I really enjoyed reading this book and thought the stories were a great complication, even if some of them are fairly old and don't take place featuriI really enjoyed reading this book and thought the stories were a great complication, even if some of them are fairly old and don't take place featuring modern technology, they are still interesting and thrilling to read.
Of course, since this is an anthology, some stories stand out more vividly than others. Many I enjoyed much more than the next, but I'm not here to do an in depth analysis of all of them. One that absolutely stands out among the rest was the story Diablo. That one truly terrified me and made my skin crawl. I was reading one night home alone and when my boyfriend came bursting through the door after work, I jumped sky high. (bad pun?)
And, as I am an avid Stephen King reader and fan, I will say that I picked up this book solely because his name was on the cover and I, obviously, highly enjoyed his story. I also really enjoyed Joe Hill's addition. I could have read so much more of his story and would not complain if he turned it into a full-fledged novel. Truly stunning and terrifying, as always.
The rest of the stories were at best an exciting and hair raising experience and at worst an interesting tale that I probably would not have picked up had it not been included in this anthology. None were persay bad, but many were just average for me.
That all being said, I really enjoy this book and highly recommend it. This is a great addition to any horror geek's shelf and a great venture for anyone else wondering what could possibly happen so high up in the air and so far from having their feet planted firmly on the earth....more
I finally heard the original text of this story, after watching a bajillion other media makes of it throughout my life. I say heard, because I listeneI finally heard the original text of this story, after watching a bajillion other media makes of it throughout my life. I say heard, because I listened to a reading of it on the radio on Christmas Eve. I've been meaning to read this book around Christmas time for like 10 years now, and I finally stumbled across the reading on the radio. I'm equal parts satisfied that I've finally heard the original story and jaded that I didn't read it myself.
All in all, I'm surprised how well I already knew it and how close the other stories of it I've seen stuck close to the original. ...more
A man has a very strange encounter with the devil.
“The Duc de L’Omlette” by Edgar Allan Poe
★★ Genre: Horror/Short Story Release Date: 1832 SourceSynopsis
A man has a very strange encounter with the devil.
“The Duc de L’Omlette” by Edgar Allan Poe
★★ Genre: Horror/Short Story Release Date: 1832 Source: Barnes & Noble – Bought On My Shelf: Yes
This was a very…strange read. And, I don’t mean strange as in what Poe usually has to offer, but strange in that it didn’t really fit with his style. Now, given that this is one of Poe’s early short stories, I guess he didn’t necessarily have a style at the time, but that made this even harder for me to get into.
I found that this story was funny at times, actually, quite hilarious with some of the jokes, but overall I just found that I couldn’t really grasp what was happening most of the time. I think that the overuse of French was part of the problem. I studied a bit of French, but even with my pre-exposure, I found myself having to look up most of what was included. This made the story too broken up for me, as I had to step aside from the tale to spend extra time trying to understand what was happening.
I just want to take a moment to make it clear that I am a huge Poe fan, so for me to be so disoriented by one of his stories is out of character for me. I enjoy reading Poe, but I didn’t really enjoy reading this story.
That all being said, I will sill that Poe’s writing flows well (if you don’t have to step away to translate the French) and the story was interesting. The characters were intriguing and the plot kept my attention for the most part, but there was just something missing in order for me to fully enjoy this story. I honestly think this is because the French language was just overused. Maybe if I had had a copy of this story with translated footnotes (call me lazy I don’t care) I would have been able to stay in the story better, but it was hard when I constantly had to switch from the plot to Google Translate.
Overall, this is an okay read for die-hard fans of Poe’s work, but otherwise I honestly say skip this one. You’re not missing much.
An ancient blood feud stretching so many decades it’s forgotten how everything started in the first place that finally brings to life the answSynopsis
An ancient blood feud stretching so many decades it’s forgotten how everything started in the first place that finally brings to life the answer to a prophecy that was made years previous–old and cryptic to the point of vagueness giving the story an eerie sense of being dated yet timeless all at once.
“Metzengerstein” by Edgar Allan Poe
★★★★★ Genre: Short Story/Horror Release Date: 1832 Source: Barnes & Noble – Bought On My Shelf: Yes
This short story easily became one of my top favorites from Poe. I enjoyed this tale so much! It was riddled with suspense, creepy images, interesting aspects of horror with vivid descriptions, and had a totally eerie setting.
The plot of this story was, quite frankly, awesome. I’m a huge fan of Poe and have enjoyed his tales since I had my first experience with his writing in 7th grade. But, that’s beside the point. This story was fast-paced, bone chilling, and had a totally Sleepy Hollow feel. I think it would be accurate to say that Poe drew from that sort of setting/story to write this one. That, of course, is not a bad thing. I quite enjoyed the feel of it all and was definitely completely invested in this tale. I was eager to find out how everything was going to wrap up.
Poe’s writing has a way of either being spot on or way too analytical (particularly trying too hard if I’m being perfectly honest). I’m happy to say this story turned out to be the former. Everything about Poe’s writing in this story was comparable to his highly acclaimed short stories, such as “The Tell-Tale heart,” or his high-rated poetry, more specifically something like “Annabelle Lee.” This is surprising as this is Poe’s second earliest short story, yet I’m not really surprised at all that this story was so good. As I said, Poe’s writing is either utterly flooring or over-the-top, so, when I find one of his stories I like, I don’t hold anything back instead allowing myself to immerse fully in the enjoyment of reading the spooky tale.
All in all, this is easily a new favorite story of mine, and I definitely recommend it. Between the delicious descriptions, vivid imagery, and spine-tingling chills, this is a must read for Poe and Horror fans alike. This short story will have you enthralled until the last page and then it will leave you with a gaping jaw wondering how you got there and wanting to relive the journey.
This is a collection of short stories that focus on the struggles that women face both as inherently being a part of the female gender and al5/5 Stars
This is a collection of short stories that focus on the struggles that women face both as inherently being a part of the female gender and also being part of the bigger patriarchal society that we live in. These stories employ the concept of magical realism to talk about women’s struggles in an indirect way. Brownrigg talks of everything from women in the work force to women not wanting to have children to anorexia. Brownrigg weaves beautifully lyrical stories that will surely stick with you long after you read the last page.
I ended up finding this book at Goodwill and picked it up because it sounded feminist. And, holy cow, it was, and I’m so freaking glad I read this book because I loved everything single thing about it.
Brownrigg’s writing is beautiful, and her stories are magical. I’m a huge fan of magical realism, and I adore how it was employed.
I’m going to do a short review of each story in this book, and keep in mind that I’m not 100% certain what each story is actually about. This is what I took from each story, and is not accepted as fact.
“Amazon” – 5/5 Stars This is a story about two women who built the world. They’ve travelled from continent to continent, country to county, to build all the structures we marvel at today. One of the women is getting old and approaching retirement (or perhaps death). She reflects on her relationship with the younger woman and everything they’ve accomplished together. There are strong tones of lesbianism in this story.
“A Gal of Ambition” – 4.5/5 Stars In this story, a woman (who likes soap operas and tells stories like her life is a soap opera) is telling another woman about a woman who died by the hands of a man who provided her with narcotics so she could kill herself. It’s left open-ended for us to contemplate after we’ve been given all the unsettling and nasty details. There are strong undertones of how easily men can get away with crimes against women.
“Hussy from the West” – 5/5 Stars Hands down my favorite story in this collection. It’s a beautiful story about a woman who’s in love with the west and not a single man. Brownrigg tackles the idea of women as sluts and whores (words that honestly shouldn’t exist) and points out that no woman needs to identify with such words. I highlighted entire paragraphs in this short story. The book is worth the buy solely to read this tale.
“The Bird Chick” – 5/5 Stars This story focuses on a pretty young girl living during the ’60s. She’s got everything it would take to become a star, but she doesn’t want to sell out to Hollywood’s ideals of beauty and women. So, instead she feeds the birds and everyone thinks she crazy. This story focuses on how society views women who do not conform and is also a favorite of mine.
“Broad from Abroad” – 4.5/5 Stars This story focuses on a woman who likes to travel the world by herself. Yet another thing our society has such an inherent problem with. The story tells of how the woman is often overlooked or looked down on because she likes to explore. The narrator gives a wonderful outsider’s viewpoint on how ridiculous our society can be.
“The Girl in the Red Chair” – 4/5 Stars This book focuses on a women who made some rash decisions and ended up in a relationship with someone who doesn’t make her happy and even turns out to have a bit of an abusive side. Eventually, he leaves her, and she’s left to deal with her feelings and how to speak out about what she experienced. The red chair becomes her way to let society know what’s happening. It’s sad that so many people don’t understand what she’s shouting about and brush her suffering under the rug.
“Mistress of Many Moons” – 5/5 Stars This was another favorite. Oh my goodness, there are just so many good stories! This one zones in on a middle-aged woman who has chosen not to get married, but instead has had many affairs throughout her life. Brownrigg examines how a single woman is viewed versus a single man once they reach mid-life. Many fascinating points are made through talking about moons.
“She Who Caught Buses” – 5/5 Stars This is probably one of the most direct stories in the book. It makes analogies that focus heavily on sexual abuse, sexual assault, and the loss of childhood innocence. Through talking about libraries and school buses, Brownrigg does a wonderful job of explaining why women generalize their fear toward all men. This story reduced me to tears because the truths Brownrigg speaks are so real and, most unfortunately, so many women can relate. Sure, not all men are bad, but there are enough that cause us to live in constant fear once our eyes have been opened to the cruelty.
“The Lady in the Desert” – 5/5 Stars I had a hard time understanding this story at first and didn’t like it as much when I originally read through it. But, upon further analysis and thinking, I found that this story really stuck with me and helped me think of a disease so many women struggle with in a new light. This story focuses on anorexia and how the disease completely separates the person suffering from their friends, family, and society itself. It’s a lonely desert for those who have to fight this battle.
“Mars Needs Women” – 4/5 Stars In my opinion, this was the weakest story in the book, and I wished Brownrigg hadn’t ended on it. Still, after much thought, I understand why she did. It brings all the stories together in a way and lets the reader know that our struggle isn’t over. That there’s still so far to go. This story centers around a woman who wants to run away where women are needed in society and not simply a bystander for men to use as they wish. It also impresses that our patriarchal society is so ingrained in our wiring that even other women tell women to bend to the will of men saying there’s nothing that can be done and to blindly accept our fate. This is a really moving story once you start to really think about it.
Okay, and now I’m sobbing all over again because this book is so amazing and contains so many relatable ideas. EVERY SINGLE WOMAN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK AND TAKE WHAT THEY CAN FROM IT. I cannot stress this enough. This book needs to be widely talked about and openly read.
Pick up a copy of this right now!
Seriously, every story in this book gave me chills, and I know I will be revisiting this book MANY times in the future. I highlighted nearly half the book because Brownrigg’s prose was so achingly beautiful.
This book isn’t in print anymore, but, my god, search this out until you can find a copy. It deserves to be read!
In this short story, Flynn weaves a tale of mostly harmless fraud, paranormal activity, and even the possibility of murder. A young woman str4.5 Stars
In this short story, Flynn weaves a tale of mostly harmless fraud, paranormal activity, and even the possibility of murder. A young woman struggling to make it by has worked her way up from giving hand jobs in the back of Spiritual Palms to a position of fake fortune teller and spends her days praying on the vulnerable who come in to see her for predictions or paranormal help. Everything is going fine, as fine as things can be going for her anyway, until a woman named Susan comes in. She claims to be living in a haunted house that is causing her son to behave erratically and even satanic. Our protagonist is leery at first, but soon agrees to come and cleanse the house – something that she doesn’t believe in at all, but only uses to milk the situation for all it’s worth, quite literally. However, when strange things start happening our protagonist is left with a dire choice that could possibly be the choice between life and death. What decision will she be driven to make?
Wow, that description was surprisingly hard to write. For how short this story is, a mere 62 pages, Flynn doesn’t fail to create a dense story filled to the max with twists, turns, and jaw droppers. I was thoroughly impressed with this new tale.
Gahhh, I’m so excited to talk about this that I don’t even know where to start. I guess I’ll start where I usually do with the writing. Flynn’s skill shines once again. The writing in this story is intense, thrilling, and both descriptive enough and not enough to keep the story moving and to keep us, the readers, reading and guessing. Flynn has never been afraid and refuses to shy away from the nitty gritty dirty topics, never brushing over them in her writing. This book is no different. Prepare yourself for her typical vulgar language and descriptions. If you’re anything like me, you’ll welcome it with an eager mind that’s also simultaneously disgusted with the pleasure found in Flynn’s writing style.
I mentioned that the writing is intense, which is a great thing since this story is intense. Flynn tells a story with a plot that is sure to suck you in from the very first page. The mystery doesn’t start right away, but the first quarter of the book is important to build character development and relation with the main character. But, once the paranormal activity starts happening and the mystery begins to unfold, Flynn’s writing will have you on the edge of your seat eager to find out what could possibly happen next. I’m so floored by each story that I read of Flynn’s. She has amazing skill in writing these grotesque mysteries. This one is no different.
Once again, I’m also impressed with the characters she creates. Flynn is the queen of coming up with villains that you can’t help but love. And, if they’re not villains, they’re some of the best morally ambiguous characters in literature. I honestly love that you can never trust any character that she introduces. She toys with her readers in the best way.
On top of creating the characters that we love to hate, she gives them plenty of character development that making it easy to believe you actually know her characters and can understand where they’re coming from in the choices they make. I loved every single character in this novella. They are marvelously wretched. I’ll give you fair warning: there is not a single character in this book that you can trust, and that makes the story all the more tantalizing.
This review is getting so long for such a short story. I bet you can understand now why I was having trouble writing the synopsis. There is so much packed into this short book. I could go on for pages talking about all the great things. The only complaints I have are minuscule and don’t have much consequence on the story. My biggest complaint is that I wanted so much more. I could have read and read and read about these characters. Every last word was marvelous.
However, before I wrap up this review, I want to say one more thing. THAT ENDING. Wowza. If you’re going to read this, which I highly recommend that you do, prepare to be left with your jaw on the ground and frustration quickly starting to boil in your blood. I’m a sucker for open endings, and Flynn writes a fabulous one for this story. One of my complaints was that I would have liked just a teensy bit more information, but, all in all, I thought this ending was executed superbly.
This is a paranormal (or is it?) tale that will have you thinking long after you finish the words on the page.
This novella still gives me chills when I think about it.
I recommend this book to horror, especially that of the paranormal nature, fans, mystery lovers, as well as anyone who liked any of Flynn’s other books. This is a great read, and I remain addicted to Flynn’s writing and stories. I’m in it for life now. When does she have new work coming out?
Short story collection of ridiculous scenarios with even more ridiculous characters written by well-known actor Jesse Eisenberg.
Bream Gives MeSynopsis
Short story collection of ridiculous scenarios with even more ridiculous characters written by well-known actor Jesse Eisenberg.
Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg
★★ Genre: Short Story/Fiction Release Date: September 2015 Source: BookCon2016 – Free Copy On My Shelf: Tentatively Yes
I’m actually a pretty big Jesse Eisenberg fan. I enjoy his acting, like many of the strange movies he’s in, and have always liked that he’s very open about his OCD, since that’s something I also have. So, when I received a free copy of this, a book I was totally already planning to read!, I was exceptionally happy.
However, when it came right down to actually reading this, I found that I didn’t really connect with this book and was confused by many of the stories. I feel like I know what Eisenberg was trying to do with these stories, but I found that so many of the just didn’t work. Most of the stories felt like half-finished thoughts and meaningless roundabouts. I think this book did have a great deal of potential, but I felt like the execution was just never really there. Eisenberg seems to be going for satire and writing satire is hard, so I’m trying not to be too harsh, but he didn’t quite reach that perfect balance between real life and ridiculous.
I was actually really disappointed with this and so I’m not entirely sure if I just had my expectations too high or if this really was just that not great? Maybe it could be a bit of both. I should say that not all of the stories were bad and many of them even had some pretty good funny bits, but this collection just didn’t come together for me.
I am keeping a copy of this on my shelf to maybe try reading again once I get some distance and am in a better mindset for it, but as of right now I’m not exactly recommending this but I’m not recommending you stay away from it either. This was okay for me. Maybe it will be better for you. I’m just not really sure, but I’m incredibly thankful to the publisher for providing me with a free copy!
I am excited to talk a bit about a book that caught me off guard and left me pleasantly surprised. I won a free copy of this book from Goodreads FirstI am excited to talk a bit about a book that caught me off guard and left me pleasantly surprised. I won a free copy of this book from Goodreads Firstreads Giveaways, and didn’t know quite what to expect. I’ve gotten some real duds off there, so my hopes are never high when I pick up a free book.
But, as you can see above, this book was really good, and I’m super happy about that.
This is a collection of short stories that each have a sense of magical realism in order to touch on real-life issues that are often times hard to talk about. This short book is composed of 8 stories that will have you questioning what’s actually happening and how we, as ordinary people, deal with the extraordinary situations that arise in life. Pick up Appel’s collection of tragi-comics and see what you can discover.
I really enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would. I was a bit skeptical during the first story, not quite sure what Appel was trying to accomplish. But, by the middle of the second one I found myself completely immersed in the ridiculous worlds he had created. I even went back and reread the first story to appreciate it better.
“Love sometimes requires a willingness to indulge in unreasonable requests[.]”
This book was making some pretty far-fetched requests and asks you to fully indulge. And, by golly, I indulged. Typically I don’t plan on keeping books I get for review, since, as stated above, they’re usually not anything fantastic or anything I would plan to read again. But, I would totally read this collection of stories again, so it has found a permanent spot on my shelves to call home.
I completely fell in love with Appel’s writing and characters. They were just as ridiculous and whimsical as his stories. They were fantastical yet so very real. I could connect with them. It was all too easy to indulge their ridiculous requests. Appel’s writing brings them to life, and I was lost for hours in the twilight-zone-esque worlds he creates . I read this book in two sittings and regret nothing.
I did, however, like the story he chose for the cover, “Einstein’s Beach House,” least of all. But, it gives the title an intriguing idea and, I’ll admit, did suck me in as interesting. Overall, I think that’s the only story in this collection I might rate lower than a 4/5 stars. Everything else was impressive and wonderful.
I will definitely be reading more by this author, and recommend this collection to anyone looking to tackle the real-life problems we so often face in a magical way. I honestly think these stories would be a great read for everyone. They’re interesting, well-written, and enticing. Definitely pick up a copy of this book if you have the chance....more
Loading...
