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keepreadingbooks's review
3.0
Finally I got around to reading a Poe collection. I've read a few of his stories over the years as a part of my studies and I found them all very good (The Black Cat and The Fall of the House of Usher were among them), and so I decided that I would give a larger collection a shot.
I must confess now that I enjoy his more 'supernatural' tales more than his detective/mystery ones. Almost all his stories (supernatural and otherwise) begin with the main character being very dramatic and taking up several pages describing himself, his feelings and his mental state before getting down to business. This worked fine for me when I read a story here and there in between other works, but oh, how dull it is when it is the same way EVERY story begins. I also found it rather anti-climactic that the 'solving' of a case in the mysteries was just one character telling in great detail what had happened from one end to the other AFTER he himself had solved it (Rue Morgue, Purloined Letter, Gold Bug etc.) - it took the excitement right out of the story, even though the building up of the mystery was usually very exciting for me.
I do of course realise that the detective from Rue Morgue and Purloined Letter was a great inspiration for Arthur Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and the idea of this intellectual and analytical genius is brilliant, but I'm not sure it's very well executed in these tales.
I want to underline, however, that I very much still enjoy his more supernatural tales - especially how he toys with what is real and what isn't. I think my favourite of this bunch turned out to be the very last one, William Wilson, mainly because the other few I really liked I had read before.
When it comes to his poems I am probably not the best of judges. I mostly enjoy contemporary poetry in free verse, and Poe's poetry is neither contemporary nor free verse. As with some of his tales I found them overly dramatic, but in general I didn't feel much when reading them. One or two touched me, The Valley of Unrest and also A Dream Within a Dream - they seemed rather more in touch with their subject and not as dramatic as the others.
I am giving this 3 stars, mainly because I recognise Poe's talent and genius, but also because the select tales I like, those I really like.
I must confess now that I enjoy his more 'supernatural' tales more than his detective/mystery ones. Almost all his stories (supernatural and otherwise) begin with the main character being very dramatic and taking up several pages describing himself, his feelings and his mental state before getting down to business. This worked fine for me when I read a story here and there in between other works, but oh, how dull it is when it is the same way EVERY story begins. I also found it rather anti-climactic that the 'solving' of a case in the mysteries was just one character telling in great detail what had happened from one end to the other AFTER he himself had solved it (Rue Morgue, Purloined Letter, Gold Bug etc.) - it took the excitement right out of the story, even though the building up of the mystery was usually very exciting for me.
I do of course realise that the detective from Rue Morgue and Purloined Letter was a great inspiration for Arthur Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and the idea of this intellectual and analytical genius is brilliant, but I'm not sure it's very well executed in these tales.
I want to underline, however, that I very much still enjoy his more supernatural tales - especially how he toys with what is real and what isn't. I think my favourite of this bunch turned out to be the very last one, William Wilson, mainly because the other few I really liked I had read before.
When it comes to his poems I am probably not the best of judges. I mostly enjoy contemporary poetry in free verse, and Poe's poetry is neither contemporary nor free verse. As with some of his tales I found them overly dramatic, but in general I didn't feel much when reading them. One or two touched me, The Valley of Unrest and also A Dream Within a Dream - they seemed rather more in touch with their subject and not as dramatic as the others.
I am giving this 3 stars, mainly because I recognise Poe's talent and genius, but also because the select tales I like, those I really like.
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