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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Eight supernatural tales from the turn of the (20th) century that are deeply atmospheric and occasionally quite scary. While they have elements in common, chiefly the frame story and writing style, James tackles an admirably wide variety of creepy phenomena -- dead children, witches burned at the stake, the devil, mysterious artifacts, and so on. It's a bit of a slow read, especially if you prefer fast-paced writing and/or gore, but I found my patience to be well rewarded.
When you think of the classic, creepy, buttoned up ghost story, you’re thinking of one of these.
So this was more or less my first reading experience with M.R James' work, though I had read one of his stories before, "Oh Whistle & I'll Come to You my Lad", in a collection featuring "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" so I had some idea of what to expect. That being said was it as good as I hoped it would be?
.............I'll just kill the suspense for a moment to say it was Damn awesome (in that old fashioned spooky way) I mean like seriously, one story had spiders in it which came out of a tree that was used for witch trials.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here, each tale had it's unique scary twist and the atmosphere was usually thick with tension so as to represent the key moments when the normalcies of life were coalesed with the ghostly happenings to create a truly riveting story, part of which is owed to the writer's incredibly detailed but matter of fact descriptions of the supernatural phenomenon.
I feel this would do well for those who enjoy classic horror, despite being written on the flowery side, and those who just enjoy a good ghost story. I'm sure the effect is significantly improved when sitting by a reading lamp in a dark room with a hot drink.
You'll be fine though....probably
.............I'll just kill the suspense for a moment to say it was Damn awesome (in that old fashioned spooky way) I mean like seriously, one story had spiders in it which came out of a tree that was used for witch trials.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here, each tale had it's unique scary twist and the atmosphere was usually thick with tension so as to represent the key moments when the normalcies of life were coalesed with the ghostly happenings to create a truly riveting story, part of which is owed to the writer's incredibly detailed but matter of fact descriptions of the supernatural phenomenon.
I feel this would do well for those who enjoy classic horror, despite being written on the flowery side, and those who just enjoy a good ghost story. I'm sure the effect is significantly improved when sitting by a reading lamp in a dark room with a hot drink.
You'll be fine though....probably
The stories in this collection were hit-or-miss, in my opinion. I quite enjoyed The Judge's House by Brom Stoker, To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt by Charles Dickens, The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford, and Who Knows? By Guy de Maupassant. The others were either not particularly scary or simply dull.
M.R. James be like yes people are golfing. No I will not tell you about it
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I read the short stories by MR James first and then tried this collection. To be frank, I thought it would add a bit more to some of the vague aspects I found in James's stories while I read them. These are ok adaptations with good art yet nothing more was added to James's narration. 'Lost Hearts' was the best of the lot.
I think it's safe to say that the title isn't entirely accurate here. Of the eight short stories collected in this volume, a couple actually have ghosts in them. Others contain general supernatural nastiness, from demons to spiders to sack-and-toad monsters, sort of. They're all, however, very entertaining, although they do all come to seem a bit too similar to each other by the end. I happen to have read a couple of them before - the final story, "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas," is one that's always creeped me out. I don't even know why, really. If I were to describe it, I doubt it would seem that frightening, but it has one moment in it that's never failed to make me shudder. Of the stories collected here, I think that one's my favourite, although "The Mezzotint" is a close second.
These aren't stories that succeed in horrifying by virtue of gore. There's very little of that, and often there's barely any action at all. They all have similar protagonists - upper middle class male scholars, well educated individuals who find something odd in the course of their research. Frequently that research is archival, which gives them access to old and mysterious documents or artifacts but is not an especially glamorous vocation in itself. As I said, the stories can come across as much of a muchness, but they are so quietly well-written that an atmosphere of threat consistently develops regardless.
These aren't stories that succeed in horrifying by virtue of gore. There's very little of that, and often there's barely any action at all. They all have similar protagonists - upper middle class male scholars, well educated individuals who find something odd in the course of their research. Frequently that research is archival, which gives them access to old and mysterious documents or artifacts but is not an especially glamorous vocation in itself. As I said, the stories can come across as much of a muchness, but they are so quietly well-written that an atmosphere of threat consistently develops regardless.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I decided to kick off the spooky season with a century-old collection from M.R. James, a medievalist and archaeologist who did a bit of writing on the side. I’ve heard James’s name tossed around with that of other old masters of scary like Algernon Blackwood and others, so I was hoping for some classic chills with Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. These stories gave me a window into what readers found scary 117 years ago—and showed me that writers have really raised the stakes since this book hit the shelves.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration. Read the rest of review at https://abookishtype.wordpress.com/2021/10/02/ghost-stories-of-an-antiquary-by-m-r-james/
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration. Read the rest of review at https://abookishtype.wordpress.com/2021/10/02/ghost-stories-of-an-antiquary-by-m-r-james/
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
M R James certainly improved after this first collection, but there are few old-fashioned ghost stories better than ‘Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ and ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrap Book’.
The first two stories were meh, the third story was my favorite my far, and the last story was really great as well.