Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Some lovely descriptions of the countryside, and some pretty intense ones of the pursuit by the headless horseman. Humorous at times, and also cringe-worthy in others as some POVs just didn't age well.

Overall, not a bad short story. But the cinematic versions of this definitely elaborate and extend a lot of creative liberties.

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i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It's a fine, short read. Can be finished in one sitting. I'm unable to give a proper, in-depth opinion since the story is so short

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isabella_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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charliebella's review against another edition

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4.0

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tifftastic87's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Absolutely not. This is just a story where we glorify a "nice guy" who is trying to woo a woman that he doesn't deserve because he wants her money. He gets spooked away by a ghost or, potentially, the main "love" interest's actual love interest. I personally hope it was the latter. So, Irving gets points for that option but loses a lot for misogyny.

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isirla's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

It took way longer to read this book than it should have because it's so far from being the fun creepy gothic adventure I thought it was!! So much mysogyny. Racial stereotyping. So much ridiculous explanations, details upon details and background information that do nothing for the plot, all this only to have the actual action start around 70% of the book.

I was always led to believe that Ichabod Crane was such a smart, quirky yet loveable character. He's actually quite disgusting!! The way he can ride in fields and see banquets of food when looking at live animals had me thinking I should rethink my diet as a meat eater!! The way he started making plans in his mind for what his love interest would do once they were married, without any thought to her wants and needs was also pretty disgusting, especially since they weren't even courting!! He just wanted her money and privilege.

I found the story boring, disturbing (and not in a good way) and overall, very disappointing.

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pagesofkenzie's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

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maeverose's review against another edition

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medium-paced

1.75

The last 12 pages was the only part I really liked. The rest was pretty boring to me.

Lots of very long sentences with lots of commas. The language (combined with the long sentences) made it hard for me to understand certain parts. Not so much that I didn’t know what was going on in the story, but it was a bit tedious to read. I haven’t read many classics yet, this is the oldest one I’ve read so far, the next being Dracula (which I gave 4 stars).

As you might expect from any classic written by a white man, there’s racism and misogyny in this.

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