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A review by art_cart_ron
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl
3.0
The premise sounds like one that could not possibly disappoint, but it is also not quite presented truthfully. The idea is that Dahl read 450 ghost stories in preparation for creating screenplays for a season's worth of them for an anthology TV show. The forward, and publishers, tell you that this book prints the best 14 stories out of those 450 - as chosen by Dahl. I think the dishonesty in that idea is that they were the best stories - - I think, rather, they were chosen by him as the best stories to create screenplays for and reformat for a visual medium.
Few of these stories could be thought of as the best out of 450 classic ghost stories. They aren't bad - *none* are "bad" - but a lot are mediocre. I started reading the book by doing a story-by-story review, then rating them by overall story and then how scary they are. The quality of the story almost universally outstripped the quality of the horror. The premise of the book relies on their having been scary. Few of them are scary enough that you will linger on frightening ideas. Most are formatted neatly to fit into a comparable presentation as The Twilight Zone. "Weird Tales", in other words - not horror.
Some of the stories don't even feature ghosts. The very first one, for instance (W.S. by Hartley). Some are more like folktales or legends, as is Elias and the Draug by Jonas Lie. A lot of them will feel antiquated to a modern reader - and a lot of them are classic and influential enough to have inspired works that are more well known (Stephen King is a famous "miner of ideas" from classic roots - - and a couple here certainly influenced him, or the stories that later influenced him, like The Corner Shop, and W.S.).
Personal favorites in the bunch are: Harry (feels inspired by the anxiety of a child becoming school-age), Playmates (was truly moved by the ending), The Sweeper (has Tales From The Crypt written all over it), and The Upper Berth (no stranger to "best of" ghost anthologies - and just a wonderfully written short story).
I was somewhat disappointed. I thought I was being served a super-charged, concentrated, carefully selected bunch of ghost stories determined to have been the best of the best. It really isn't. A lot of the best of the best may have been overlooked for having been well enough known that Dahl couldn't present them and get a fresh reaction. A lot of the best of the best may have been unattainable properties for the project (too expensive).
I'm slightly on the fence over whether to keep the book. I like the idea of having a decent ghost story shelf in my library... and while I'm still arguing against this book fitting in as neatly as others (like a Henry James ghost story collection, or the two books created out of an essay by HP Lovecraft on what books inspired him most), or a complete Poe... it doesn't deserve a fate out in the cold.
Few of these stories could be thought of as the best out of 450 classic ghost stories. They aren't bad - *none* are "bad" - but a lot are mediocre. I started reading the book by doing a story-by-story review, then rating them by overall story and then how scary they are. The quality of the story almost universally outstripped the quality of the horror. The premise of the book relies on their having been scary. Few of them are scary enough that you will linger on frightening ideas. Most are formatted neatly to fit into a comparable presentation as The Twilight Zone. "Weird Tales", in other words - not horror.
Some of the stories don't even feature ghosts. The very first one, for instance (W.S. by Hartley). Some are more like folktales or legends, as is Elias and the Draug by Jonas Lie. A lot of them will feel antiquated to a modern reader - and a lot of them are classic and influential enough to have inspired works that are more well known (Stephen King is a famous "miner of ideas" from classic roots - - and a couple here certainly influenced him, or the stories that later influenced him, like The Corner Shop, and W.S.).
Personal favorites in the bunch are: Harry (feels inspired by the anxiety of a child becoming school-age), Playmates (was truly moved by the ending), The Sweeper (has Tales From The Crypt written all over it), and The Upper Berth (no stranger to "best of" ghost anthologies - and just a wonderfully written short story).
I was somewhat disappointed. I thought I was being served a super-charged, concentrated, carefully selected bunch of ghost stories determined to have been the best of the best. It really isn't. A lot of the best of the best may have been overlooked for having been well enough known that Dahl couldn't present them and get a fresh reaction. A lot of the best of the best may have been unattainable properties for the project (too expensive).
I'm slightly on the fence over whether to keep the book. I like the idea of having a decent ghost story shelf in my library... and while I'm still arguing against this book fitting in as neatly as others (like a Henry James ghost story collection, or the two books created out of an essay by HP Lovecraft on what books inspired him most), or a complete Poe... it doesn't deserve a fate out in the cold.