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A review by loribulb
Dark Entries by Robert Aickman
4.0
I picked up this book after a friend of mine told me the short stories I wrote reminded her of Robert Aickman. I did not realize at the time what a compliment she had paid me.
The variety is what I enjoyed most about this collection. While some ran to the more the traditional formats of ghosts and graveyards (The Waiting Room) or zombies (Ringing the Changes- at least I *think* that was zombies) others I'm still trying to figure out (Choice of Weapons. I need to read it again, I think.)
My favorite by far, for the atmospheric sense of dread, as well as its independent female protagonist, was Bind Your Hair. It can be hard to read literature that was written at a different time, even just 50 years back, because the language and formatting can feel so foreign. I'll admit there were a few challenges in that regard to these stories, but it just took a little time to get in the right groove. The scares were not jumpy or "gotchas!" but rather carefully crafted ideas that seemed rooted, at times, in the psyches of the main characters as much as from any outside influences.
The stories are well constructed, tidy, and without any extraneous descriptions or fillers. That compact storytelling is part of what made them, at first, difficult stories to read. The flow is totally different from modern literature. I suspect that the few I had real trouble with (like that Choice of Weapons- honestly, wtf?) I'll understand more if I go back and reread. The text holds everything I'll need... I think I just wasn't as attentive as I needed to be.
The variety is what I enjoyed most about this collection. While some ran to the more the traditional formats of ghosts and graveyards (The Waiting Room) or zombies (Ringing the Changes- at least I *think* that was zombies) others I'm still trying to figure out (Choice of Weapons. I need to read it again, I think.)
My favorite by far, for the atmospheric sense of dread, as well as its independent female protagonist, was Bind Your Hair. It can be hard to read literature that was written at a different time, even just 50 years back, because the language and formatting can feel so foreign. I'll admit there were a few challenges in that regard to these stories, but it just took a little time to get in the right groove. The scares were not jumpy or "gotchas!" but rather carefully crafted ideas that seemed rooted, at times, in the psyches of the main characters as much as from any outside influences.
The stories are well constructed, tidy, and without any extraneous descriptions or fillers. That compact storytelling is part of what made them, at first, difficult stories to read. The flow is totally different from modern literature. I suspect that the few I had real trouble with (like that Choice of Weapons- honestly, wtf?) I'll understand more if I go back and reread. The text holds everything I'll need... I think I just wasn't as attentive as I needed to be.