A review by hollowspine
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

5.0

That was so much fun. Not much to ‘review’ when reviewing Oscar Wilde, but let’s just say, most people have read/seen (maybe) two books/plays by Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Importance of Being Ernest. Both of which are obviously great, but there is so much more out there to read! For those who prefer the witty and naughty Importance of Being Ernest, the Canterville Ghost would be right up your street. It’s about newly rich Americans buying an old British estate and getting more in the bargain than they thought when the home comes fit with a rather troublesome ghost. The haunting gets turned on its head, however, when the ghost realizes that these beastly Americans don’t react the way proper (read English) people should, offering him oil for his creaking chains and cough drops for his maniacal laughter. For Americans everything is solved with a product and fancy is simply that. As much as the reader wants to sympathize with the ghost, being positively tortured by the simplicity of the too stupid to be scared Americans, it is soon revealed that the ghosts genteel disposition and British pomp hide his own brutish and terrible ways and we soon realize why the blighter was a ghost in the first place.
Also, it one has a reading report or something due soon, it’s quite short and packs a lot of social commentary and great discussion material into a slim and witty package. Perfect.