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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Edgar, a very strange man indeed...
some favourites:
The Mask of Red Death-- thinking back to The Shining by Stephen King, this must have been an inspiration for the masquerade ball! Thinking specifically of the clock and the red death. also, the rich party people running away to hide from a disease in a some fancy place... smells like Kardashian. and then they end up getting the disease anyway. yeah. the symbolism of life towards death is so cool too, I loved the descriptions of the rooms. very nice.
MS. Found in a Bottle-- this was the most frightening of them all, and also the most confusing of them all. I'm just scared of whatever this is.
Dupin stories-- HELLO??? I love classic mystery detective stories. such a strong foundation for other detective stories. incredible... and I love all the philosophical French and German quotes they'd pop in. awesome
some favourites:
The Mask of Red Death-- thinking back to The Shining by Stephen King, this must have been an inspiration for the masquerade ball! Thinking specifically of the clock and the red death. also, the rich party people running away to hide from a disease in a some fancy place... smells like Kardashian. and then they end up getting the disease anyway. yeah. the symbolism of life towards death is so cool too, I loved the descriptions of the rooms. very nice.
MS. Found in a Bottle-- this was the most frightening of them all, and also the most confusing of them all. I'm just scared of whatever this is.
Dupin stories-- HELLO??? I love classic mystery detective stories. such a strong foundation for other detective stories. incredible... and I love all the philosophical French and German quotes they'd pop in. awesome
Masterful horror, entertaining adventures, tedious detectives.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Contos preferidos:
1. Os crimes da Rua Morgue (5☆)
2. O escaravelho de ouro (5☆)
3. O gato preto (4☆)
4. A queda da Casa de Usher (3.5☆)
1. Os crimes da Rua Morgue (5☆)
2. O escaravelho de ouro (5☆)
3. O gato preto (4☆)
4. A queda da Casa de Usher (3.5☆)
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Since I've written mini reviews for each of the stories I will have them here slightly edited along with an overall rating and review for the collection as a whole.
1) The Gold Bug
A treasure hunt story involving cryptography, directions, clues, skulls, and a lot of digging. It felt like watching Dora the Little Explorer but in a much darker atmosphere. 4 main characters, the narrator, his friend Mr Legrand, Legrand's dog and Legrand's servant, a nigger, yes another story that has racist remarks. Anyway this was a 3.5 stars story nothing more than a treasure hunt. But I've enjoyed it more than others.
2) The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A practitioner of mesmerism (a precursor of hypnosis) tries through the medium of hypnosis/mesmerism to revive a recently deceased person. A macabre little tale worthy of 3 stars. Didn't blew my mind though.
3) MS. Found in a Bottle
A story about a man that scrambles aboard a gigantic ship manned by elderly crewmen who are unable to see him (possibly a ghost ship). A sea tale that ends abruptly and with a sense of doom. 3 stars because I needed more, something that Mr. Poe rarely does.
4) A Descent into the Mælström
At the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten (mentioned in Kavvadias Ο Πιλότος Νάγκελ), in Norway, an old Norwegian is telling the story of his near escape from a massive whirlpool called Mælström. Interesting story but there's no actual rising action or suspense because you know that the narrator is going to survive since he's the one telling the story. Almost 3 stars.
5) The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A tale that is considered the first detective story, written 46 years before the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887. A gruesome double murder is committed in Rue Morgue in Paris and amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the crime scene. What he finds is beyond suspicion. 3.5
6) The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
A sequel to the previous story. The longest and most boring story so far. It doesn't have a plot. Dupin just discusses with the narrator whether the murdered girl was murdered and then thrown into the river or the other way round, whether her clothes were torn intentionally or not, or whether the newspaper articles were telling the truth or were inventing things about the murder &c. You will enjoy this essay-like story only if you are a forensics/criminology student. 2 stars
7) The Purloined Letter
Definitely better story than The Mystery of Marie Rogêt but definitely not as good as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, or moreover an enjoyable reading. It is a discussion more or less of how Dupin managed to take back the Purloined Letter from the villain of the story (a blackmailer) and give it back to the police. They also talk about versions of reality and mathematics. 2.9 stars
8) The Fall of the House of Usher
Finally, a decent gothic story by Mr. Poe in this collection. Our narrator arrives at the gloomy, gothic, decaying house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher and the atmosphere is oppressive even for the reader who anticipates this fall of the house that looms over the story like a threat. An eerie story that you enjoy even though some elements remain inexplicable. 3,5 stars
9) The Pit and the Pendulum
From Wikipedia: Terror is the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or experienced.
So this is a terror story, the narrator describes his experience of being tortured next to a pit full of rats and a pendulum above him is about to cut him in half. The story was a disappointment though even to [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg], who while at high school he changed the story into a much gruesome and horrible ending which I approve.
10) The Premature Burial
A horror short story on the theme of being buried alive (!)
In the first part the narrator describes different cases of premature burials from where some victims escaped and some not!
In the second part he describes his own experience as a man who suffers from anxiety of being buried alive. Graves, corpses, tombs, graveyards, mausoleums. Everything I like to read this time of the year. 3.5
11) The Black Cat
Violence against animals, which is followed by a series of ghastly revenges. The narrator, a most unlikable character. He deserved everything he suffered (IMO). Moreover the story is a critique of the perverse actions brought on by alcoholism. 3.5
12) The Masque of the Red Death
The title says it all: Death. The story starts and ends with death.
All the characters of the story die drenched in blood. 3.5
13) The Cask of Amontillado
This was one of the first stories I've ever read in English back in 2009 when my English was worse than Tsipras's. Since then I've read it at least 3 more times. A favourite story of revenge, wine, and murder. . . 4 stars.
14) The Oval Portrait
From Wikipedia: "The Oval Portrait" is a short story [...] involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
I believe this tale might have inspired [a:Oscar Wilde|3565|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357460488p2/3565.jpg] to write his only novel [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|6411433|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389451534s/6411433.jpg|1858012]. 3.5
15) The Oblong Box
Nice little story but of course I saw what was coming. A mysterious box belonging to an even more mysterious man, on a ship full of passengers. 3 stars because it was simply interesting but not long enough.
16) The Tell-Tale Heart
A story that was pretty similar with the Black Cat but with a more sinister feeling and a very unreliable insane person as a narrator. The ending was the same with Black Cat's ending so I was a bit disappointed to read the same thing again. 3.5 stars though.
17) Ligeia
The story can be divided into 3 parts.
Part 1 where the unnamed narrator describes his wife Ligeia, her appearance and her mind and then she falls ill and dies.
Part 2 where the narrator moves to an unnamed gothic abbey in England marries a second wife Rowena who also falls ill and dies.
Part 3 is where the supernatural elements of the story come alive. . . Can't say more, you have to read it yourself. Atmospheric and eerie, yet verbose and slow. 3 stars
18) Loss of Breath
What a weird little story. A man literally loses his breath and everybody thinks he's a corpse and so they throw him out of a carriage, they dissect him, they hang him, they bury him, but he can't feel anything because he's out of breath! It was strange and macabre but the concept didn't convince me. How is it possible to live after losing your breath? Well it's fiction but again. . . 3 stars
19) Shadow - A Parable
A story 3 pages long and it left me standing in the shadows. After 2 readings I was still feeling like an ignoramus. 2 stars
20) Silence - A Fable
A fable about a demon and a man in an enchanted land. The demon tells his story, the man listens, and I am confused. Again. . .
Can't say more about this story because I simply can't. I just need to point out that the epigraph of this story was in Ancient Greek.
εὕδουσι δ΄ ὀρέων κορυφαί τε καὶ φάραγγες πρώονές τε καὶ χαράδραι
Since the feeling of the story was quite eerie I will give it 2.9 stars. I'm a good man.
21) The Man of the Crowd
A man follows an old man through a crowded London for almost two days and then he decides to stop following him because the old man is the man of the crowd. [...] worse than the Hortulus Anime; and perhaps it is one of the great mercies of God that er laßt sich nicht lesen.
Τι λες σοβαρά; Σουαχίλι γιατί ξέχασες να γράψεις; Again no explanation, which left me disappointed even though following a man for such a long time is quite creepy. 3 stars
22) Some Words with a Mummy
Finally, the last story, and an interesting one. 4 stars.
A group of intellectuals try to revive a mummy and the mummy now revived begins a conversation with the men. It was a witty story, a satire on Epyptomania and a criticism on the supposed superiority of the west. The end was one of the best parts of the story.
My wife is a shrew. The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be president in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall just step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
To be honest I'm anxious too to know who will be president of the United States in 2045; if they survive the (likely) Armageddon called Donald Trump.
Overall
70.2/22=3.19 which translates into 3 stars. A satisfying collection I had lying unread on my shelves since 2011 but not something I enjoyed 100% Certainly I will buy the 'sequel' to this collection [b:Tales and Poems|2077759|Tales and Poems|Edgar Allan Poe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371519617s/2077759.jpg|45193406] but I don't think I will bother buying all his writings since it's obvious I will be disappointed by most of them.
Well done if you've reached this gargantuan, lengthy, sheety review.
Since I've written mini reviews for each of the stories I will have them here slightly edited along with an overall rating and review for the collection as a whole.
1) The Gold Bug
A treasure hunt story involving cryptography, directions, clues, skulls, and a lot of digging. It felt like watching Dora the Little Explorer but in a much darker atmosphere. 4 main characters, the narrator, his friend Mr Legrand, Legrand's dog and Legrand's servant, a nigger, yes another story that has racist remarks. Anyway this was a 3.5 stars story nothing more than a treasure hunt. But I've enjoyed it more than others.
2) The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A practitioner of mesmerism (a precursor of hypnosis) tries through the medium of hypnosis/mesmerism to revive a recently deceased person. A macabre little tale worthy of 3 stars. Didn't blew my mind though.
3) MS. Found in a Bottle
A story about a man that scrambles aboard a gigantic ship manned by elderly crewmen who are unable to see him (possibly a ghost ship). A sea tale that ends abruptly and with a sense of doom. 3 stars because I needed more, something that Mr. Poe rarely does.
4) A Descent into the Mælström
At the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten (mentioned in Kavvadias Ο Πιλότος Νάγκελ), in Norway, an old Norwegian is telling the story of his near escape from a massive whirlpool called Mælström. Interesting story but there's no actual rising action or suspense because you know that the narrator is going to survive since he's the one telling the story. Almost 3 stars.
5) The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A tale that is considered the first detective story, written 46 years before the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887. A gruesome double murder is committed in Rue Morgue in Paris and amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the crime scene. What he finds is beyond suspicion. 3.5
6) The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
A sequel to the previous story. The longest and most boring story so far. It doesn't have a plot. Dupin just discusses with the narrator whether the murdered girl was murdered and then thrown into the river or the other way round, whether her clothes were torn intentionally or not, or whether the newspaper articles were telling the truth or were inventing things about the murder &c. You will enjoy this essay-like story only if you are a forensics/criminology student. 2 stars
7) The Purloined Letter
Definitely better story than The Mystery of Marie Rogêt but definitely not as good as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, or moreover an enjoyable reading. It is a discussion more or less of how Dupin managed to take back the Purloined Letter from the villain of the story (a blackmailer) and give it back to the police. They also talk about versions of reality and mathematics. 2.9 stars
8) The Fall of the House of Usher
Finally, a decent gothic story by Mr. Poe in this collection. Our narrator arrives at the gloomy, gothic, decaying house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher and the atmosphere is oppressive even for the reader who anticipates this fall of the house that looms over the story like a threat. An eerie story that you enjoy even though some elements remain inexplicable. 3,5 stars
9) The Pit and the Pendulum
From Wikipedia: Terror is the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or experienced.
So this is a terror story, the narrator describes his experience of being tortured next to a pit full of rats and a pendulum above him is about to cut him in half. The story was a disappointment though even to [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg], who while at high school he changed the story into a much gruesome and horrible ending which I approve.
10) The Premature Burial
A horror short story on the theme of being buried alive (!)
In the first part the narrator describes different cases of premature burials from where some victims escaped and some not!
In the second part he describes his own experience as a man who suffers from anxiety of being buried alive. Graves, corpses, tombs, graveyards, mausoleums. Everything I like to read this time of the year. 3.5
11) The Black Cat
Violence against animals, which is followed by a series of ghastly revenges. The narrator, a most unlikable character. He deserved everything he suffered (IMO). Moreover the story is a critique of the perverse actions brought on by alcoholism. 3.5
12) The Masque of the Red Death
The title says it all: Death. The story starts and ends with death.
All the characters of the story die drenched in blood. 3.5
13) The Cask of Amontillado
This was one of the first stories I've ever read in English back in 2009 when my English was worse than Tsipras's. Since then I've read it at least 3 more times. A favourite story of revenge, wine, and murder. . . 4 stars.
14) The Oval Portrait
From Wikipedia: "The Oval Portrait" is a short story [...] involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
I believe this tale might have inspired [a:Oscar Wilde|3565|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357460488p2/3565.jpg] to write his only novel [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|6411433|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389451534s/6411433.jpg|1858012]. 3.5
15) The Oblong Box
Nice little story but of course I saw what was coming. A mysterious box belonging to an even more mysterious man, on a ship full of passengers. 3 stars because it was simply interesting but not long enough.
16) The Tell-Tale Heart
A story that was pretty similar with the Black Cat but with a more sinister feeling and a very unreliable insane person as a narrator. The ending was the same with Black Cat's ending so I was a bit disappointed to read the same thing again. 3.5 stars though.
17) Ligeia
The story can be divided into 3 parts.
Part 1 where the unnamed narrator describes his wife Ligeia, her appearance and her mind and then she falls ill and dies.
Part 2 where the narrator moves to an unnamed gothic abbey in England marries a second wife Rowena who also falls ill and dies.
Part 3 is where the supernatural elements of the story come alive. . . Can't say more, you have to read it yourself. Atmospheric and eerie, yet verbose and slow. 3 stars
18) Loss of Breath
What a weird little story. A man literally loses his breath and everybody thinks he's a corpse and so they throw him out of a carriage, they dissect him, they hang him, they bury him, but he can't feel anything because he's out of breath! It was strange and macabre but the concept didn't convince me. How is it possible to live after losing your breath? Well it's fiction but again. . . 3 stars
19) Shadow - A Parable
A story 3 pages long and it left me standing in the shadows. After 2 readings I was still feeling like an ignoramus. 2 stars
20) Silence - A Fable
A fable about a demon and a man in an enchanted land. The demon tells his story, the man listens, and I am confused. Again. . .
Can't say more about this story because I simply can't. I just need to point out that the epigraph of this story was in Ancient Greek.
εὕδουσι δ΄ ὀρέων κορυφαί τε καὶ φάραγγες πρώονές τε καὶ χαράδραι
Since the feeling of the story was quite eerie I will give it 2.9 stars. I'm a good man.
21) The Man of the Crowd
A man follows an old man through a crowded London for almost two days and then he decides to stop following him because the old man is the man of the crowd. [...] worse than the Hortulus Anime; and perhaps it is one of the great mercies of God that er laßt sich nicht lesen.
Τι λες σοβαρά; Σουαχίλι γιατί ξέχασες να γράψεις; Again no explanation, which left me disappointed even though following a man for such a long time is quite creepy. 3 stars
22) Some Words with a Mummy
Finally, the last story, and an interesting one. 4 stars.
A group of intellectuals try to revive a mummy and the mummy now revived begins a conversation with the men. It was a witty story, a satire on Epyptomania and a criticism on the supposed superiority of the west. The end was one of the best parts of the story.
My wife is a shrew. The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be president in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall just step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
To be honest I'm anxious too to know who will be president of the United States in 2045; if they survive the (likely) Armageddon called Donald Trump.
Overall
70.2/22=3.19 which translates into 3 stars. A satisfying collection I had lying unread on my shelves since 2011 but not something I enjoyed 100% Certainly I will buy the 'sequel' to this collection [b:Tales and Poems|2077759|Tales and Poems|Edgar Allan Poe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371519617s/2077759.jpg|45193406] but I don't think I will bother buying all his writings since it's obvious I will be disappointed by most of them.
Well done if you've reached this gargantuan, lengthy, sheety review.
My favorite tales: The gold bug; The facts in the case of M. Valdemar; The murders in the Rue Morgue; The Premature Burial; Some Words with a Mummy; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Black cat.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced