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camerontrost's review
5.0
Why did it take me so long to discover Charles Birkin? This is an outstanding collection of contes cruels, my favourite kind of short fiction. In this book, Charles Birkin reminds us why the most unsettling tales of horror and suspense are about our fellow human beings. Putting aside some minor stylistic differences of opinion and focusing on the stories themselves, I was so captivated, impressed, and, in some cases, troubled by these tales that I now consider Charles Birkin to be one of my favourite authors and am sure he will influence my writing, which is mostly in the same vein. Birkin's stories follow the themes of love and jealousy and revenge in family life, naivety and complacency in the context of interactions with strangers, pyromania and other psychological conditions, and beauty and deformity. His imagination demonstrates Poe's flair for the macabre mixed with a hint of Dahl's perversity. I can't wait to read more!
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