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imstephtacular's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
Interesting stories overall, some better than others, some that will haunt me for a while, a lot of the writing in this didn’t age well and it was hard to get past a lot of the time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Alcoholism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Ableism, Death, Car accident, Cursing, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Racism, Racial slurs, and Bullying
natejohansen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
anyajulchen's review against another edition
3.0
Los mejores cuentos son los primero cinco, en mi opinión. Se nota que Joe Hill posee una gran talento para escribir terror y sin vivir de la fama del padre.
lucirada123's review against another edition
4.0
best new horror 3.5
20th century ghost 3.5
pop art 3
you will hear the locust sing 3
abraham's boys 5
better than home 2.5
the black phone 4
in the rundown 4.5
the cape 4
last breath 4
dead-wood 3
the widow's breakfast 3
bobby conroy comes back from the dead 4
my father's mask 4.5
voluntary commital 4.5
20th century ghost 3.5
pop art 3
you will hear the locust sing 3
abraham's boys 5
better than home 2.5
the black phone 4
in the rundown 4.5
the cape 4
last breath 4
dead-wood 3
the widow's breakfast 3
bobby conroy comes back from the dead 4
my father's mask 4.5
voluntary commital 4.5
enniroc's review against another edition
5.0
Spooky, heart-felt, touching, gruesome. Joe Hill has so much range! I absolutely loved every story in this book and I just couldn't get over it. I had to re-read each of them several times. There are stories that leave the ending up to yourself, stories that make you cringe and want to hide under the covers, and a few that are just really kind of sweet. An awesome read and great if you only have a small bit of time to devote to reading each day, since most of the stories are quite short. I would recommend to anyone who likes a good atmospheric sort of read. Joe Hill is quite a talent.
mrswhite's review against another edition
4.0
Ever since my first Girl Scout overnight camping trip I've been a sucker for scary stories, and Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts is one of the most original and entertaining collection of them I've read in quite some time. Some of the material here is certainly standard horror fare - "Best New Horror" is creepy and disgusting and "20th Century Ghost" is your basic ghost story, although a far better version of it - but Hill also tries his hand at science fiction, fantasy, and the surreal. Actually, several of the stories aren't scary at all - "Pop Art" is a touching story of an unlikely friendship and "Better Than Home" is a sweet father/son tale - and it's this versatility that I found to be one of the biggest strengths of the collection. Some of the most interesting moments for me were "And You Will Hear the Locust Sing" - a 21th Century version of Kafka's Metamorphosis, "Abraham's Boys" - a vampire story meets Frailty, "My Father's Mask" - the ending of which blew my mind, and Voluntary Committal - a brilliant novella that explores the old theme of Alice's rabbit hole and asks what would happen if a traveler could never return from it. After reading this collection it's easy to see how Hill was able to land a book deal so quickly, and after reading both 20th Century Ghosts and Heart-Shaped Box (his debut novel) it's clear that he's still a far better writer of short stories than novels. In any event, this is an excellent read and I'd strongly recommend it, even if horror isn't typically your thing.
literarycrushes's review against another edition
4.0
When I was a kid, I read all the scary stories I could. Some were of the child-friendly R.L. Stein/Alvin Schwartz variety, while others were books the librarian probably shouldn’t have allowed a ten-year-old to check out. As I’ve gotten older, my reading tastes have leaned away from the outright horror genre and more towards literary fiction (although if you follow this account, you probably know I’m still very fond of a good cemetery). However, I still love when a book can haunt me, be it in a literal or metaphorical sense.
In The Black Phone (originally published in 2005 as 20th Century Ghosts), Joe Hill manages to weave the two genres together in this beautifully haunting collection of short stories. He even directly states in one, “He said that every fictional world was a work of fantasy, and whenever writers introduce a threat or a conflict into their story, they create the possibility of horror.” Hill is a master of creating short stories and can set up fully formed plots in just a few pages without hitting you over the head or relying on the dreaded “shock ending.”
tomatocultivator's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0