I checked this book out from the library to familiarize myself more deeply with [a:Rachel Pollack|52752|Rachel Pollack|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png]'s fiction work, having only read [b:Unquenchable Fire|832830|Unquenchable Fire (Unquenchable Fire, #1)|Rachel Pollack|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1178753455s/832830.jpg|818463] some years ago, and being more familiar with her work on tarot.

In [b:Tarot of Perfection|4498935|Tarot of Perfection, The A Book of Tarot Tales|Rachel Pollack|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347670626s/4498935.jpg|4547913], Pollack takes up a practice popularized by [a:Italo Calvino|155517|Italo Calvino|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383157020p2/155517.jpg] but which originated in the 16th century CE as Tarocchi Appropriati: in short, telling stories using tarot cards as a constraint or guide.

This is a tight, well-crafted group of linked short stories, but for me the fireworks happened in Pollack's masterful integration of the contemporary short story form with the essence of fairy tales and midrashim.

When I hear the word archetype, I unavoidably think of moribund things, 19th century medical specimens in jars of formaldehyde or Audubon's birds, but in Pollack's hands these deep images become both very young and very old but always alive.

I finished it and felt a chill - a cliche experience, but no less true for that - akin to what I've felt reading some parables by Kafka. This is fine book, no doubt, but it also captures part of my religion. ( )

This book was a collection of short stories that were based upon the artistic cards of the Tarot. The stories were full of drama, suspense, defeating evil and monsters, and growth of the personal journey. Overall, I thought it a very nice read that incorporated the Tarot cards. ( )

This is a jewel of a collection of stories based on the tarot. The tales intertwine and come back to each other, drawing you into a glimmering alternate world courtesy of one of our more knowledgable tarot readers. This book actually changed how I read the cards, but it's not about how to do spreads. Instead it shows you what's possible if you approach the tarot as a collection of people to make friends with. It showed me how to let the cards speak for themselves. ( )