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chloekg's review against another edition
5.0
The first four sets of stories had me raving to friends. "She's a cruel b****! She stabs the knife from a different angle every time. It's like she has no milk of human kindness except to make me love the person she's about to eviscerate. What a spectrum of rottenness." The breadth is breathtaking, and the writing is clean and sharp.
Reading the last collection, Mermaids on the Golf Course, my impression was less enthusiastic. I rated the collection four stars at finish because the last of her theoretical psyches were subtler, not so knife-edged, and I had trouble naming what had me feeling off about them. Where Little Tales of Misogyny are extremist fantasies, character flaws hyper-magnified in deliciously sinister vignettes, Mermaids is like a clinical sci-fi genre. Instead of building worlds or robots, Highsmith creates psychological profiles of people who are "realistic" but just wrong enough to be "not quite right." Their mundane "realness" was boring compared to the absolutely brutal crush of earlier stories.
When I woke up after rating it four stars, I realized my unsettled feeling was a slow internal bleed where I'd been looking for the gush of a knife. Yes, they were last collection and freshest in my memory, but they landed deepest. It has its share of tropes and razors, a love letter to God and the pure of heart, but there's an innocence and inevitability and normalcy to these characters that feel like fiction's response to the banality of evil. The depravity is somehow heightened because "that's just the way people are." These are not exaggerations, but tragedies walking around and feeling pretty fine most of the time. I might feel a fair mental distance away from Tom Ripley or a ravenous truffle pig, but the psychic rot of these last unlucky characters could come for me or for anyone. Five stars for a new genre of horror.
Reading the last collection, Mermaids on the Golf Course, my impression was less enthusiastic. I rated the collection four stars at finish because the last of her theoretical psyches were subtler, not so knife-edged, and I had trouble naming what had me feeling off about them. Where Little Tales of Misogyny are extremist fantasies, character flaws hyper-magnified in deliciously sinister vignettes, Mermaids is like a clinical sci-fi genre. Instead of building worlds or robots, Highsmith creates psychological profiles of people who are "realistic" but just wrong enough to be "not quite right." Their mundane "realness" was boring compared to the absolutely brutal crush of earlier stories.
When I woke up after rating it four stars, I realized my unsettled feeling was a slow internal bleed where I'd been looking for the gush of a knife. Yes, they were last collection and freshest in my memory, but they landed deepest. It has its share of tropes and razors, a love letter to God and the pure of heart, but there's an innocence and inevitability and normalcy to these characters that feel like fiction's response to the banality of evil. The depravity is somehow heightened because "that's just the way people are." These are not exaggerations, but tragedies walking around and feeling pretty fine most of the time. I might feel a fair mental distance away from Tom Ripley or a ravenous truffle pig, but the psychic rot of these last unlucky characters could come for me or for anyone. Five stars for a new genre of horror.
eososray's review against another edition
1.0
To be clear, I'm basing my rating on approximately half of the book as I did not read the rest.
The first section of stories are from an animals view point, I only read one of them before deciding that these were not my kind of stories. I don't and never have liked stories told by animals. Based on the section title describing beastly murders, I assume all of them include murder.
The second set of stories are about misogyny and for the most part are super short, two pages long for the majority of them. I liked these better, they were sarcastic and pointed. I also find it impressive that such elegant stories can be written with such a limited amount of space.
The next part are stories that I'm not sure how to categorize, I didn't like these ones much. Most of the characters were unlikeable because they were insufferable or inept. Woodrow Wilson's Necktie was the best of them.
By the time I got to the end of that part I was tired of the stories and thought it was time to put down the book, so the last two sets I did not read any of.
I think that Highsmith is a very talented writer, stories like Slowly, Slowly in the Wind and The Prude are fascinating looks into the human psyche. I could imagine real people acting like this but in the end, they just couldn't hold my attention. Maybe it would be better to take these stories in smaller doses, rather than a large collection like this one.
The first section of stories are from an animals view point, I only read one of them before deciding that these were not my kind of stories. I don't and never have liked stories told by animals. Based on the section title describing beastly murders, I assume all of them include murder.
The second set of stories are about misogyny and for the most part are super short, two pages long for the majority of them. I liked these better, they were sarcastic and pointed. I also find it impressive that such elegant stories can be written with such a limited amount of space.
The next part are stories that I'm not sure how to categorize, I didn't like these ones much. Most of the characters were unlikeable because they were insufferable or inept. Woodrow Wilson's Necktie was the best of them.
By the time I got to the end of that part I was tired of the stories and thought it was time to put down the book, so the last two sets I did not read any of.
I think that Highsmith is a very talented writer, stories like Slowly, Slowly in the Wind and The Prude are fascinating looks into the human psyche. I could imagine real people acting like this but in the end, they just couldn't hold my attention. Maybe it would be better to take these stories in smaller doses, rather than a large collection like this one.
katescholastica's review against another edition
3.0
Since I’ve recently read the two novels included in the volume, I was really only in this for the short stories (which I seem to be reading a lot of lately).
I’m also reading this fresh off learning about some of Highsmith’s horrendous racial views, something which definitely comes through in a few of these short stories.
In general, her style of writing is ok, but I can’t get past the casual racism or the general misanthropic tone. I don’t need a happy ending, but stories about how awful humanity is do get tiresome. At least in book-length projects, there’s some insight or potential for redemption that gets thrown aside.
I’m also reading this fresh off learning about some of Highsmith’s horrendous racial views, something which definitely comes through in a few of these short stories.
In general, her style of writing is ok, but I can’t get past the casual racism or the general misanthropic tone. I don’t need a happy ending, but stories about how awful humanity is do get tiresome. At least in book-length projects, there’s some insight or potential for redemption that gets thrown aside.
woodlandglitter's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked some of these stories, but the book was so unremittingly bleak when taken as a whole that I'm sort of relieved to be done with it...
avera's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Normally I am not a huge fan of short stories but I love those by Patricia Highsmith. Her way of portraying a character is unique. Every story is a little adventure that you want to learn more about and never forget.
comedywriter's review against another edition
5.0
I don't love all the stories in this book, a few I don't even like, but there are stories here so good I actually got angry Highsmith isn't listed in any of my literature textbooks.
drifterontherun's review against another edition
5.0
Any list of the greatest or most influential American writers that leaves off Patricia Highsmith is not to be trusted.
Those that know of Highsmith likely do because of the perfectly cast film adaptation of her best known work, "The Talented Mr. Ripley," though it may come as a surprise to learn that Hitchcock has adapted her too, in his 1951 film, "Strangers on a Train." More recent film adaptations have featured Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Issac ("The Two Faces of January") and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara ("Carol" from Highsmith's "The Price of Salt").
And yet I can't help but feel that Highsmith is criminally underrated. What other author has contributed the source material for so many notable, acclaimed films, and yet remains so underread?
Despite being born in the US (in Texas), it seems that Highsmith never made much of a splash stateside, instead receiving much of her critical acclaim (and awards) as well as the devoted readership that she most certainly deserved, overseas, primarily in Europe.
If anyone needs to be convinced of what a crushingly good author Highsmith is, point them no further than this extraordinary collection of short stories. There really is something here for everyone, and everything here will appeal to lovers of fine prose and riveting storytelling.
I would finish a story, praising it as the best I'd ever read, but just as soon start on the next, and soon be praising that one as the best I'd ever read.
What I love about Highsmith is how effortlessly she plumbs the depths of the human psyche. She is, perhaps more than any other author, deeply in touch with the darker side of human nature, and reading her is a "guilty pleasure" not because doing so and admitting it to a learned audience would be an embarrassment, but because her stories tickle some dark part of ourselves, they tease our inhibitions and satisfy that part within us that wants, in some previously unexpressed — or certainly unconfessed — way to see evil prevail.
Her villains give more pleasure than any heroes and heroines you can find, because while we admire literature's heroes — men like Atticus Finch and women like Jo March — we recognized that they aren't altogether like us, they're too pure, too saintly. When we look into the mirror, it's not them we see, but instead conflicted and often murderous characters like Tom Ripley.
We most love those who remind us of ourselves, flaws and all, and no one writes flaws and all better than Highsmith.
This collection is divided into five parts. The first part, "The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder" is all about animals getting comeuppance on (mostly) abusive humans. The 13 stories within this part run the gamut from a circus elephant taking revenge on a cruel trainer to a camel with a vendetta against a former master. The enjoyment I took in this part was generally linked to the sympathy/revulsion I felt for the animal in question, which is to say that I enjoyed the ones with the camel, elephant, and horse perhaps the most, and the ones with the rat and the cockroach the least, though they're all brilliantly done.
The second part, "Little Tales of Misogyny" are just that — 17 short, at times almost vignettes, of women fighting against the misogyny of the outside world.
The third part, "Slowly, Slowly in the Wind" featured 12 of my favorite tales of the entire collection, villainous tales featuring murderous deeds and deliciously dark characters. The title story of this collection, about a man's rivalry with a stubborn neighbor, is a standout, as is "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" about a series of murders that take place in a wax museum.
The 11 stories that comprise the fourth part, "The Black House," are also favorites, and alternate between tales of whimsy and psychological horror. The title story is one of the finest short stories I've read in some time, the kind of thing you find yourself thinking about for days afterward, and I perhaps recognized far more of myself in the darkly calculating characters of "Not One of Us" than I care to admit.
The fifth part, "Mermaids on the Golf Course," is less murderous and more psychotic, as these 11 stories poke at the insecurities and mental issues afflicting human society. "The Button" was riveting in its exploration of how a man turns his feeling of familial helplessness against the world at large while "Where the Action Is" had something of the creepiness that I recall from the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller "Nightcrawler."
I would love to go into more detail about these stories and what I loved about them, but with 64 of them here, I think it's a far better use of your time to actually just pick up this incomparable collection and start reading.
As I read, I found myself constantly thinking that this is exactly how I would have wanted this story written, and caught off guard by how familiar these characters and their actions felt to me, as though I'd lived these stories in some part of me before.
It's like a perfectly calibrated season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where you laugh because this is exactly what you would have done in Larry's position, except here the similarity to the actions taken by Highsmith's characters is deeply unsettling.
This is the essential Highsmith, representing some of her very best work. It's a fascinating, eerie ride through your own mind, and a testament to all that fiction is capable of. I'm still trying to peel my jaw off the floor.
Those that know of Highsmith likely do because of the perfectly cast film adaptation of her best known work, "The Talented Mr. Ripley," though it may come as a surprise to learn that Hitchcock has adapted her too, in his 1951 film, "Strangers on a Train." More recent film adaptations have featured Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Issac ("The Two Faces of January") and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara ("Carol" from Highsmith's "The Price of Salt").
And yet I can't help but feel that Highsmith is criminally underrated. What other author has contributed the source material for so many notable, acclaimed films, and yet remains so underread?
Despite being born in the US (in Texas), it seems that Highsmith never made much of a splash stateside, instead receiving much of her critical acclaim (and awards) as well as the devoted readership that she most certainly deserved, overseas, primarily in Europe.
If anyone needs to be convinced of what a crushingly good author Highsmith is, point them no further than this extraordinary collection of short stories. There really is something here for everyone, and everything here will appeal to lovers of fine prose and riveting storytelling.
I would finish a story, praising it as the best I'd ever read, but just as soon start on the next, and soon be praising that one as the best I'd ever read.
What I love about Highsmith is how effortlessly she plumbs the depths of the human psyche. She is, perhaps more than any other author, deeply in touch with the darker side of human nature, and reading her is a "guilty pleasure" not because doing so and admitting it to a learned audience would be an embarrassment, but because her stories tickle some dark part of ourselves, they tease our inhibitions and satisfy that part within us that wants, in some previously unexpressed — or certainly unconfessed — way to see evil prevail.
Her villains give more pleasure than any heroes and heroines you can find, because while we admire literature's heroes — men like Atticus Finch and women like Jo March — we recognized that they aren't altogether like us, they're too pure, too saintly. When we look into the mirror, it's not them we see, but instead conflicted and often murderous characters like Tom Ripley.
We most love those who remind us of ourselves, flaws and all, and no one writes flaws and all better than Highsmith.
This collection is divided into five parts. The first part, "The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder" is all about animals getting comeuppance on (mostly) abusive humans. The 13 stories within this part run the gamut from a circus elephant taking revenge on a cruel trainer to a camel with a vendetta against a former master. The enjoyment I took in this part was generally linked to the sympathy/revulsion I felt for the animal in question, which is to say that I enjoyed the ones with the camel, elephant, and horse perhaps the most, and the ones with the rat and the cockroach the least, though they're all brilliantly done.
The second part, "Little Tales of Misogyny" are just that — 17 short, at times almost vignettes, of women fighting against the misogyny of the outside world.
The third part, "Slowly, Slowly in the Wind" featured 12 of my favorite tales of the entire collection, villainous tales featuring murderous deeds and deliciously dark characters. The title story of this collection, about a man's rivalry with a stubborn neighbor, is a standout, as is "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" about a series of murders that take place in a wax museum.
The 11 stories that comprise the fourth part, "The Black House," are also favorites, and alternate between tales of whimsy and psychological horror. The title story is one of the finest short stories I've read in some time, the kind of thing you find yourself thinking about for days afterward, and I perhaps recognized far more of myself in the darkly calculating characters of "Not One of Us" than I care to admit.
The fifth part, "Mermaids on the Golf Course," is less murderous and more psychotic, as these 11 stories poke at the insecurities and mental issues afflicting human society. "The Button" was riveting in its exploration of how a man turns his feeling of familial helplessness against the world at large while "Where the Action Is" had something of the creepiness that I recall from the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller "Nightcrawler."
I would love to go into more detail about these stories and what I loved about them, but with 64 of them here, I think it's a far better use of your time to actually just pick up this incomparable collection and start reading.
As I read, I found myself constantly thinking that this is exactly how I would have wanted this story written, and caught off guard by how familiar these characters and their actions felt to me, as though I'd lived these stories in some part of me before.
It's like a perfectly calibrated season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where you laugh because this is exactly what you would have done in Larry's position, except here the similarity to the actions taken by Highsmith's characters is deeply unsettling.
This is the essential Highsmith, representing some of her very best work. It's a fascinating, eerie ride through your own mind, and a testament to all that fiction is capable of. I'm still trying to peel my jaw off the floor.
caitlinfrunks's review against another edition
3.0
I decided to review each book in this anthology separately since it's a diverse collection. There's a couple 4 star books in here, but the rest are only 3 star.
laurenlee's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed with most of these stories but I did enjoy the third collection.
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