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art_cart_ron's review against another edition
3.0
Turned out to have not really been worth the time. I should have dropped it earlier in, when I had little motivation to return to it.
redheadbeans's review against another edition
5.0
Maybe most of my ranking is for "Elegy for a Demon Lover", but well... It's just a very good short story in a collection that, by any other author, I might have dropped. It's not Monette's fault, so much as I tend to find horror rather boring. And prior to Elegy, there was a story ("The Inheritance of Barnabas Wilcox") with one of my particular horror squicks. But I pressed on because I love Booth, and Monette's writing is wonderful, as usual, and I'm glad I stuck around, because I've reread Elegy four times now and adore it. The following short story, "The Wall of Clouds", is also very fun with its whump, and "The Green Glass Paperweight" is lovely, as well.
Booth is similar to Monette's other protagonists in that I love him, and I want to wrap him in a warm blanket because he's had a rough go, and he has shades of Felix in his more timid moments in "Doctrine of Labyrinths". All in all, a good anthology. If you read nothing else, read "Elegy for a Demon Lover". It's far and away the best short story here, and the sort of sequel "The Wall of Clouds" is good, as well.
Booth is similar to Monette's other protagonists in that I love him, and I want to wrap him in a warm blanket because he's had a rough go, and he has shades of Felix in his more timid moments in "Doctrine of Labyrinths". All in all, a good anthology. If you read nothing else, read "Elegy for a Demon Lover". It's far and away the best short story here, and the sort of sequel "The Wall of Clouds" is good, as well.
parablesarah's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I love these stories so much. Mr. Booth is one of those characters I still worry about. I just want him to feel safe in the world for a while.
beththebookdragon's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not a fan of horror at all, but I heard a podcast interview with the author and was intrigued, partly by the supernatural yet non-gory nature of the story fragment the author read, and partly (well, largely) by the painfully shy turn-of-the-20th-century protagonist who seems to draw supernatural events to himself in the course of his work as an archivist.
I bought the book in March, read it, and have been rereading it ever since.
The author said her intention was to write truly frightening horror that implies, not shows, that are a homage to HP Lovecraft and MR James, with the addition of elements of the sexual side of human nature. She does all this brilliantly. The stories are compelling, with well-fleshed-out characters (including the ones who no longer have any flesh), and intriguing plots.
MY greatest attractions, though, are to the settings and atmosphere Dr. Monette presents so brilliantly. Her use of language is excellent and pulls you right into the story. For example, "The Venebretti Necklace" begins:
There were fingers in the wall.
I was lifting a box when I saw them, saw the gap between the bricks where the mortar had fallen away and then the whitish-yellow gleam of bone. I lost my grip on the box; it fell and broke, sending yellowing holograph pages in all directions.
Right there, you have the setting, the horror, and Booth's characteristic clumsiness.
The first-person narration works beautifully; you feel pulled into Booth's own intense, less than happy but eventful life.
If you buy this reprint edition, I recommend you skip the Introduction to the Second Edition, which contains spoilers.
Recommended for subtle-horror fans, early-20th-century historical fiction fans, and people with an affinity for a shy, put-upon protagonist with a miserable childhood who is apparently dull and ineffectual but is truly courageous and fascinating.
I bought the book in March, read it, and have been rereading it ever since.
The author said her intention was to write truly frightening horror that implies, not shows, that are a homage to HP Lovecraft and MR James, with the addition of elements of the sexual side of human nature. She does all this brilliantly. The stories are compelling, with well-fleshed-out characters (including the ones who no longer have any flesh), and intriguing plots.
MY greatest attractions, though, are to the settings and atmosphere Dr. Monette presents so brilliantly. Her use of language is excellent and pulls you right into the story. For example, "The Venebretti Necklace" begins:
There were fingers in the wall.
I was lifting a box when I saw them, saw the gap between the bricks where the mortar had fallen away and then the whitish-yellow gleam of bone. I lost my grip on the box; it fell and broke, sending yellowing holograph pages in all directions.
Right there, you have the setting, the horror, and Booth's characteristic clumsiness.
The first-person narration works beautifully; you feel pulled into Booth's own intense, less than happy but eventful life.
If you buy this reprint edition, I recommend you skip the Introduction to the Second Edition, which contains spoilers.
Recommended for subtle-horror fans, early-20th-century historical fiction fans, and people with an affinity for a shy, put-upon protagonist with a miserable childhood who is apparently dull and ineffectual but is truly courageous and fascinating.
childofmongreldogs's review against another edition
5.0
A very quick read, but I loved it. I have some mixed feelings on Sarah Monette's work, but I think she excels at short stories.
I'd love to read any further forays into the horror genre from her. It was amazing to read Lovecraftian horror without having to flinch and cringe around all the racism.
I'd love to read any further forays into the horror genre from her. It was amazing to read Lovecraftian horror without having to flinch and cringe around all the racism.
codalion's review against another edition
2.0
Uneven, with good bits; Booth wavers between interesting and irritating and one-note. The uncomfortable skein of authorial misogyny, however, really pulls this down from three to two stars for me.
littoface's review against another edition
5.0
You couldn't possibly think of a more unlikely hero than Booth. Yet the stammering and introverted museum curator is the perfect protagonist in these ten short stories. The stories tie into one another perfectly, and let you watch the growth and development of the main character. The smooth prose of the author are contrasted by Booth's poor attempts at speech. Monette creates a surreal world whose supernatural presence in the book is real enough to make your heart beat a bit faster the next time you find yourself alone in a dark room.
codenamerogue's review against another edition
3.0
I've never really been into ghost stories, or horror as a literary genre. But these are engagingly written and the protagonist was kind of wonderful.
deehaichess's review
3.0
Disappointingly, this was not an effortless read for me. I think I expected it to be this brilliant experience, and instead it was just ok. I liked it more at the end than I was liking it half way through, but unfortunately it ended just when it seemed to be getting good!
As the author explains in the extensive and confusing forward notes that I didn't actually read, The Bone Key is a collection of short stories. I'm used to such books being about different people, all with a similar theme tying the stories together, and I'm not sure what was gained by writing about the same character, the retiring, social pariah Mr. Booth. He only seemed to be starting to grow in the second to last and last stories, and the lack of character maturation in the preceding stories was possibly part of why I had to encourage myself through to the end of this anthology. I found his painfully shy personality novel at first but even across a dozen short stories it got a little old fairly quickly.
Of course, if one of Monette's main aims was to evoke that particular style and sense of Gothic literature of Poe's ilk, she certainly hit bang on the mark. The supernatural elements are suitably atmospheric, and tinged with that sense of inevitable hair-raising doom that Poe's tales always had, but her writing was light and quick and erudite and her cast of peripheral characters were outstandingly drawn and often more interesting than the titular character himself. Possibly the point? I can't be sure, but certainly I recall Poe's narrators were never possessed of excessive personality either.
As an exercise in literary style, kudos to Monette. As something to entertain myself reading, it shouldn't have been as much of a chore to read as I seemed to find it. I think if she'd developed the character more over the course of the stories I probably would have been more engaged.
As the author explains in the extensive and confusing forward notes that I didn't actually read, The Bone Key is a collection of short stories. I'm used to such books being about different people, all with a similar theme tying the stories together, and I'm not sure what was gained by writing about the same character, the retiring, social pariah Mr. Booth. He only seemed to be starting to grow in the second to last and last stories, and the lack of character maturation in the preceding stories was possibly part of why I had to encourage myself through to the end of this anthology. I found his painfully shy personality novel at first but even across a dozen short stories it got a little old fairly quickly.
Of course, if one of Monette's main aims was to evoke that particular style and sense of Gothic literature of Poe's ilk, she certainly hit bang on the mark. The supernatural elements are suitably atmospheric, and tinged with that sense of inevitable hair-raising doom that Poe's tales always had, but her writing was light and quick and erudite and her cast of peripheral characters were outstandingly drawn and often more interesting than the titular character himself. Possibly the point? I can't be sure, but certainly I recall Poe's narrators were never possessed of excessive personality either.
As an exercise in literary style, kudos to Monette. As something to entertain myself reading, it shouldn't have been as much of a chore to read as I seemed to find it. I think if she'd developed the character more over the course of the stories I probably would have been more engaged.