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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will first admit that I read this because i was intrigued by the references to it in Nic Pizzolatto's fabulously conceived and executed True Detective TV series. If you are thinking of reading it for that reason, you may well be disappointed--at least up until episode 7 where, so far, there's nothing in this book particularly illuminating to the series. But who knows what the finale will reveal? I'm certainly not sorry to have read The King in Yellow for its own merits. The collection was on my radar anyway, thanks largely to H. P. Lovecraft, and I was planning on getting around to it one day as I am a fan (and also a teacher) of Gothic and macabre literature.
I enjoyed the linking devices between these largely autonomous short stories--first the mentions of the illusive King in Yellow play that either disturbs or drives characters mad in the first 4 tales, and then the continued presence of art and--primarily--art school in the latter stories. In the end, sadly, the theme was as illusive as the text of The King in Yellow, for the art school stories are more about young adults discovering love and eroticism than art. And art itself, although present pretty much in one way or the other in all of the stories--we are either in Paris' Latin Quarter or New York City's Washington Square, the two centers of Bohemian communities of American artists at home and away in the 1890s--acts more as a Hitchockian MacGuffin, merely linking, never actually seriously thematically explored by the tales.
One thing no other reviews here has mentioned (at least that I saw and remember) is that what everyone here calls the love stories of the second half of the collection are also all stories of American art students studying abroad--this interested me as a teacher of American students in Florence. It was a bit sad, however, to see that these American characters remained quite insulated from the French society surrounding them--with the exception of their whores (pardon the word but, well, this is how the French girls are presented in the text for the most part). The American study-abroaders remain aloof from the French mostly through their moral condemnation of them--even if it is they who do the seducing. Good fodder for feminist and Orientalist literary criticism, and a bit suspect to the modern reader. One tale in particular hinges upon the moral definition of the French female characters as whores for its pathos--the plot hinging upon the question, "will the upstanding and innocent American student still love her when he discovers the truth of her past/present moral conduct?" Unfortunately for Chambers, Henri Murger's Scenes of Bohemian Life is a far more mature collection of tales of Parisian artists, their love affairs, and their tribulations. Better than that, Murger's book does thematically deal with the act of creation as well, and its cost to those who accept art as a metier, their being excluded from a comfortable, bourgeois life. Scenes of Bohemian Life is a great book that, in the comparison, dwarfs this interesting, entertaining, but medium-sized book.
The supernatural tales of the collection's first half are handled well and certainly grabbed me--one doesn't expect great themes or maturity there so it's easier to please with a well-plotted, supernatural thriller. In these categories Chambers excels so I can indeed recommend the collection overall. The tale that comes the closest, in the supernatural tales of the first half of the book, for me, to greatness is "The Mask." In this story love, the supernatural, and the theme of art converged the best and seemed to be the heart of the various topics upon which the other tales circled around to a certain extent. Good rainy-day reading between episodes of True Detective.
Oh, and the egregiously nasty anti-Semitic comment on the first or second page bears calling out--shame on you Robert W. Chambers!
I enjoyed the linking devices between these largely autonomous short stories--first the mentions of the illusive King in Yellow play that either disturbs or drives characters mad in the first 4 tales, and then the continued presence of art and--primarily--art school in the latter stories. In the end, sadly, the theme was as illusive as the text of The King in Yellow, for the art school stories are more about young adults discovering love and eroticism than art. And art itself, although present pretty much in one way or the other in all of the stories--we are either in Paris' Latin Quarter or New York City's Washington Square, the two centers of Bohemian communities of American artists at home and away in the 1890s--acts more as a Hitchockian MacGuffin, merely linking, never actually seriously thematically explored by the tales.
One thing no other reviews here has mentioned (at least that I saw and remember) is that what everyone here calls the love stories of the second half of the collection are also all stories of American art students studying abroad--this interested me as a teacher of American students in Florence. It was a bit sad, however, to see that these American characters remained quite insulated from the French society surrounding them--with the exception of their whores (pardon the word but, well, this is how the French girls are presented in the text for the most part). The American study-abroaders remain aloof from the French mostly through their moral condemnation of them--even if it is they who do the seducing. Good fodder for feminist and Orientalist literary criticism, and a bit suspect to the modern reader. One tale in particular hinges upon the moral definition of the French female characters as whores for its pathos--the plot hinging upon the question, "will the upstanding and innocent American student still love her when he discovers the truth of her past/present moral conduct?" Unfortunately for Chambers, Henri Murger's Scenes of Bohemian Life is a far more mature collection of tales of Parisian artists, their love affairs, and their tribulations. Better than that, Murger's book does thematically deal with the act of creation as well, and its cost to those who accept art as a metier, their being excluded from a comfortable, bourgeois life. Scenes of Bohemian Life is a great book that, in the comparison, dwarfs this interesting, entertaining, but medium-sized book.
The supernatural tales of the collection's first half are handled well and certainly grabbed me--one doesn't expect great themes or maturity there so it's easier to please with a well-plotted, supernatural thriller. In these categories Chambers excels so I can indeed recommend the collection overall. The tale that comes the closest, in the supernatural tales of the first half of the book, for me, to greatness is "The Mask." In this story love, the supernatural, and the theme of art converged the best and seemed to be the heart of the various topics upon which the other tales circled around to a certain extent. Good rainy-day reading between episodes of True Detective.
Oh, and the egregiously nasty anti-Semitic comment on the first or second page bears calling out--shame on you Robert W. Chambers!
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
'Although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of pure poison lurked'
The first few stories - the stories that actually have anything to do with the King in Yellow, are jaw dropping. The rest were not for me, and I would have preferred if the book was shorter and just had the first few stories.
Really liked the concept of the play that makes people become delusional and/or hallucinate when they read it, genuinely was a bit scared by the idea and briefly hesitated on whether to read the book thinking I would be reading the play itself.
The sense of dramatic irony, paranoia and the unreliable narrators were sooo well done in the yellow stories. This was shocking and disturbing and ultimately a relief in the first story (The Repairer of Reputations) when the extent of the delusion is revealed and we realise the protagonist has not killed anyone. The sense throughout the story that everyone sees the character's mental illness and are awkwardly trying to be compassionate, and that he sees this and hates them for it because he doesn't think anything is wrong with him was very well done.
Really liked and was creeped out by the story where there is a shared nightmare about a man that the protagonists see, again the oblivious nature of the male protagonist was entertaining.
Was also very impressed by the story or the evil solution that turns living things to marble, and the inevitable tragedy followed by a spookily happy ending.
Some confusing unfortunate bigotry? seems to be there in the first story which was a bit off-putting. Kind of jarring seeing what felt like a strange, racist and ableist idea of what a future utopia could look like, but this ended up being not really part of the plot.
Some quotes I liked:
'"The King in Yellow." I looked him steadily in the eye. "Have you never read it?" I asked. "I? No, thank God! I don't want to be driven crazy." I saw he regretted his speech as soon as he had uttered it'
'I cried, with a laugh of triumph. "You must renounce the crown to me, do you hear, to ME.' Louis looked at me with a startled air, but recovering himself said kindly, "Of course I renounce the - what is it I must renounce?" "The crown," I said angrily'
'It began to seem as if I deserved that which he threatened: it reached a long way back - a long, long way back. It had lain dormant all these years: it was there though, and presently it would rise and confront me'
'I began to understand the words he had muttered... "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" I was furious. What did he mean by that?
The first few stories - the stories that actually have anything to do with the King in Yellow, are jaw dropping. The rest were not for me, and I would have preferred if the book was shorter and just had the first few stories.
Really liked the concept of the play that makes people become delusional and/or hallucinate when they read it, genuinely was a bit scared by the idea and briefly hesitated on whether to read the book thinking I would be reading the play itself.
The sense of dramatic irony, paranoia and the unreliable narrators were sooo well done in the yellow stories. This was shocking and disturbing and ultimately a relief in the first story (The Repairer of Reputations) when the extent of the delusion is revealed and we realise the protagonist has not killed anyone. The sense throughout the story that everyone sees the character's mental illness and are awkwardly trying to be compassionate, and that he sees this and hates them for it because he doesn't think anything is wrong with him was very well done.
Really liked and was creeped out by the story where there is a shared nightmare about a man that the protagonists see, again the oblivious nature of the male protagonist was entertaining.
Was also very impressed by the story or the evil solution that turns living things to marble, and the inevitable tragedy followed by a spookily happy ending.
Some confusing unfortunate bigotry? seems to be there in the first story which was a bit off-putting. Kind of jarring seeing what felt like a strange, racist and ableist idea of what a future utopia could look like, but this ended up being not really part of the plot.
Some quotes I liked:
'"The King in Yellow." I looked him steadily in the eye. "Have you never read it?" I asked. "I? No, thank God! I don't want to be driven crazy." I saw he regretted his speech as soon as he had uttered it'
'I cried, with a laugh of triumph. "You must renounce the crown to me, do you hear, to ME.' Louis looked at me with a startled air, but recovering himself said kindly, "Of course I renounce the - what is it I must renounce?" "The crown," I said angrily'
'It began to seem as if I deserved that which he threatened: it reached a long way back - a long, long way back. It had lain dormant all these years: it was there though, and presently it would rise and confront me'
'I began to understand the words he had muttered... "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" I was furious. What did he mean by that?
Technically DNF’d because I didn’t care for the last three stories…
The Repairer of Reputations - 2.5/5
The Repairer of Reputations - 2.5/5
The Mask - 5/5
In The Court Of The Dragon - 1/5
The Yellow Sign - 4/5
The Demoiselle D’ys - 1.5/5
The Prophets’ Paradise - 3/5
The Street of the Four Winds - 5/5
The romance tainted by horror and tragedy was great - but I preferred some stories in here over others. When it worked, it worked!
The romance tainted by horror and tragedy was great - but I preferred some stories in here over others. When it worked, it worked!
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
mysterious
medium-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
I hope you like short stories about American artists in Paris because boy howdy that’s all this is