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alexandrabree's review against another edition
3.0
Best New Horror 5/5
20th Century Ghost 4/5
Pop Art 2/5 (boring)
You Will Hear the Locust Sing
Abraham's Boys
Better Than Home
The Black Phone (5/5)
In the Rundown
The Cape
Last Breath
Dead Wood
The Widows Breakfast
My Father's Mask
Voluntary Commital
S. Typewriter
20th Century Ghost 4/5
Pop Art 2/5 (boring)
You Will Hear the Locust Sing
Abraham's Boys
Better Than Home
The Black Phone (5/5)
In the Rundown
The Cape
Last Breath
Dead Wood
The Widows Breakfast
My Father's Mask
Voluntary Commital
S. Typewriter
mischievous_monkey's review against another edition
3.0
Reread of Pop Art on 2/7/24:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a perfect short story. It had been 10 years from my first read and I never forgot the sweet melancholy it left me in. I revisited it last night and was pleased to find it just as beautiful as the first time that I read it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a perfect short story. It had been 10 years from my first read and I never forgot the sweet melancholy it left me in. I revisited it last night and was pleased to find it just as beautiful as the first time that I read it.
bobbiecabrera's review against another edition
4.0
Gory, upsetting, and provocative.
Pop Art, however, was divine.
Pop Art, however, was divine.
kaceylaine's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
merkatt's review against another edition
2.0
Gonna put as much effort in to my review as it felt Joe Hill did in these stories.
Negatives:
- More baseball references than ghosts
- Many stories had no ending
- Many stories either were not horror, or required the audience to make huge, unaided leaps in logic for them to become horror
- Absolutely unacceptably frequent use of the “R” word (once is too much, and it was almost once or more per story)
- Does Joe Hill have an issue with women? I think Joe Hill has an issue with women. Yes I know this is *supposed* to be a horror book so the characters are supposed to be bad, and a writer’s characters do not always have to perform actions condoned by the writer, but when every story features misogyny and other grossness with how women are written and characterized and discussed and treated, you start to notice the pattern
- Does Joe Hill have an issue with people who experience neurodivergent disabilities? See: previous two points
Positives:
- A couple of the stories were interesting, well written, and contained almost no baseball references
Joe Hill is probably not for me.
Negatives:
- More baseball references than ghosts
- Many stories had no ending
- Many stories either were not horror, or required the audience to make huge, unaided leaps in logic for them to become horror
- Absolutely unacceptably frequent use of the “R” word (once is too much, and it was almost once or more per story)
- Does Joe Hill have an issue with women? I think Joe Hill has an issue with women. Yes I know this is *supposed* to be a horror book so the characters are supposed to be bad, and a writer’s characters do not always have to perform actions condoned by the writer, but when every story features misogyny and other grossness with how women are written and characterized and discussed and treated, you start to notice the pattern
- Does Joe Hill have an issue with people who experience neurodivergent disabilities? See: previous two points
Positives:
- A couple of the stories were interesting, well written, and contained almost no baseball references
Joe Hill is probably not for me.
aylincoolcat's review against another edition
4.0
Eine schöne, abwechslungsreiche Kurzgeschichtensammlung. Mal skurril, mal beängstigend und immer wieder auch menschlich berührend. Es gibt so viele Ängste, die uns Menschen umtreiben und nicht immer haben alle mit Monstern und Blutvergießen zu tun. Oft sind die Ängste vor Dingen, die wir nicht sehen oder verstehen können am größten. Und genau da setzt Joe Hill mit seinen Geschichten an.
jeanne_i_d's review against another edition
5.0
Originally published as “20th Century Ghosts”, the collection was reissued in anticipation of the release of the movie adaptation of one story, “The Black Phone”
Solid assortment of stories here, ranging from slightly creepy to downright terrifying with even a touch of Ray Bradbury thrown in. In several of the stories, you may not be sure what you are dealing with until the very end. This was part of the joy of reading this collection… starting off each story with “I wonder what Joe has up his sleeve here?”
As with most collections, there will be favorites and others that may miss the mark (slightly!) for you but overall, I highly recommend this collection.
I would like to thank the publisher William Morrow for providing a giveaway copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Solid assortment of stories here, ranging from slightly creepy to downright terrifying with even a touch of Ray Bradbury thrown in. In several of the stories, you may not be sure what you are dealing with until the very end. This was part of the joy of reading this collection… starting off each story with “I wonder what Joe has up his sleeve here?”
As with most collections, there will be favorites and others that may miss the mark (slightly!) for you but overall, I highly recommend this collection.
I would like to thank the publisher William Morrow for providing a giveaway copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
the_vvorst's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
An uneven but enjoyable short story collection, worth reading alone for the wonderful story “Pop Art”
paperwitch's review against another edition
3.0
Overall I enjoyed the stories but I don't think this book is one of Hill's best. I tried to do my best to write a short review for each story in case you are interested. Do keep in mind that this collection is a mixed bag, so is not 100% horror based, if that's what you are looking for, you will be dissappointed.
Best New Horror 5/5
This story was pretty damn good, I had a blast reading it and so far its my favorite one out of the bunch. It was creepy and disturbing and a bit gory, all things I enjoy in a story.
20th century ghost 4/5
Now this one was a bit of a miss but it was not Hill’s fault, it was mine for never watching the wizard of Oz or understand some of the references, but once I did a little bit of digging, the story ended up being pretty great and sad more than anything.
Pop Art 5/5
Now if while we are on the sad subject, this one was a heartfelt story, something you might not expect to find in a collection like this one, it was a bit more character based and although our friend Al was not a human like you or me, he was just as real and wonderfully done.
You will hear the locust sing 4/5
Now we are getting into the weird side, this one was disgusting, disturbing and out there. It makes me want to dig into Hill’s brain and explore what lays within.
Abraham’s boys 3/5
This story was good but it felt like something was missing, it felt almost rushed in a sense, confusing and a bit predictable. It wasn’t my favorite but it was still entertaining.
Better than Home 3/5
This one was a bit random, if I am honest I didn’t really get it. It went everywhere and nowhere all at once.
The black phone 5/5
Oh this one was eerie, I loved it. One of the things that definitely stood out the most was the constant sense of dread I felt while reading it.
In the rundown 4/5
This story was interesting and it made me feel so angry around the end haha but I guess that was part of Hill’s intention. I did feel like it was a bit everywhere at first but overall it was enjoyable.
The Cape 5/5
This one was fun, it definitely went a direction I wasn’t expecting but in the end it was great.
Last Breath 5/5
The concept behind this story was so brilliant and original! I really enjoyed this one, it almost leaves you wanting more (but not in a bad way) I want to know more about Mr. Alinger and his collection.
Dead-wood 4/5
This one is super short, the shortest of the bunch and I think that’s why it suffered from lack of depth. I still found it eerie and the idea itself to be a bit disturbing.
The widow’s breakfast 4/5
Children being creepy, that’s always interesting. This one was a mildly horrific story.
Bobby Conroy comes back from the dead 5/5
The moment Tom Savini was mentioned, I knew it was going to be a good one. I definitely liked the characters and although we didn’t spent much time with them I felt like I knew them.
My father’s Mask 3/5
I didn’t get this one. It was a bit out there
Voluntary Commital 3/5
Scheherazzade’s Typewritter 4/5
Best New Horror 5/5
This story was pretty damn good, I had a blast reading it and so far its my favorite one out of the bunch. It was creepy and disturbing and a bit gory, all things I enjoy in a story.
20th century ghost 4/5
Now this one was a bit of a miss but it was not Hill’s fault, it was mine for never watching the wizard of Oz or understand some of the references, but once I did a little bit of digging, the story ended up being pretty great and sad more than anything.
Pop Art 5/5
Now if while we are on the sad subject, this one was a heartfelt story, something you might not expect to find in a collection like this one, it was a bit more character based and although our friend Al was not a human like you or me, he was just as real and wonderfully done.
You will hear the locust sing 4/5
Now we are getting into the weird side, this one was disgusting, disturbing and out there. It makes me want to dig into Hill’s brain and explore what lays within.
Abraham’s boys 3/5
This story was good but it felt like something was missing, it felt almost rushed in a sense, confusing and a bit predictable. It wasn’t my favorite but it was still entertaining.
Better than Home 3/5
This one was a bit random, if I am honest I didn’t really get it. It went everywhere and nowhere all at once.
The black phone 5/5
Oh this one was eerie, I loved it. One of the things that definitely stood out the most was the constant sense of dread I felt while reading it.
In the rundown 4/5
This story was interesting and it made me feel so angry around the end haha but I guess that was part of Hill’s intention. I did feel like it was a bit everywhere at first but overall it was enjoyable.
The Cape 5/5
This one was fun, it definitely went a direction I wasn’t expecting but in the end it was great.
Last Breath 5/5
The concept behind this story was so brilliant and original! I really enjoyed this one, it almost leaves you wanting more (but not in a bad way) I want to know more about Mr. Alinger and his collection.
Dead-wood 4/5
This one is super short, the shortest of the bunch and I think that’s why it suffered from lack of depth. I still found it eerie and the idea itself to be a bit disturbing.
The widow’s breakfast 4/5
Children being creepy, that’s always interesting. This one was a mildly horrific story.
Bobby Conroy comes back from the dead 5/5
The moment Tom Savini was mentioned, I knew it was going to be a good one. I definitely liked the characters and although we didn’t spent much time with them I felt like I knew them.
My father’s Mask 3/5
I didn’t get this one. It was a bit out there
Voluntary Commital 3/5
Scheherazzade’s Typewritter 4/5