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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
subparcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
I waivered between three and four stars on this, and finally decided to go with three stars. The first couple stories I really liked, but then the stories started to disappoint me... Abrupt endings, story lines that just didn't appeal to me. I'm all for open endings, but some of these stories were barely even started before they ended. The last couple of stories really saved the book, in particular I loved "Voluntary Committal". Other great stories included "Pop Art" and "My Father's Mask" (although I have no idea what the latter was even about, I still found myself enjoying it immensely). Overall, I decided it was closer to three stars than it was to four, but I'm still looking forward to reading more from Hill.
badseedgirl's review against another edition
5.0
The thing with anthologies and collections is there is a lot of mediocre stories, but with this collection by Joe Hill, all the stories were good, not all were great, but they all held my interest.
To me the cream of this crop was "Pop Art." Once the reader gets past the absurdity of the story's premise, this tale in 29 pages wrung emotions out of me, like few stories have.
Most of the stories in this collection are about the relationships between parents and children. It has been fairly well documented that Stephen King, the authors father, spent the majority of Mr. Hill's childhood battling alcohol and drugs. Based on these stories, one has to wonder how this affected a young Joe.
I have felt very hit and miss about Joe Hill's writing, but I truly believe that short stories are where he shines. I look forward to reading more of his short stories.
To me the cream of this crop was "Pop Art." Once the reader gets past the absurdity of the story's premise, this tale in 29 pages wrung emotions out of me, like few stories have.
Most of the stories in this collection are about the relationships between parents and children. It has been fairly well documented that Stephen King, the authors father, spent the majority of Mr. Hill's childhood battling alcohol and drugs. Based on these stories, one has to wonder how this affected a young Joe.
I have felt very hit and miss about Joe Hill's writing, but I truly believe that short stories are where he shines. I look forward to reading more of his short stories.
etivepmc's review against another edition
4.0
You can tell that Joe Hill is his father's son with these short stories - however, I feel like he can appreciate much more what is involved in a short story, how much info is just the right amount of info without leaving you trying to figure out what's going on.
I loved pretty much every single story in here, the only one that wasn't really for me was Better Than Home - I just didn't understand what was going on.
I loved pretty much every single story in here, the only one that wasn't really for me was Better Than Home - I just didn't understand what was going on.
kalesaladd's review against another edition
4.0
Pop Art and Voluntary Committal were definitely the cream of the crop. I can already tell they're going to stick with me for a long time. A lot of the others were pretty good but didn't really leave a lasting impression.