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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
So, it's not a sci-fi grotesque body-horror "invasion of the body snatchers" type thing. It's a boring story about pretensious doctors robbing graves and feeling bad about murdering people, yet it's told as a flashback after a like five pages intro in a tavern in a tiny village? Man your short story has 15 pages, don't spend five pages on NOT the main story!
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I haven't read anything from Robert Louis Stevenson other than poetry in over a decade and now I don't know why. This creepy tale isn't perfect, but it is a gruesome delight, especially for the Halloween season.
I didn't like it, couldn't get into it. I read it entirely, but it wasn't enchanting for me, neither did I find it suitable for horror, too mild.
I actually really liked this it just kinda creeped me out a bit. I did actually enjoy the thrill of it and the fast paced-ness of it, and the writing was good, just a few things grossed me out about it.
Spoiler in paragraph:
First it annoyed me that you never find out who the narrator is - he remains nameless. Second, the whole dissecting murdered people also kinda creeped me out because that’s just kinda gross. Lastly (SPOILER) the ending creeped me out and I didn’t really understand how the DISSECTED guy was in the grave, or maybe it was just their minds, I don’t really know but it creeped me out.
Spoiler in paragraph:
First it annoyed me that you never find out who the narrator is - he remains nameless. Second, the whole dissecting murdered people also kinda creeped me out because that’s just kinda gross. Lastly (SPOILER) the ending creeped me out and I didn’t really understand how the DISSECTED guy was in the grave, or maybe it was just their minds, I don’t really know but it creeped me out.
Unfortunately, I feel that nowadays this story wouldn't be considered particularly scary. It's definitely worth reading in the context that this would probably have been pretty terrifying to its original Victorian readers. Robert Louis Stevenson is a great author anyway so regardless of scare-factor, it's worth a read. This short story would serve well as a stimulus for a piece of drama as there's lots of room for character and plot development. Aside from it not being especially scary to me, I didn't quite understand why it begins where it does in relation to its (spoiler) slight cliff-hanger ending. It doesn't make a lot of sense to begin the narrative after (chronologically speaking) the ending what with the ending being how it is. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and it didn't take a long time to read at all being a mere 47 pages. I've given it 4* on here, but I'd say it's more like 3.5* - I was feeling generous hehe.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes