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hayhay321's review against another edition
2.0
This was not one of my favorites. Granted, I am not a huge fan of the writing style from this time period, but I can also honestly say I only truly enjoyed a handful of the stories in this collection. I will say the author does a good job of exploring the idea of "horror" stories in subtler ways than is normally found in the genre (and calling this a collection of horror stories, or even ghost stories, really is not an accurate representation, as many other readers have pointed out). Several of the stories leave the reader with a slight feeling of unease, without quite knowing why. However, I also found myself finishing several stories feeling like I had completely missed the point, or even what was supposed to be at all off putting about the tale.
Unlike many others, I did not like Whistle at all. As this is the first story in the collection, it is very possible I went into the rest of the tales with a negative outlook. I very much enjoyed The Staircase though. Both Mr. Oddy and Spanish Dusk felt more like stories that simply had a twist ending than anything necessarily macabre to them. Tarnhelm, Mrs. Lunt and The Snow were all sufficiently creepy. The rest of the collection elicited feelings of confusion, pity, and mild grief for various characters. This is not a book would I would recommend to anyone unless I knew they particularly liked this style of writing.
I listened to this as an audio book, and I will say that the narration was very good, and seemed to fit the mood of the collection well. While I might not seek out further books by Walpole, I would be willing to check out other titles narrated by Matt Godfrey.
*I was given a free copy of this audio book from the narrator, via Audible, in exchange for an honest review.
Unlike many others, I did not like Whistle at all. As this is the first story in the collection, it is very possible I went into the rest of the tales with a negative outlook. I very much enjoyed The Staircase though. Both Mr. Oddy and Spanish Dusk felt more like stories that simply had a twist ending than anything necessarily macabre to them. Tarnhelm, Mrs. Lunt and The Snow were all sufficiently creepy. The rest of the collection elicited feelings of confusion, pity, and mild grief for various characters. This is not a book would I would recommend to anyone unless I knew they particularly liked this style of writing.
I listened to this as an audio book, and I will say that the narration was very good, and seemed to fit the mood of the collection well. While I might not seek out further books by Walpole, I would be willing to check out other titles narrated by Matt Godfrey.
*I was given a free copy of this audio book from the narrator, via Audible, in exchange for an honest review.
charshorrorcorner's review against another edition
4.0
All Souls' Night is an excellent collection of stories, originally published back in the 1930's. I listened to the audio version, narrated by the outstanding Matt Godfrey.
Not all of these tales were dark fiction or ghost stories, but-of course, those were my favorites. The ones that I enjoyed the most were found right at the beginning, namely:
Whistle I love tales about dogs and people that don't care for them. Dogs always know.
The Silver Mask Nothing outright horrific, really, but most definitely unsettling and surprising.
The Staircase Easily my favorite story in this collection. Featuring extremely keen insights into human behavior, (that stand up, even to this day), as viewed and acted upon, by the house itself. This one blew me away.
Lastly:
Lilac I thought this was going to be one kind of story, but it didn't go the way I thought it would at all.
As I said above, I listened to the audio of this book and I thought the narrator did a great job of bringing these tales alive. I could easily picture everything going on and the English accent was appropriate for the time and age in which the stories were set.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. If you decide to try it out, don't expect all of the stories to be macabre, or to involve the supernatural. These tales vary widely, but all of them feature startling insights into the nature of humanity, and they are still true today. Highly recommended, especially the audio version!
You can get your copy here: All Souls' Night (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)
*I was provided this audio book free of charge from the narrator, (through Audio Boom!) in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it. Thanks to you both for the opportunity!*
Not all of these tales were dark fiction or ghost stories, but-of course, those were my favorites. The ones that I enjoyed the most were found right at the beginning, namely:
Whistle I love tales about dogs and people that don't care for them. Dogs always know.
The Silver Mask Nothing outright horrific, really, but most definitely unsettling and surprising.
The Staircase Easily my favorite story in this collection. Featuring extremely keen insights into human behavior, (that stand up, even to this day), as viewed and acted upon, by the house itself. This one blew me away.
Lastly:
Lilac I thought this was going to be one kind of story, but it didn't go the way I thought it would at all.
As I said above, I listened to the audio of this book and I thought the narrator did a great job of bringing these tales alive. I could easily picture everything going on and the English accent was appropriate for the time and age in which the stories were set.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. If you decide to try it out, don't expect all of the stories to be macabre, or to involve the supernatural. These tales vary widely, but all of them feature startling insights into the nature of humanity, and they are still true today. Highly recommended, especially the audio version!
You can get your copy here: All Souls' Night (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)
*I was provided this audio book free of charge from the narrator, (through Audio Boom!) in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it. Thanks to you both for the opportunity!*
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