Reviews

The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

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davidabrams's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I started reading this volume on Halloween night 2023; I finished it seven months later. This was my first time through the COMPLETE Poe and, frankly, the journey was occasionally dull. Sure, the highlights of The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven and others are rightfully well-known and quite good, particularly for their time--but who else has suffered through "Eureka: a Prose Poem" or "The Domain of Arnheim" or a dozen other dull-blade fictions gathered here? Poe occasionally requires fortitude and endurance. But there are plenty of rewards to be found here, too--a surprising faux Rocky Mountain explorer's journal ("Julius Rodman") and of course Poe's greatest work (you'll have to pry me with a crowbar from that opinion): "Arthur Gordon Pym." This latter has been one of my favorite 19th-century novels ever since I first read it in graduate school 30-ish years ago. It's thrilling, scary, and still makes my brain exploded on the final weird page of that short novel. "Pym" makes these 1,300 pages worth it.

killallrockstars's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

osborne2read's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

zwinning's review against another edition

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3.0

An extensive collection of Poe's work.

nkbolton's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

katie0528's review against another edition

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This boom was big and pretty unwieldy. I thought I wanted to dive into all of Poe's writings, only to find that once I set out, it was too much. I've had it checked out from the library for months, so I've finally decided to just read the most famous works and return it. A smaller collection is probably enough for all but the Poe diehards.

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