revive traditional folktales from Singapore and Malaysia. Richly described with vivid language, these stories connect readers to each other through values and morals.

This year is the year of me reading fairy tales from all over the world, apparently. And yes, I consider Scandinavia and Malaysia, Singapore and China "all over the world". Close enough for now. Maybe someone releases a fairy tale collection of South America later this year?

Anyway.
The Girl Who Became a Goddess is a collection of fairy tales and fairy tale adaptions from Singapore, Malaysia and China. The one with the soup I recognized, only because I read a similar tale in the book Nordic Tales that I read a while ago. I find it fascinating how similar some fairy tales from all over the world can be.
This was an enjoyable read. It was quite short, and a big part of the book was made up of introductions (15% of the book), which was a shame.


Thanks to the author and netgalley for providing this ARC!

Anyone who is part of the diaspora can relate to the retellings of traditional folktales in this collection. There is always an internal struggle of not being "enough" and never quite fitting in, and the stories Fuller chooses to retell will appeal to anyone who feels as though they do not belong. Each story, no matter how short, contains a valuable lesson that often involves looking at the bigger picture, where we all belong to a community bigger than we think. These stories, while old, are timeless and more relevant than ever, and Fuller brings them back to life with her own personal touch.

The stories were interesting but not written with very much finesse.
The first few were hardly longer than 3 pages and the last was over half the book, which is just over 100 pages.
Not sure what the book wanted to be in the first place.
I feel like it needed some more work before publishing.

Tackling the task of writing folktales is always very brave. Most folktales have little substance to work with and can easily become boring and dull.

I really appreciate the effort Theresa Fuller had put into writing this folktale book. I enjoyed reading these folktales the way she remembered or experienced them. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy folktales of different cultures.

A nice collection of folktales from Singapore, Malaysia and China, some retellings, some adaptations, but with always where it is from and the origin of the tale for the author which I quite liked. I enjoyed reading these different tales I had never heard about before, but the fact that some were pretty short (like two pages) and others really long (the last one was 50% of the book) I couldn't know when I began reading each how long it would be which could be disappointing when after reading two pages I found out the story was over. I think I would have liked for the tales themselves to be a little longer (especially the short ones), more explained, or more tales altogether, the book was a quick read and I would have liked to have more.

This was a lovely collection of fanciful folklore tales, some with the old 'Aesop's fables' morals at the end [though this is not inspired by Aesop or related, just an example to help]. Fuller gives us a great introduction into folklore that is outside of the usual tales we grow up hearing of or knowing about in the Western World, such as Aesop's Fables. Fuller also makes this quite personal, giving her version of stories that she grew up with and as folklore is steeped in such an oral tradition, many people can know the same story in many different ways. I really enjoyed each little story and glimpse into these other worlds of Folklore, my only complaint is that I wish there would have been more. I loved this collection and hope Fuller decides to do something like this again.

-Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to read in exchange for my honest review-

This is a short story collection of folktales from Singapore, Malaysia and China. A few are told as retellings, while others are outlines of the stories. Fuller has brought together the stories from her childhood in this collection. While I enjoyed this book overall, I wanted more depth to the stories. It would have been interesting to include some more history of the stories and I wanted some of them to be more fleshed out. At roughly 115 pages, this collection doesn't have the length to really explore these folktales. The title story is by far the strongest, in my opinion, and it is also the most fleshed out (and longest). Overall I enjoyed this short story collection, but it had a lot of potential to be even better. If you enjoy folktales/retellings then you may what to check this out.

I have to admit, the first thing that caught my attention about this book was the cover. It's just so beautiful!!

The stories themselves are from across Malaysia, Singapore, and China. It's interesting to see a collection from such a diverse group of places, although the author does a good job of pulling them all together because they're stories she grew up with.