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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Adored this.
I loved how so many of the stories were veddy British and period pieces and often set in villages or rural manors. I loved the mix of stories and we had everything from almost comedy, like Midleton’s ‘On the Brighton Road,’ about ghosts who keep dying, to lots and lots of dark tragedy.
I read out of order, and am glad I did. Last story I read was the first in the book, L.P. Hartley’s ‘W.S.,’ which I thought was the weakest story. It did a nice job up to a point building some tension, with the post cards coming closer and closer. Yet the ‘it was one of my characters come to life’ approach was like a solution pasted onto a premise.
Never read any Edith Wharton before. ‘Afterword’ probably isn’t going to make me rush out to read more. I enjoyed the story, but Wharton’s almost impressionistic word use was a bit of a trial to get through at times.Though at the same time, there was one sentence that I thought was a diamond: “There were even some moments of weariness when, like the victim of some poison which leaves the brain clear, but holds the body motionless, she saw herself domesticated with the Horror, accepting its perpetual presence as one of the fixed conditions of life.” That sentence was a dead-on description of trauma.
Some of the premises were a bit hokey, like Asquith’s ‘Corner Shop.’ But almost uniformly each of the stories had at least one moment of really effectively building dread. Lie’s ‘Elias and the Draug’ was really interesting as almost a fable. I like the time twists approaches of Timperly’s ‘Christmas Meeting’ and Benson’s ‘In the Tube.’ Im always a sucker for ‘my child is talking to beings I cannot see an seems as time goes on to prefer them to me’ like Burrage’s ‘Playmates.’ I also liked the almost melancholy ending to that.
I really liked Aickman’s ‘Ringing the Changes’ as it went on, especially the sort of almost unfinished nature of the story, where some things were hinted at rather than made explicit. Treadgold’s ‘The Telephone’ was almost more a domestic drama than a ghost story, which I enjoyed as crossing genres.
Lot of books when I finish go into the ‘this goes toa Little Free LIbrary somewhere’ stack. This I am keeping as I can imagine enjoying again.
I loved how so many of the stories were veddy British and period pieces and often set in villages or rural manors. I loved the mix of stories and we had everything from almost comedy, like Midleton’s ‘On the Brighton Road,’ about ghosts who keep dying, to lots and lots of dark tragedy.
I read out of order, and am glad I did. Last story I read was the first in the book, L.P. Hartley’s ‘W.S.,’ which I thought was the weakest story. It did a nice job up to a point building some tension, with the post cards coming closer and closer. Yet the ‘it was one of my characters come to life’ approach was like a solution pasted onto a premise.
Never read any Edith Wharton before. ‘Afterword’ probably isn’t going to make me rush out to read more. I enjoyed the story, but Wharton’s almost impressionistic word use was a bit of a trial to get through at times.Though at the same time, there was one sentence that I thought was a diamond: “There were even some moments of weariness when, like the victim of some poison which leaves the brain clear, but holds the body motionless, she saw herself domesticated with the Horror, accepting its perpetual presence as one of the fixed conditions of life.” That sentence was a dead-on description of trauma.
Some of the premises were a bit hokey, like Asquith’s ‘Corner Shop.’ But almost uniformly each of the stories had at least one moment of really effectively building dread. Lie’s ‘Elias and the Draug’ was really interesting as almost a fable. I like the time twists approaches of Timperly’s ‘Christmas Meeting’ and Benson’s ‘In the Tube.’ Im always a sucker for ‘my child is talking to beings I cannot see an seems as time goes on to prefer them to me’ like Burrage’s ‘Playmates.’ I also liked the almost melancholy ending to that.
I really liked Aickman’s ‘Ringing the Changes’ as it went on, especially the sort of almost unfinished nature of the story, where some things were hinted at rather than made explicit. Treadgold’s ‘The Telephone’ was almost more a domestic drama than a ghost story, which I enjoyed as crossing genres.
Lot of books when I finish go into the ‘this goes toa Little Free LIbrary somewhere’ stack. This I am keeping as I can imagine enjoying again.
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Some stories I preferred to others but overall a great fall read!
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
My first disappointment came when I realised this was a book of stories compiled by Roald Dahl and not written by him as I'd thought.
This was a mixed bag I think, there were some very good stories and some I found a bit slow.
This was a mixed bag I think, there were some very good stories and some I found a bit slow.