Reviews - Pátá čtvrtina: Noční můry a snové výjevy

566 reviews for:

Pátá čtvrtina: Noční můry a snové výjevy

Stephen King

3.77 AVERAGE

chocolatereader's review against another edition

2.5

I only enjoyed two or three of the short stories in this collection. I’ve come to expect king to be hit or miss with his books but I still have a good time.

natejohansen's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

donnakaye64's review against another edition

5.0

I enjoyed the short stories. They were varied and kept me interested and entertained.

laurenmsilverman's review against another edition

Alright. A lot of the weaker stories were closer to the end, so I got super antsy by the last 200 pages or so.

When they're good, they're REALLY good, but when they're not... they're REALLY not good.

Popsy is easily the best story in the collection, but I also loved The Moving Finger, Crouch End, and Sorry Right Number.

paopau_'s review against another edition

2.75

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

ziopera's review against another edition

2.75

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A not so ok short story collection… some of the stories are everything but short! Some of them are out of context, too.

Dolan's Cadillac - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

This cruel story of revenge (clear reinterpretation of "The cask of amontillado" by Poe, is the first story in the collection, and as far as I'm concerned it's decidedly successful. We definitely don't sympathize with the protagonist, who does something really very, very cruel. However, despite myself I could not help but feel a certain satisfaction in seeing Robinson succeed in his objective. All in all a very good story, perhaps with some parts too slightly boring, but nothing over the top .

The end of the whole mess - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Really beautiful, very creepy. There is not a single boring part, and it offers us a chance to reflect on the interesting theme of violence versus pacifism. The final part is super agonizing.

Suffer the little children - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 25

King tells us in the notes that he wrote this story around the time he wrote most of the stories in "Sometimes They Come Back." And this text has the same (certainly not too serious) problem of being a bit… inconsistent. For my personal tastes it had to be at least 50 pages long, also because the premise is really intriguing! An elementary school teacher who has to deal with the transformation of her students into monstrous creatures.

In any case we are obviously talking about a good story, in which King manages to make us empathize (without feeling sympathy) with the character of Miss Sidley, the aforementioned bigoted and almost sadistic teacher, a kind of ancestor of Umbridge.

A good short story.

The Night Flier - ⭐️ ⭐️

Really a lot, but so boring. The protagonist is an at least obnoxious journalist, who works for a tabloid magazine (already appeared in the beautiful "The Dead Zone", in which he played an equally annoying part), and who would do anything for a scoop. The story has an at times ridiculous ending, which dampens, if possible, the very little tension created with the previous four-five pages.

a vampire pissing?!

It could also have been nice, but with about twenty pages less.

Popsy - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 75

Beautiful, even if very short it does not give the sense of inconclusive of Suffer. Definitely entertaining, sometimes scary.

It grows on you - Unread

I chose not to read this story because it is considered an epilogue to "Needful Things", a novel that I have not read yet.

Chattery teeth - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

An excellent splatter story, whose only flaw is the initial part, a bit slow for my taste. Otherwise very good and disturbing.

But… wait! I don't believe it! A (more or less) happy ending?

Wow!

Dedication - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Disturbing, disgusting but also pervaded by a certain vague sense of tenderness, full of interesting atmospheres. Like almost all of King's texts, the characters are very well characterized, almost three-dimensional, and in particular that of the protagonist Martha immediately arouses sympathy in the reader. Really beautiful.

The moving finger - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

Cute, but… something was missing, I don't know. Maybe a little too hasty, and then I didn't empathize with the protagonist as much as I did in other stories in this collection. Definitely not bad, certainly well written, but personally no big deal.

Sneakers - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 75

This isn't bad either, but as "The moving finger" is hasty... it should have been a bit longer. Unlike "The moving finger", however, the characters are interesting, to such an extent that they deserved a more in-depth development. The paranormal part didn't drive me crazy, an average ghost story. The side of the psychology of the characters, as already mentioned, could represent the strength of this story, but King did not fully succeed in this.

And they have a hell of a band - ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

The basic idea of this story seemed barely decent to me, and the development certainly isn't great. It seems that the pre-arriving Rock Paradise part is given more importance, and even once you get into the paranormal zone, it's nothing special. I found the characters quite interesting, especially Mary, with whom you empathize easily.

Home delivery - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 75

In short. Basically the story is very nice, only that, considering the title "Delivery" the aforementioned birth should have been a more important element in the story, which also seems a bit sexist to me, although perhaps I haven't thought about it thoroughly .

The Rainy Season - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Beautiful, not exactly scary, but creepy and gross enough. The final twist, then, I did not expect at all. Really great.

My pretty little pony - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Very cute, definitely gives you food for thought. It's a bit like the "The last rung on the ladder" of the situation, but compared to the latter it gave me something less, I don't know.

Sorry, right number - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Excellent, it places itself in an extremely original and fascinating way towards the theme of time travel. The ending is great and sad. Furthermore, the fact that it is written as a screenplay represents an added value in my opinion.

The ten o'clock people - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

Even if in some parts it is a bit boring, I think this story is successful, also thanks to an original idea and a fairly articulated plot to be a short story.

Crouch End - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 5

Not bad, just that I was hoping for clearer references to the Cthulhu Mythos, while here we have only vague references, mostly written in a different way from the original.

The House on Maple Street - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 75

Very, very nice, the basic idea is very interesting, the development and characterization of the characters is excellent. Only that… AHAHAHAH THOSE KIDS ARE SO SWEET AND INCREDIBLY CRUEL.

The fifth quarter - ⭐️ ⭐️ . 25

A thriller with a fairly interesting although not very original plot, which however could have been developed in a much better way, perhaps in a longer story or in a novella.

The Doctor's Case - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

A short story about Watson solving a case instead of Sherlock. The pace is fast, but the story has, according to my personal taste, some shortcomings. And then... I may be strange, but I didn't understand the reason for giving this story a title.

Umney's Last Case - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . 75

I thought it was a hard boiled, but… it surprised me! The only flaw, some parts a bit boring, but all in all excellent.

Head down - ⭐️

BORING!

August in Brooklyn - ⭐️ ⭐️

A rather ugly poem for my taste.

SOOO… a not so fantastic short story collection, but hey, King’s always King, and his writing style, his characters are fantastic!

yarnmaus's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 Sterne!!
Horror Elemente waren hier definitiv enthalten, sprich, ein gewisses Entsetzen hat einen bei diesen Erzählungen stets gepackt. Manches kam zu kurz, und schien mir deswegen fast schon langweilig aufgrund des oberflächlichen Geschehens, sodass die Anzahl der Geschichten, die mir tatsächlich gefielen, schlussendlich recht überschaubar ist.
Ans Herz legen kann ich absolut ,,Dolans Cadillac”, da der Horror sich nämlich in etwas komplett menschlichem befand, nämlich der Tat selbst. Hat mir jedenfalls gut gefallen, dennoch würde ich lieber zu einem Roman von Stephen King tendieren, als zu weiteren Erzählungen.