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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Whilst this isn't an in your face horror story it is still a superbly chilling Gothic horror that creeps up on you as Villiers' tells of his experiences, building to a finale that leaves the reader stunned and horrified. This version also has two more stories by Machen, the first is the Shining Pyramid that follows two friends as they try and understand stone messages left along a nearby footpath, messages not meant for them. The second is the White People which is a story within a story as two friends find and read the Green Book, which turns out to be the diary of a young woman as she is plagued by visions and experiences of the occult kind. Machen has a simplicity about his writing that allows the story to breathe and wash over the reader, which actually has more of an impact than the outright gory style that modern horrors take and as such I find these kind of tales far more disturbing than those that can so easily be dismissed through logic or brushed off as violence and nothing more.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
I don't get it but I'm probably reading it 120 years too late. Though I can certainly see similarities to Lovecraft's work.
It actually made me think of how things that are commonplace and milquetoast in media today were once pushing the line like how it was once scandalous to show a man shot on screen or how the bounds of what sexual activity can be showed on tv now versus 50 years ago. Something I just shrug at or don't even notice might shock or scandalize someone who hasn't watched as much tv or as many movies as I have.
In The Great God Pan, the horror of what happens at the parties is very vaguely alluded to (I did some external reading to get a more concrete idea) but I guess I can see the allusion but my jaded eyes weren't terribly bothered by it. The first two victims definitely affected me more but first, they were children and second, the story took a moment to dwell on them and while it still doesn't go into detail on what they went through, it does focus on the aftermath and how they're suffering now.
For the later victims though, their deaths are related second and third hand and just don't have the same impact. The way everything is so darn vague doesn't help. Sure, something awful happened but all we know is that something awful happened.
And the way the mad doctor just casually justifies experimenting on Mary and nobody comments, objects or even asks about is so freaking matter of fact and awful that now it circles back around to uncomfortably funny. He just drives a woman insane and his reaction amounts to, "Huh . . . whoops."
It actually made me think of how things that are commonplace and milquetoast in media today were once pushing the line like how it was once scandalous to show a man shot on screen or how the bounds of what sexual activity can be showed on tv now versus 50 years ago. Something I just shrug at or don't even notice might shock or scandalize someone who hasn't watched as much tv or as many movies as I have.
In The Great God Pan, the horror of what happens at the parties is very vaguely alluded to (I did some external reading to get a more concrete idea) but I guess I can see the allusion but my jaded eyes weren't terribly bothered by it. The first two victims definitely affected me more but first, they were children and second, the story took a moment to dwell on them and while it still doesn't go into detail on what they went through, it does focus on the aftermath and how they're suffering now.
For the later victims though, their deaths are related second and third hand and just don't have the same impact. The way everything is so darn vague doesn't help. Sure, something awful happened but all we know is that something awful happened.
And the way the mad doctor just casually justifies experimenting on Mary and nobody comments, objects or even asks about is so freaking matter of fact and awful that now it circles back around to uncomfortably funny. He just drives a woman insane and his reaction amounts to, "Huh . . . whoops
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No