A review by hazel_heart
The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

dark relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't think Poe needs my puny review but I'll say that this collection helped me understand that I suck at reading poems. When I listen to other people read his poems, they're awesome. When I read them myself, they sound like out of rhythm pop songs, even The Raven, lol.

I reduced a point because his Satire/Humor stories are, understandably, aged very poorly (Humor is a dairy product). If you can laugh at them, you're legally allowed to claim you were born in the wrong period of time.

I was going to reduce more points because Poe loves rambling about the most mundane things. If that's how people talked in the 1800s, I don't know how they could get anything done, small talks could take hours! But The Raven was so good, I just couldn't bring myself to give this book 3 stars.

And I knew there'd be racism and I've read Lovecraft so I was prepared for it. But his (only) novel still got me pretty annoyed with the racism and "oh we're so white and better than everyone" themes. And it kinda sucks.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings