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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
A gripping read, bringing fresh life (of various kinds) into the soporific turns of the Danube River as it flows through Austria and Hungary. Mr Blackwood successfully captures the disquiet and claustrophobia of being trapped in a situation from which there is no secure escape and the necessity of inaction to be repaid with physical and mental harm.
Overall, if there is a weakness in this story, it is that although the characters do each develop as the story develops, we are frequently offered stock motifs - dead bodies floating down the river, silent prophets foreseeing catastrophe, or very loose representations of heedless beings wandering in and out of the human world. An excellent story, one of the best of the early twentieth century.
Overall, if there is a weakness in this story, it is that although the characters do each develop as the story develops, we are frequently offered stock motifs - dead bodies floating down the river, silent prophets foreseeing catastrophe, or very loose representations of heedless beings wandering in and out of the human world. An excellent story, one of the best of the early twentieth century.
I borrowed [b:The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories|12344319|The Weird A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories|Ann VanderMeer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327952009l/12344319._SX50_.jpg|17323657] from the library - not planning to read everything, but a few select stories. I started with Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows".
9/10.
Deliciously spooky psychogeography - the landscape is an integral part of the story. Set in willow covered marshes in present-day Slovakia, as two men - the narrator and his stolid Swede companion have embarked on a canoe expedition down the Danube.
The descriptions of the river upstream of the story are wonderful, it is given a personality of its own, which serves the remainder of the story well. Then our men set up camp on a shifting island as the river is flooding, surrounded by the ominous willows, the mood shifts, and the first night sees our narrator witnessing some very weird occurrences... Blackwood gives us plenty of twists and turns, and as our narrator and his companion try and make sense of their situation, we get offered multiple rational and supernatural potential explanations for the mysterious occurrences.
I only felt a little let down by the ending - maybe a bit rushed and I'd have preferred if it let the various interpretations a little more open.
9/10.
Deliciously spooky psychogeography - the landscape is an integral part of the story. Set in willow covered marshes in present-day Slovakia, as two men - the narrator and his stolid Swede companion have embarked on a canoe expedition down the Danube.
The descriptions of the river upstream of the story are wonderful, it is given a personality of its own, which serves the remainder of the story well. Then our men set up camp on a shifting island as the river is flooding, surrounded by the ominous willows, the mood shifts, and the first night sees our narrator witnessing some very weird occurrences... Blackwood gives us plenty of twists and turns, and as our narrator and his companion try and make sense of their situation, we get offered multiple rational and supernatural potential explanations for the mysterious occurrences.
I only felt a little let down by the ending - maybe a bit rushed and I'd have preferred if it let the various interpretations a little more open.
Worse than whomping...
Our unnamed narrator and his friend, known only as the Swede, have travelled far along the Danube on a pleasure excursion in a little canoe. They have reached a place where the river splits into three branches, and know that a high flood is due. They decide to continue anyway, both being experienced rivermen and having done many journeys together before. Driven forward by the fast waters and a howling wind, they have some difficulty landing for the night on one of the small temporary islands that spring up in this swampy stretch of the river, but finally they manage it. At first all seems well, but as night draws in, a strange feeling of dread begins to fall over the travellers. The willows seem to give off a threatening air...
Well, this is a classic for a reason! The descriptive writing is fabulous, and Blackwood gradually builds up an air of creepy menace guaranteed to send shivers down the stoutest spine. Apparently Lovecraft hailed this as the greatest supernatural tale of all, and it's very clear to see how it influenced his own later weird tales. There is the same suggestion of ancient and malign alien beings, with man caught up as irrelevant victims of a power at which they can only vaguely guess. But, unlike Lovecraft, this doesn't get bogged down in endless repetitive description – it is novella length but it keeps going at a good pace and builds up to an excellently chilling climax. Nature is used brilliantly, at first as something for man to admire and revel in, and then, gradually, as something immense and uncontrollable, reducing man to tiny insignificance, fumbling to make sense of forces so great that they are incomprehensible to his limited mind. Great stuff – highly recommended!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Our unnamed narrator and his friend, known only as the Swede, have travelled far along the Danube on a pleasure excursion in a little canoe. They have reached a place where the river splits into three branches, and know that a high flood is due. They decide to continue anyway, both being experienced rivermen and having done many journeys together before. Driven forward by the fast waters and a howling wind, they have some difficulty landing for the night on one of the small temporary islands that spring up in this swampy stretch of the river, but finally they manage it. At first all seems well, but as night draws in, a strange feeling of dread begins to fall over the travellers. The willows seem to give off a threatening air...
Well, this is a classic for a reason! The descriptive writing is fabulous, and Blackwood gradually builds up an air of creepy menace guaranteed to send shivers down the stoutest spine. Apparently Lovecraft hailed this as the greatest supernatural tale of all, and it's very clear to see how it influenced his own later weird tales. There is the same suggestion of ancient and malign alien beings, with man caught up as irrelevant victims of a power at which they can only vaguely guess. But, unlike Lovecraft, this doesn't get bogged down in endless repetitive description – it is novella length but it keeps going at a good pace and builds up to an excellently chilling climax. Nature is used brilliantly, at first as something for man to admire and revel in, and then, gradually, as something immense and uncontrollable, reducing man to tiny insignificance, fumbling to make sense of forces so great that they are incomprehensible to his limited mind. Great stuff – highly recommended!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
tense
medium-paced
I liked this, it was meh for the first half but really ramped up as the end approached. Consider my timbers shivered.
Also I love how the narrator is completely unsettled pretty much immediately. Had me picturing him as Patrick Star pissing his little pants.
"These trees man... they're just standing there...menacingly"
🙈😵💫
Also I love how the narrator is completely unsettled pretty much immediately. Had me picturing him as Patrick Star pissing his little pants.
"These trees man... they're just standing there...menacingly"
🙈😵💫
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Edició catalana d'Els salzes a la col·lecció L'Arcà de l'editorial Laertes (ISBN 9788418292156)
Un relat que el mateix H.P. Lovecraft considerava el millor conte sobrenatural de la literatura anglesa, un clàssic imprescindible que podem gaudir en català gràcies a la bona gent de Laertes i de L'Arcà. He gaudit molt de la lectura, però hauria agraït una mica més de cura en la revisió del text; també m'han sobrat unes quantes notes a peu de pàgina. La coberta em sembla meravellosa i és un excel·lent reclam per entrar en la novel·la.
Puc entendre la fascinació que sentia Lovecraft, ja que el text et submergeix de ple en aquesta atmosfera malsana en què el vel que separa el nostre món d'altres realitats s'esquinça per moments i permet albirar coses que no comprenem. Si podeu, un cop llegida, busqueu l'adaptació en forma de novel·la gràfica que van fer Nathan Carson i Sam Ford. La tasca de Sam Ford a The Willows és magnífica i aconsegueix donar forma a aquest horror sobrenatural que Algernon Blackwood descriu a la novel·la; no podreu deixar de mirar les seves vinyetes, són hipnòtiques, fascinants. A mi la combinació d'ambdues m'ha permès elevar la història a un pla que va molt més enllà de la simple lectura i he xalat d'allò més.
Un relat que el mateix H.P. Lovecraft considerava el millor conte sobrenatural de la literatura anglesa, un clàssic imprescindible que podem gaudir en català gràcies a la bona gent de Laertes i de L'Arcà. He gaudit molt de la lectura, però hauria agraït una mica més de cura en la revisió del text; també m'han sobrat unes quantes notes a peu de pàgina. La coberta em sembla meravellosa i és un excel·lent reclam per entrar en la novel·la.
Puc entendre la fascinació que sentia Lovecraft, ja que el text et submergeix de ple en aquesta atmosfera malsana en què el vel que separa el nostre món d'altres realitats s'esquinça per moments i permet albirar coses que no comprenem. Si podeu, un cop llegida, busqueu l'adaptació en forma de novel·la gràfica que van fer Nathan Carson i Sam Ford. La tasca de Sam Ford a The Willows és magnífica i aconsegueix donar forma a aquest horror sobrenatural que Algernon Blackwood descriu a la novel·la; no podreu deixar de mirar les seves vinyetes, són hipnòtiques, fascinants. A mi la combinació d'ambdues m'ha permès elevar la història a un pla que va molt més enllà de la simple lectura i he xalat d'allò més.