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brisingr's review against another edition
4.0
This was quite lovely, and it brings a lot of different variations on the idea of ghosts, haunting, visations etc, varying from serious and scary, to funnily sad. Enjoyed it; it is Winterson in the end, and her writing is absolutely stellar.
inphemeral's review
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
allwaysbecoming's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
indiareadsalot's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
laurapf's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
catmul83's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
amydunnewasright's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
amalia1985's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
‘’The past never dies.
Humans die. But then what?’’
App-arition: A widow buries her husband. Her sister introduces her to an app that will supposedly call her and text her, just as he did when he was alive. And then, slowly, layer by layer, we uncover Bella’s marital life and the secrets she has been harbouring. An outstanding story. And I LOVED Bella.
‘’On that walk to West 10th Street I noticed nothing. An anonymous man in a crowded city. We pass through one another as though we are ghosts. The city itself a kingdom of the lost.’’
‘’How long is the night when it does not end?’’
The Old House at Home: Set in New York on Halloween’s night, the gathering of a group of paranormal investigators steps on the metaverse of avatars and hauntings.
Ghost in the Machine: A woman tries to create an improved avatar of her dead husband but things rarely go according to plan. A darkly humorous tale with faint traces of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
‘’Spitalfields is ghost-friendly. The place is low-lit at night, there are always candles and I had the fireplace grates fitted with flame gas-fires. So, in the evening, in the winter, the wood panelling glows, and the floorboards shine, and there is no TV, only the quiet sound of me and a book.’’
JW1:Strange Meetings: Winterson narrates her personal experience of a domestic ghost. So atmospheric!
The Spare Room: A woman moves to a charming house after her divorce. Still clinging to the time with a husband who didn’t love her, she notices strange happenings in the spare room. A tender, haunting story of complicated love and letting go. Extremely atmospheric, like a quiet October night.
‘’But everyone grows older. Time’s arrow shoots shorter. Autumn comes.’’
A Fur Coat: A couple who works in a circus (among other things…) is giver a six-month free residency in a cottage, part of a rather significant estate The moment they step foot in the house, everything changes. Johny starts behaving like a drunk brute, Max is literally attacked by a fur coat. A frightening, dark tale told via Max’s perspective.
Boots: The point of view changes to focus on Johny and the power that starts overcoming him once a pair of boots is given to him by a man named Edwin. These are the origins of a dreadful tale.
Both stories communicate two voices full of darkness and despair in one of the most memorable pieces I’ve ever read, faintly reminiscent of The Turn of the Screw, a token of Winterson’s outstanding talent. You read it with a heavy heart.
The Door: A wedding is going to take place in a castle. The groom is separated from his bride-to-be, honouring tradition, unperturbed by the barman’s tale of haunting love and tragedy. But the darkness is thick, the moonlight weak, the wind sorrowful and there are footsteps in the corridor. And a door that leads nowhere…
JW2:Unexplained: Death omens, and your loved ones being always with you…
‘’Life is not a movie’, she says, ‘and God is not a special effect’’.
No Ghost Ghost Story: Winterson describes the sorrow of the one who has to stay behind when the person you love is gone in heart-shuttering writing. What happens when all you want is a ghost that refuses to come? Think of Heathcliff waiting for 20 years by the window…
This story contains some of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL sentences you will ever read.
The Undiscovered Country: The continuation of the previous story, told from the perspective of the deceased.
Canterville and Cock: I can think of far worse jobs than being a ghost tour guide. Right? Yes, but it’s not the same when the hauntings you invite people to are staged and fabricated. That’s what a self-named illusionist does in Berkshire, and now an ‘ingenious’ idea of a tragic ghost story from the 1960s is about to become real.
And I mean literal reality…A hilarious, modern-day Topper story.
JW3:All the Ghosts We Cannot See: Some things are invisible, yet standing right there in front of us.
‘’What we do or don’t believe makes no difference. In the end it is what it is.’’
Thin Air: A group of friends are honouring their annual, New Year’s tradition of withdrawing from the modern world, a ski resort as their shelter. But winter calls for ghost stories. And this is the story of a very tangible spirit. P.S. Loved the Sherlock Homes tidbits.
‘’Endless rain. Warming cold and cooling warm delivered the city over to a strange and spectral vision of itself. Buildings loomed out of the mist. On the streets, people materialised from nothing, too close, too sudden, their bulky bodies in winter wrappings like travelling mummies, then, just as suddenly, they disappeared, unravelling, so it seemed, in grey bandages of fog. Look behind and there’s no trace.’’
Fountain with Lions: A bittersweet, winter’s tale of Life and Death. Simply beautiful.
‘’Some people like to say that when we die we are going home. But it’s a strange home. We never visit it, until we do, and when we do, we never return.’’
Night Side of the River: A woman experiences a strange encounter while on a boat party in the middle of the Thames. The best way to end an exquisite collection.
Do yourselves a favour. Read a good book... Read Jeanette Winterson.
‘’Every night I want to be Heathcliff with Cathy tapping at the window. I want to be Hamlet on the windy battlements. I want the Flying Dutchman to dock. I want what everyone who has lost someone wants: a visitation.
Every second, someone dying is promising to come back from the dead. Every hour, waiting for it to happen, someone living notches up another hour lost.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
fetzpahs2002's review against another edition
4.0
Ghost stories (as interpreted by Winterson as some are of the paranormal, but others are bent tales of virtual reality. Quirky, interesting, and well crafted. A quick good read.