Book Review

My Thoughts

The Haunting of Hill House is commonly described as one of the best horror novels ever written. I couldn't disagree more. The story was slow, the horror was sparse, and the ending was bland. I haven't read too many books written after the 1930's but I decided to give this one a try due to me being on a gothic horror trip. The vocabulary is very elementary. This doesn't necessarily make a novel bad. It is actually very easy to read. I will admit that while the book contains a limited vocabulary, Shirley Jackson did a very good job in her simplistic descriptions.

My Thoughts

I decided to read this story because it is widely considered the first gothic novel ever written. I wasn't disappointed. The story is quite interesting and surprisingly easy to read considering its age. I found myself rarely having to look up a definition which is common with other classical novels of the 18th and 19th centuries. The story focuses on a royal family and a curse that has been put upon their name. Manfred is the prince of Otranto and is very impetuous and stern. I wouldn't consider him evil by any means, but he isn't someone that you would dare to cross.

Image taken from here. The user MGKellermeyer has some seriously well done images richly depicting various Gothic tales. I highly encourage you to check them out if you can here

My Thoughts

This story was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't heard of it, but I very much enjoyed it. It started out serious and worrisome but ended in humor. The story deals with perception and the fact that seeing isn't always believing. Our individual perspectives may differ dramatically from the perspectives of others, and sometimes we are in the wrong. The only part of the story that I don't quite get is how the Sphinx disappeared into the trees if it was 1/16th of an inch from the narrator. Overall the ending was a nice twist. I honestly didn't see that coming!

My Thoughts

This story was a little interesting but it failed to hold my attention on the whole. It deals with Poe's decorative idiosyncracies in a very detailed manner. He loves crimson and gold and fancies himself an interior designer. It was interesting to know his quirks with regards to furniture, but alas I believe this story was a dud.

My Rating

I would rate this story a 2 out of 5. Interesting to know a little more about Poe, but overall the story wasn't very interesting.

My Thoughts

Eh, this story didn't grab my attention at all. I wasn't sure if the ending was supposed to be humorous, but I didn't like it. I'd like to be more articulate in my explanation but I just don't have the interest here.

My Rating

I rate this story a 1.2 out of 5. It is probably my least favorite Poe story thus far.

My Thoughts

Shadow--A Parable is an interesting short story with an extremely creepy ending. In a dark room lit by braziers there sat many men at a table. They all looked very uneasy and worried. Something was on their minds but what that was isn't clear. There is a dead body on a table in the corner. It stares vacantly at the men. Suddenly a shadow is seen near the single entrance to the room. The shadow prowls around the men menacingly. They remain quiet but noticeably mortified. Then, with the voice of a thousand dead, it speaks.

My Thoughts

Silence is a short story, or fable, about a man near the Zaire River (now the Congo River) in Africa. The descriptions of the environment, while gloomy, are extremely rich. The sounds are detailed as if you can hear them coming out of the book. There is a large rock. Embedded into this rock are the words DESOLATION. A mysterious and ancient man stands upon the rock and seems to summon a tempest. The lush verdant environment sways to and fro, the sounds increase, a gale begins to strengthen. Desolation may, in fact, be upon the scene.

My Thoughts

This story is another example of Edgar Allan Poe's strong curiosity, if not an obsession, with death and what occurs afterward. It focuses on two people, who are apparently in love, discussing their passing away from the mortal plane. Monos died first and describes being conscious of his surrounding from his death until after his burial. He describes feeling Una by his side all the way to feeling the worms slowly devour his empty body. This was quite creepy to read!

My Thoughts

This short story focuses on two entities that were once living discussing how the world ended. Charmion had died ten years before and Eiros died during the apocalypse. Eiros describes how the world ended in fire by the impact of a comet. The interesting thing about this story is that the impact didn't cause the destruction itself, but was a catalyst for an extreme oxygen explosion. The comet was mostly gaseous and absorbed the nitrogen in the atmosphere leaving only oxygen.