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a_bloom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
isa_booktracker_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
annamickreads's review
3.0
A compendium like this of the majority (if not all) of Poe's writings is really handy for someone who meant to read them back before "The Fall of the House of Usher" on Netflix like myself.
That said, I think putting all of Poe's works right next to each other shows how he often repeated themes and concepts throughout his short stories, especially when it came to women. That's not to say most authors don't have a signature style, but how many stories can one person write about their beloved actually being dead/seeing the dead/dying mysteriously and haunting the narrator forever.
That said, obviously his most popular works are popular for a reason, and it was extremely fun to read through "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Masque of the Red Death" again.
That said, I think putting all of Poe's works right next to each other shows how he often repeated themes and concepts throughout his short stories, especially when it came to women. That's not to say most authors don't have a signature style, but how many stories can one person write about their beloved actually being dead/seeing the dead/dying mysteriously and haunting the narrator forever.
That said, obviously his most popular works are popular for a reason, and it was extremely fun to read through "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Masque of the Red Death" again.
geliopoulos's review
5.0
truly the best way to enjoy poe is to have basil rathbone and vincent price read it to you. unparalleled.
breathehopebooks's review
3.0
The stories i enjoyed i really liked, but the ones i didn’t i found absolutely boring and/or ridiculous.
Since i wasn’t familiar with most of the stories, though, i found this to be a bit of a slog, especially considering the overly pretentious prose, which tends to be characteristic of the Gothic era writing style.
I think i’m more just here for the nostalgia of Poe.
Since i wasn’t familiar with most of the stories, though, i found this to be a bit of a slog, especially considering the overly pretentious prose, which tends to be characteristic of the Gothic era writing style.
I think i’m more just here for the nostalgia of Poe.
frvncesco's review
These were really fun and also a little spooky. In especial, I really enjoyed the tell tale heart, rue, masque, the cask of amontillado, cat, and the fall of the house of usher. The masque one and the cask of amontillado were probably the top tier for me. I can definitely see the influence on like a lot of things. For instance the usher one seemed like people just got all the horror movie locales from it. One thing I’d be curious to find out more of is what stories in particular dostoevsky was influenced by cause the rue one seemed like similar to his prose. Also gotta be honest as the raven is probably like one of the only poems I’ve read in the last 5 years I was def confused in it. The oval portrait really reminded me the picture of Dorian grey as well. Also looking up drawings for these stories were so fun to see how people imagined them as well. Overall it was definitely a good read. It was fire tho.
lucieloureads's review
4.0
Lots of dead women, discovering how people have died, and burials.
First time reading anything by Poe, and again appreciated the background information provided about his life and the context of the writings.
Poe took some getting used to especially with his short stories, but I ended up really enjoying half of them including: Bernice, Morella, A Descent into the Maelström, The Pit and the Pendulum, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.
The novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was in parts a fun swashbuckling adventure, and then a few pages of longitude and latitude description that dragged.
Again I liked about half of the poems including: Israfel, The Sleeper, Dream-Land, The Raven, A Dream within a Dream, Eldorado.
First time reading anything by Poe, and again appreciated the background information provided about his life and the context of the writings.
Poe took some getting used to especially with his short stories, but I ended up really enjoying half of them including: Bernice, Morella, A Descent into the Maelström, The Pit and the Pendulum, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.
The novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was in parts a fun swashbuckling adventure, and then a few pages of longitude and latitude description that dragged.
Again I liked about half of the poems including: Israfel, The Sleeper, Dream-Land, The Raven, A Dream within a Dream, Eldorado.
swagmansnake's review
These were really fun and also a little spooky. In especial, I really enjoyed the tell tale heart, rue, masque, the cask of amontillado, cat, and the fall of the house of usher. The masque one and the cask of amontillado were probably the top tier for me. I can definitely see the influence on like a lot of things. For instance the usher one seemed like people just got all the horror movie locales from it. One thing I’d be curious to find out more of is what stories in particular dostoevsky was influenced by cause the rue one seemed like similar to his prose. Also gotta be honest as the raven is probably like one of the only poems I’ve read in the last 5 years I was def confused in it. The oval portrait really reminded me the picture of Dorian grey as well. Also looking up drawings for these stories were so fun to see how people imagined them as well. Overall it was definitely a good read. It was fire tho.
anarcho_zymurgist's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.25
njstoltzfus's review
4.0
Speaking as someone is not a literary scholar in any capacity, I found Poe to be a tad overrated.
Please don’t misunderstand.
I love Poe. You could call me and Edgar Allen Hoe.
But I believe that he only gained popularity because of the edginess, the grit, and general darkness of his stories and poetry. Not his writing style, which I found to be a little bland.
Nonetheless, I adore the dark and creepy so I still enjoyed this collection, but I think that his most popular works (The Telltale Heart, The Raven, etc.) are his most popular for a reason. They are his best, his darkest, and most interesting.
I also found that his poetry held my attention better than his prose, but that could be because I decided to read this collection as a book from beginning to end, as a whole instead of revisiting every so often.
But 10/10 for creepy.
Please don’t misunderstand.
I love Poe. You could call me and Edgar Allen Hoe.
But I believe that he only gained popularity because of the edginess, the grit, and general darkness of his stories and poetry. Not his writing style, which I found to be a little bland.
Nonetheless, I adore the dark and creepy so I still enjoyed this collection, but I think that his most popular works (The Telltale Heart, The Raven, etc.) are his most popular for a reason. They are his best, his darkest, and most interesting.
I also found that his poetry held my attention better than his prose, but that could be because I decided to read this collection as a book from beginning to end, as a whole instead of revisiting every so often.
But 10/10 for creepy.