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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wish I had loved every page of this collection, but I didn't. Anyway for every boring atory there was a great one and some of them are absolutely incredible!
Poe definitely a tormented mind, but a clever one too.
Poe definitely a tormented mind, but a clever one too.
“other friends have flown before / on the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before” is such an emo line i cant help but imagine if poe was around today he’d write lyrics for bring me the horizon
i’ve not touched it for two years and cant say i rly want to? the spooky stories are great and four of the poems are absolute bangers but everything else just isnt rly my vibe and there are only so many poems you can read about pretty women dying mysteriously (he famously said it was ‘unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world’ but surely he could find smth else?)
i’ve not touched it for two years and cant say i rly want to? the spooky stories are great and four of the poems are absolute bangers but everything else just isnt rly my vibe and there are only so many poems you can read about pretty women dying mysteriously (he famously said it was ‘unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world’ but surely he could find smth else?)
I was familiar with a very small number of Poe’s works and I am so very proud to say that I made my way through all of his short tales and novel, finally. (I skipped poetry because I really can’t pick up on the author’s, any author’s, intent behind his poetic work.) I have mixed feelings about what I have read and I don’t want to discredit (or credit) pieces by lumping them together with the whole.
There are some short stories I loved. There are others that made me put the book down and say “Wow!” Others were so tedious to get through that I thought for a moment that I was reading ‘Walden’ again (yes, I did not like ‘Walden’…) But, by reading through Poe’s short stories, I really got a feeling for the diversity to the author and what this talented man was capable of, even though there were stories I did not enjoy in the slightest. Some of his stories were so incredibly creepy that I had goose bumps and others were such a disturbing surprise as the story twists at the very end that I couldn’t help but smile at his man’s artistic genius. He really had a unique mind; that much I can say for certain.
Poe’s sense of humour and clever story-telling abilities show up a couple of times through the narrative which literally had me laughing: “Some shipmen who remain with him in the packet, tempt him to unusual indulgences, in the way, first, of brown stout, and, secondly, of positive French brandy. The consequence is that Mr. Snook falls, thirdly, asleep, and, fourthly, overboard.”
But I did find some of his stories uneventful and somewhat boring. (To each their own, right?) I don’t need page after page after page of description of a tree when the story has nothing to do with said tree. I found a lot of stories, if I could get past the description, were decent, but some were nothing but description. Others I felgt were lost on me because I lost interest in them and nothing happened within the narrative to pull me back in.
One part that bothered me about his work is sometimes he would quote or use a foreign language and did not bother to translate or explain it. I saw French, Latin, and a few others (including one language that looked as though a four-year-old went to town with a pen and Poe’s manuscript). This normally wouldn’t have bothered me too much except sometimes what was written in the other language seemed to be the point of the paragraph or the character’s motivation/reasoning. I feel as though I missed something important because I’m unilingual and haven’t learned three or four (or five, or ten?) other languages.
Poe’s only novel was also included in this volume and I very much enjoyed the majority of it. I found the first two-thirds of the novel very gripping and I had a hard time putting it down; however, I feel afterwards he started including great detail about things not pertaining to the story. (I now know more about royal penguins and ‘biche de mer’ then I’d ever care to know.) And a few chapters were mainly about the narrator reflecting upon digressions that offered no added value to the story, and being frank, I found quite boring. Getting past those parts, though, the story picked back up. Overall, I really did enjoy the novel.
Reading Poe is not for everyone. A lot weren’t for me, but there are gems within the compilation that I loved. I can see myself revisiting the complete works again in the future.
There are some short stories I loved. There are others that made me put the book down and say “Wow!” Others were so tedious to get through that I thought for a moment that I was reading ‘Walden’ again (yes, I did not like ‘Walden’…) But, by reading through Poe’s short stories, I really got a feeling for the diversity to the author and what this talented man was capable of, even though there were stories I did not enjoy in the slightest. Some of his stories were so incredibly creepy that I had goose bumps and others were such a disturbing surprise as the story twists at the very end that I couldn’t help but smile at his man’s artistic genius. He really had a unique mind; that much I can say for certain.
Poe’s sense of humour and clever story-telling abilities show up a couple of times through the narrative which literally had me laughing: “Some shipmen who remain with him in the packet, tempt him to unusual indulgences, in the way, first, of brown stout, and, secondly, of positive French brandy. The consequence is that Mr. Snook falls, thirdly, asleep, and, fourthly, overboard.”
But I did find some of his stories uneventful and somewhat boring. (To each their own, right?) I don’t need page after page after page of description of a tree when the story has nothing to do with said tree. I found a lot of stories, if I could get past the description, were decent, but some were nothing but description. Others I felgt were lost on me because I lost interest in them and nothing happened within the narrative to pull me back in.
One part that bothered me about his work is sometimes he would quote or use a foreign language and did not bother to translate or explain it. I saw French, Latin, and a few others (including one language that looked as though a four-year-old went to town with a pen and Poe’s manuscript). This normally wouldn’t have bothered me too much except sometimes what was written in the other language seemed to be the point of the paragraph or the character’s motivation/reasoning. I feel as though I missed something important because I’m unilingual and haven’t learned three or four (or five, or ten?) other languages.
Poe’s only novel was also included in this volume and I very much enjoyed the majority of it. I found the first two-thirds of the novel very gripping and I had a hard time putting it down; however, I feel afterwards he started including great detail about things not pertaining to the story. (I now know more about royal penguins and ‘biche de mer’ then I’d ever care to know.) And a few chapters were mainly about the narrator reflecting upon digressions that offered no added value to the story, and being frank, I found quite boring. Getting past those parts, though, the story picked back up. Overall, I really did enjoy the novel.
Reading Poe is not for everyone. A lot weren’t for me, but there are gems within the compilation that I loved. I can see myself revisiting the complete works again in the future.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Wonderful narration (vintage quality due to the nature of recordings). There are no chapter titles in the audiobook’s user experience, nor are there chapter titles in the narration (shout out to the other reviewer who posted the order of stories with respective time stamps!). Content warnings for racism and animal abuse. Some stories seemed abridged. However, the reading experience was delightfully creepy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest
challenging
dark
I read the introduction and back history on Poe and the first short story in the book. The story, though I am not use to reading such a well articulated use of advance vocabulary (my poor attempt of using such, I hope it makes sense), was quite amusing. I didn't laugh out loud but I did smile and maybe chuckled a little at the outrageous plot of the story. I really did enjoy my read and look forward into reading more.
Poe has gotten bad publicity. Most people think that he's a dark, forboding and depressed person and writer but from what I've read from both the background information in the beginning of the book and the story I just read, he's not. He did more than the gothic stories like "Tell-Tale Heart" and "Cask of Amontillado". He wrote parodies, satires, and other types of stories, of which I've never heard of before. So far I am very anxious to read this book from cover to cover and discover what I am calling "The lost stories and poems of Poe". Lost not because they were never published or read while in their existence, but because they are not generally associated to Poe when you think about his poems or stories. Perhaps, they should be called "The forgotten stories and poems of Poe".
Poe has gotten bad publicity. Most people think that he's a dark, forboding and depressed person and writer but from what I've read from both the background information in the beginning of the book and the story I just read, he's not. He did more than the gothic stories like "Tell-Tale Heart" and "Cask of Amontillado". He wrote parodies, satires, and other types of stories, of which I've never heard of before. So far I am very anxious to read this book from cover to cover and discover what I am calling "The lost stories and poems of Poe". Lost not because they were never published or read while in their existence, but because they are not generally associated to Poe when you think about his poems or stories. Perhaps, they should be called "The forgotten stories and poems of Poe".
I've read most of the stories and the poetry in this book throughout my life, so this is a must re-read.