Reviews

Edward Gorey's Haunted Looking Glass by Edward Gorey

Only show reviews with written explanations

kristynicole3712's review against another edition

4.0

*4.5 stars*
Great little collection of ghost stories for those who like the classics. Almost 5 stars, except there are a couple stories in here that I don’t personally care for and thought there were better alternatives out there. I’m pretty familiar with classic ghost stories and I enjoyed re-reading some of those here. Loved the illustrations as well.

swirls's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Wonderfully chilling book. These are all horror classics, stories that I've seen referenced or parodied by modern writers, but never read in the original. Except for the Dickens story (I've never enjoyed Dickens), each one was thoroughly absorbing. The number of Gorey illustrations is the only disappointing part - there's only one per story and some of them really don't do justice to the spine-tingling qualities of the story they depict. Fabulous collection!

rach_eb's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A collection of spooky stories with some superbly creepy Gorey illustrations: what’s not to love?

mercipourleslivres's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Delightfully creepy!

circularcubes's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This is such a top notch collection of horror shorts!

I was looking forward to reading this, because I love Edward Gorey's work, and I hoped his sensibilities would translate to this curated collection of eerie short stories. Happily, The Haunted Looking Glass absolutely lived up to my expectations. Most of the stories in this collection were great, with only a few pretty okay stories, and the drawings that accompanied each story nicely set the tone and added to the Gorey-ness of it all.

Very glad I brought this home with me from the Edward Gorey House (which, by the way, is a must-visit for any Gorey fan in Massachusetts. Can't recommend this place highly enough)!

toffishay's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A really fun collection of Gothic classics. The pictures from Edward Gorey are always really cool to look at and knowing that he selected these also gives an interesting insight into his tastes. While different, the stories have general shared themes and tropes like men, sometimes from the city, not believing local lore and paying the price, or haunted premonitions signalling danger to come. My favorite stories in this collection were A Visitor From Down Under by L.P. Hartley, Man-Size Marble by E. Nesbit, The Judge's House by Bram Stoker, and The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs.

Content Warnings