Reviews

The Monkey's Paw and Others: the Best Horror and Ghost Stories of W. W. Jacobs: Tales of Murder, Mystery, Horror, & Hauntings, Illustrated and with by W.W. Jacobs

gimpyknee's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

4.0

betthhflwr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

nymeria123's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 stars. I enjoyed the stories in the first half of the book, but they seemed to get less scary towards the end. I also don’t care much for the stories at sea, so it didn’t help that the second half of the book had more of them. There was also one story with a Jewish character full of stereotypes that I didn’t finish. Overall I found it hit and miss.

carringtonshaw's review

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This one was a lot of fun! The Monkey's Paw is so well known, but it was the only one of his stories I had ever heard of before. While it still ranks at the top for me, my other new favorites are The Well and Three at a Table, and I enjoyed reading all of them.

I also liked the editor's annotations and intros and outros. These were well-researched and thought out. It could have used just a bit more proofreading. 

sarahsbooklore's review against another edition

Loved the first several stories in this collection! Didn’t get to all of them before having to return the book to the library, but the ones I did read were hauntingly gothic. They each explored the theme of perception vs. reality in ways that were both playful and terrifying. 

radioisasoundsalvation's review against another edition

4.0

This was a lot of fun! Jacobs masters the "what have I done and how do I hide this" horror; The creepy high seas tales are equally entertaining.

jucebar's review against another edition

5.0

Me encantaron casi todos, y unos no fue que no me gustaran, solo es que los sentí algo predecibles, pero luego el siguiente relato era mucho mejor

magpie_666's review against another edition

3.0

Although a lot of the stories were quite similar I found it interesting they were based on humans and human emotions and thoughts instead of supernatural things.

axl_oswaldo's review against another edition

5.0

Es la primera vez que califico una recopilación de relatos/ cuentos con 5 estrellas, y esto es porque todos los relatos que se encuentran en esta antología me han gustado, unos más que otros como es natural.

Desde el más famoso de todos que da nombre al libro, otros con casas que imponen, y hasta algunos relacionados con el mar o que ocurren directamente en él, cada relato se disfruta por su fluidez y por tener una trama que te atrapa conforme vas leyendo, siendo imposible detenerse hasta llegar a su final.

Entre mis favoritos de los 18 cuentos que componen esta antología están:

- La pata de mono: sin duda el más famoso y popular. Yo entré a él sin conocer nada de su argumento, y creo que de esa forma lo disfruté aún más. Así que como consejo sugiero no investigar nada acerca de él y mejor ir directo a su lectura.
- El pozo
- La casa deshabitada: mi favorito por mucho. Aún pienso en él y se me pone la piel de gallina.
- Cuidando del prójimo
- El barco desaparecido
- El sirviente del hombre moreno: el más largo en extensión y en mi opinión, el que tiene uno de los mejores finales.

Como conclusión, recomiendo ampliamente este libro.

angelesg's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5