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laydownyoursoul 's review for:
The King in Yellow
by Robert W. Chambers
'Although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of pure poison lurked'
The first few stories - the stories that actually have anything to do with the King in Yellow, are jaw dropping. The rest were not for me, and I would have preferred if the book was shorter and just had the first few stories.
Really liked the concept of the play that makes people become delusional and/or hallucinate when they read it, genuinely was a bit scared by the idea and briefly hesitated on whether to read the book thinking I would be reading the play itself.
The sense of dramatic irony, paranoia and the unreliable narrators were sooo well done in the yellow stories. This was shocking and disturbing and ultimately a relief in the first story (The Repairer of Reputations) when the extent of the delusion is revealed and we realise the protagonist has not killed anyone. The sense throughout the story that everyone sees the character's mental illness and are awkwardly trying to be compassionate, and that he sees this and hates them for it because he doesn't think anything is wrong with him was very well done.
Really liked and was creeped out by the story where there is a shared nightmare about a man that the protagonists see, again the oblivious nature of the male protagonist was entertaining.
Was also very impressed by the story or the evil solution that turns living things to marble, and the inevitable tragedy followed by a spookily happy ending.
Some confusing unfortunate bigotry? seems to be there in the first story which was a bit off-putting. Kind of jarring seeing what felt like a strange, racist and ableist idea of what a future utopia could look like, but this ended up being not really part of the plot.
Some quotes I liked:
'"The King in Yellow." I looked him steadily in the eye. "Have you never read it?" I asked. "I? No, thank God! I don't want to be driven crazy." I saw he regretted his speech as soon as he had uttered it'
'I cried, with a laugh of triumph. "You must renounce the crown to me, do you hear, to ME.' Louis looked at me with a startled air, but recovering himself said kindly, "Of course I renounce the - what is it I must renounce?" "The crown," I said angrily'
'It began to seem as if I deserved that which he threatened: it reached a long way back - a long, long way back. It had lain dormant all these years: it was there though, and presently it would rise and confront me'
'I began to understand the words he had muttered... "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" I was furious. What did he mean by that?
The first few stories - the stories that actually have anything to do with the King in Yellow, are jaw dropping. The rest were not for me, and I would have preferred if the book was shorter and just had the first few stories.
Really liked the concept of the play that makes people become delusional and/or hallucinate when they read it, genuinely was a bit scared by the idea and briefly hesitated on whether to read the book thinking I would be reading the play itself.
The sense of dramatic irony, paranoia and the unreliable narrators were sooo well done in the yellow stories. This was shocking and disturbing and ultimately a relief in the first story (The Repairer of Reputations) when the extent of the delusion is revealed and we realise the protagonist has not killed anyone. The sense throughout the story that everyone sees the character's mental illness and are awkwardly trying to be compassionate, and that he sees this and hates them for it because he doesn't think anything is wrong with him was very well done.
Really liked and was creeped out by the story where there is a shared nightmare about a man that the protagonists see, again the oblivious nature of the male protagonist was entertaining.
Was also very impressed by the story or the evil solution that turns living things to marble, and the inevitable tragedy followed by a spookily happy ending.
Some confusing unfortunate bigotry? seems to be there in the first story which was a bit off-putting. Kind of jarring seeing what felt like a strange, racist and ableist idea of what a future utopia could look like, but this ended up being not really part of the plot.
Some quotes I liked:
'"The King in Yellow." I looked him steadily in the eye. "Have you never read it?" I asked. "I? No, thank God! I don't want to be driven crazy." I saw he regretted his speech as soon as he had uttered it'
'I cried, with a laugh of triumph. "You must renounce the crown to me, do you hear, to ME.' Louis looked at me with a startled air, but recovering himself said kindly, "Of course I renounce the - what is it I must renounce?" "The crown," I said angrily'
'It began to seem as if I deserved that which he threatened: it reached a long way back - a long, long way back. It had lain dormant all these years: it was there though, and presently it would rise and confront me'
'I began to understand the words he had muttered... "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" I was furious. What did he mean by that?