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lakserk's review
3.0
"On the Hill of Roses": concerning a walled garden in a secluded park and a man's strange ability to "see" things through their smell. It is dreamy, atmospheric and takes a definite turn towards the macabre in the end; still, this namesake story is nothing spectacular.
"The Frenzied Farmhouse": it focuses on a Genius Loci which is responsible for a house's demented hue, which makes all beings there follow a specific twisted behavioral pattern. This was rather predictable but very much enjoyable.
"On a Tangent": the worst so far. A man develops strange theories which are occasionally semi-confirmed by clues he "discovers" in the environment. In this particular case he thinks that there are random events which pull persons out of their normal trajectories of life, towards other points. The issue is that the story feels disjointed, full of apparently random facts, and it is a bit of a toil to read. Most of the literary attempts to portray the workings of an unhinged mind fail, being rather tiresome to read - that's the case with this one.
"Strabismus" was good, a doppelganger story where you're unsure about the objective reality of the double. It gets quite macabre, is reminiscent of the House of Leaves, and the writing is quite terse. The protagonists verge on the edge of hysteria, and are somewhat theatrical in their flamboyant monologues.
"The Black Hamlet" was strange and rather satisfying in its unexplained weirdness. A man falls into a 10 minute stupor, and in his dream visits a black hamlet, a diseased colony, and brings something back upon waking. It also has a rather excellent description:
Sleep and waking! Dream and reality! In what utter confusion they merge, with what fury they collide on the crossroads of thought! ... Someone malicious beyond human measure has removed all the border signs and obliterated the boundaries, gone without a trace are all the sign-posts, and delusion - the mad queen of stray paths and highways - reigns supreme..."
"Shadow" was amazing, the best so far. It concerns the window of a secluded cottage on which the protagonist watches a gruesome shadow-play whenever he passes along. He learns about the cottage's owner, befriends him, and finally told the history behind this strange shadow-play. Original and very well executed with biblical and fairy tale elements.
"At the Villa by the Sea" was good but not impeccable. A man visits an old friend living with his young son. The threads of a recent tragedy unfold slowly as the protagonist adopts the mannerisms of a dead poet. The premise wad good but the finale was somewhat anticlimactic and felt sparse.
"Projections", where a man who is regularly visiting the ruins of a local monastery brings back home shadows of objects from the ruins. This is a great story, verging on the pulp gothic. Includes some amazing descriptions of the monastery grounds, while the idea of sourceless shadows is great and quite ahead of its time.
On the whole, Grabinski has very good, out-of-the-box ideas that feel fresh even today, especially in comparison with the majority of contemporary weird fiction. His prose (obviously channeled through the translation) is rich but not cumbersome (although it does have its awkward moments which I intuit may be due to translation issues). The Frenzied Farmhouse, The Black Hamlet, and especially Shadow and Projections are the shiny jewels of this here collection.
"The Frenzied Farmhouse": it focuses on a Genius Loci which is responsible for a house's demented hue, which makes all beings there follow a specific twisted behavioral pattern. This was rather predictable but very much enjoyable.
"On a Tangent": the worst so far. A man develops strange theories which are occasionally semi-confirmed by clues he "discovers" in the environment. In this particular case he thinks that there are random events which pull persons out of their normal trajectories of life, towards other points. The issue is that the story feels disjointed, full of apparently random facts, and it is a bit of a toil to read. Most of the literary attempts to portray the workings of an unhinged mind fail, being rather tiresome to read - that's the case with this one.
"Strabismus" was good, a doppelganger story where you're unsure about the objective reality of the double. It gets quite macabre, is reminiscent of the House of Leaves, and the writing is quite terse. The protagonists verge on the edge of hysteria, and are somewhat theatrical in their flamboyant monologues.
"The Black Hamlet" was strange and rather satisfying in its unexplained weirdness. A man falls into a 10 minute stupor, and in his dream visits a black hamlet, a diseased colony, and brings something back upon waking. It also has a rather excellent description:
Sleep and waking! Dream and reality! In what utter confusion they merge, with what fury they collide on the crossroads of thought! ... Someone malicious beyond human measure has removed all the border signs and obliterated the boundaries, gone without a trace are all the sign-posts, and delusion - the mad queen of stray paths and highways - reigns supreme..."
"Shadow" was amazing, the best so far. It concerns the window of a secluded cottage on which the protagonist watches a gruesome shadow-play whenever he passes along. He learns about the cottage's owner, befriends him, and finally told the history behind this strange shadow-play. Original and very well executed with biblical and fairy tale elements.
"At the Villa by the Sea" was good but not impeccable. A man visits an old friend living with his young son. The threads of a recent tragedy unfold slowly as the protagonist adopts the mannerisms of a dead poet. The premise wad good but the finale was somewhat anticlimactic and felt sparse.
"Projections", where a man who is regularly visiting the ruins of a local monastery brings back home shadows of objects from the ruins. This is a great story, verging on the pulp gothic. Includes some amazing descriptions of the monastery grounds, while the idea of sourceless shadows is great and quite ahead of its time.
On the whole, Grabinski has very good, out-of-the-box ideas that feel fresh even today, especially in comparison with the majority of contemporary weird fiction. His prose (obviously channeled through the translation) is rich but not cumbersome (although it does have its awkward moments which I intuit may be due to translation issues). The Frenzied Farmhouse, The Black Hamlet, and especially Shadow and Projections are the shiny jewels of this here collection.
manolitagafotas's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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