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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Rating: 3.5
In a Glass Darkly is a collection of 5 possibly "paranormal" or mystery stories, first published in 1872, includes Green Tea, The Familiar, Mr. Justice Harbottle, The Room in le Dragon Volant, and Carmilla. The five stories are purported to be cases by Dr. Hesselius, a 'metaphysical' doctor, who is willing to consider the ghosts both as real and as hallucinatory obsessions.
Green Tea, The Familiar and Mr. Justice Harbottle all involve hauntings of some kind - demonic monkey or otherwise. These three short stories weren't particularly memorable. The Room in le Dragon Volant is not so much a ghost story as a gothic historical mystery novella with a mysterious lady in distress, a mysterious and jealous count, conspiracies and just plain weirdness. This was the best story in the collection. Carmilla is the story of the famous lesbian vampire written 25 years before Bram Stoker's Dracula.
In a Glass Darkly is a collection of 5 possibly "paranormal" or mystery stories, first published in 1872, includes Green Tea, The Familiar, Mr. Justice Harbottle, The Room in le Dragon Volant, and Carmilla. The five stories are purported to be cases by Dr. Hesselius, a 'metaphysical' doctor, who is willing to consider the ghosts both as real and as hallucinatory obsessions.
Green Tea, The Familiar and Mr. Justice Harbottle all involve hauntings of some kind - demonic monkey or otherwise. These three short stories weren't particularly memorable. The Room in le Dragon Volant is not so much a ghost story as a gothic historical mystery novella with a mysterious lady in distress, a mysterious and jealous count, conspiracies and just plain weirdness. This was the best story in the collection. Carmilla is the story of the famous lesbian vampire written 25 years before Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Absolutely holds up as a classic. I think The Dragon Volant was the most clever and surprising story, but Carmilla had such great prose. I do think it got better as you went on - or maybe I just prefer longer stories over the shorter ones
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
*Only read Carmilla*
*Edit* after reading the rest I've come to the conclusion that they're not as good as Carmilla and I suffered through them all
*Edit* after reading the rest I've come to the conclusion that they're not as good as Carmilla and I suffered through them all
This is a great collection of short stories by the early mystery/Gothic writer Le Fanu. In my opinion, he deserves to be better known. Of the works in this collection, the first few are interesting, but the last two are masterful. "The Room at the Dragon Volant" is a mystery that is a little slow at first, but then picks up and becomes very engrossing, even masterful, with plenty of twists and turns and false leads and a satisfying ending. The final story, "Carmilla," is equally masterful, although this one deals with the Gothic, as well as being a mystery. It is, in fact [spoiler if you don't know] one of the first vampire stories, and a great one it is, too. If you do know the twist, the suspense is mitigated, but still a great story. I had read it previously for a graduate class, but still greatly enjoyed it.
I only read 3/5 stories: Green Tea, The Familiar and Carmilla, the final one being the highest rated at 3 stars. At this point I have no desire to read the remaining two stories. In general, I don't think 19th century horror is for me. I find very little suspense and horror in them and mostly feel the story drags on and on trying to be mysterious until we get to the reveal. Carmilla was an exception in that the horror of the story is a main figure throughout and there were some very interesting lesbian themes going on beside. I did enjoy Le Fanu's writing style better than Poe's, but not enough to finish the collection.
Carmilla alone deserves a 5 star (incredible vampire story that inspired Bram Stoker). However, I felt the rest of the short stories were very repetitive.
"Carmilla" était vraiment la meilleure histoire de ce recueil, et elle mérite haut la main son 4 étoiles sur 5. Sinon, pour les autres nouvelles:
3/5 pour "Green Tea", qui mine de rien me hante depuis une semaine;
2/5 pour "The Familiar", qui n'était ni très effrayante, ni très mémorable;
2/5 pour "Mr Justice Harbottle", pour les mêmes raisons que "The Familiar";
et 3/5 pour "The Room in the Dragon Volant", qui commençait VRAIMENT (trop) lentement: ça aura pris 70 pages avant que soudainement, ça devienne un proto locked-room mystery, et puis ensuite que ça parte ailleurs encore vers une finale qui, somme toute, était un pas pire pay off pour la platitude qui précédait.
3/5 pour "Green Tea", qui mine de rien me hante depuis une semaine;
2/5 pour "The Familiar", qui n'était ni très effrayante, ni très mémorable;
2/5 pour "Mr Justice Harbottle", pour les mêmes raisons que "The Familiar";
et 3/5 pour "The Room in the Dragon Volant", qui commençait VRAIMENT (trop) lentement: ça aura pris 70 pages avant que soudainement, ça devienne un proto locked-room mystery, et puis ensuite que ça parte ailleurs encore vers une finale qui, somme toute, était un pas pire pay off pour la platitude qui précédait.