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brianna2626's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
tisdalechild's review against another edition
It wasn’t what I wanted at the time: more action. Go ahead, look at what else I’ve read.
Content Warnings
Kinda slow, as horror wasn’t quite so Stephen King-ish in the 16th century (approximately).
kitsunesakura's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
zugzug's review against another edition
4.0
Reviewing a set of short stories is difficult so I am going to comment on my top three:
The Tell Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe - Poe a quick paranoid wonderful ride, In so few words he paints a detailed manic story that is worth hearing.
The man who found out, by Algernon Blackwood - For me despite all the clever ways to tell a horror story this one hit home in an unsettling fashion. The life wrenching impact of knowledge strikes the main character in a way they cannot continue living. The reader never quite knows the full story but can see the lengths gone to by Laidlaw to simply find ease of mind. Last but not least The
Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story is immediately distinct from the other tales present there are no supernatural creatures or immediate sense of fear. The story comes instead with a continuous sense of sinking further from reality into a nightmarish world of the mind.
There are many other gems in this collection and would recommend it as a worthwhile sampling for the curious.
The Tell Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe - Poe a quick paranoid wonderful ride, In so few words he paints a detailed manic story that is worth hearing.
The man who found out, by Algernon Blackwood - For me despite all the clever ways to tell a horror story this one hit home in an unsettling fashion. The life wrenching impact of knowledge strikes the main character in a way they cannot continue living. The reader never quite knows the full story but can see the lengths gone to by Laidlaw to simply find ease of mind. Last but not least The
Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story is immediately distinct from the other tales present there are no supernatural creatures or immediate sense of fear. The story comes instead with a continuous sense of sinking further from reality into a nightmarish world of the mind.
There are many other gems in this collection and would recommend it as a worthwhile sampling for the curious.
smatthew459's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
daretoread's review against another edition
3.0
I definitely was struggling to finish because some of the stories are, in my opinion, boring. My favorites were all the Poe stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” and “The Interlopers.”
fifi99's review against another edition
3.0
3.5*
I enjoyed this book but I feel like I disliked more stories than I liked, which I have found is a common problem with short story collections.
I started to lose interest around halfway through as there was a succession of boring and/or plain bad stories in a row however it picked up towards the end with "The Interlopers" by Saki being one of my favourites of the whole collection and it was the 4th last story!
There are 28 stories in the collection and the stories that are the most worthwhile reading in my opinion are;
1). All of the Edgar Allan Poe stories
2). The Interlopers by Saki
3). The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman
4). The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft
5). In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka (I usually hate Kafka but this is my favourite work of his)
6). The Case of Lady Sannox and The Japanned Box both by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7). Kerfol by Edith Wharton
8). Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I enjoyed this book but I feel like I disliked more stories than I liked, which I have found is a common problem with short story collections.
I started to lose interest around halfway through as there was a succession of boring and/or plain bad stories in a row however it picked up towards the end with "The Interlopers" by Saki being one of my favourites of the whole collection and it was the 4th last story!
There are 28 stories in the collection and the stories that are the most worthwhile reading in my opinion are;
1). All of the Edgar Allan Poe stories
2). The Interlopers by Saki
3). The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman
4). The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft
5). In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka (I usually hate Kafka but this is my favourite work of his)
6). The Case of Lady Sannox and The Japanned Box both by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7). Kerfol by Edith Wharton
8). Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
iamastraythought's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great collection, better than most I've read.
bozzi1's review against another edition
4.0
It took me longer than normal to read this book. The language was, at times, a struggle to get through. Rating a book of short stories is so hard. There were a couple stories that I didn’t care for, and one I didn’t finish, but there were several that I loved. It’s clear how Poe and Lovecraft laid the groundwork for so many successful writers, and I expected to be impressed by their work. I was happy to see that there were other stories I hadn’t heard of, by authors I didn’t know, that were equally as entertaining.
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