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anastasia1373's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ldaley3004's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
trixirina's review against another edition
5.0
Great Southern Gothic stories in the Flannery O'Conner vein. I was unfamiliar with Porter before reading this, but will seek out more of her short stories, she was a facinating human being. (According to Wikipedia ;).Pale Horse, Pale Rider especially felt almost too timely given the current state of the world. I enjoyed all three.
richardwells's review against another edition
5.0
Time is treating the three short novels in this collection with kindness, and well it should. Each is masterfully written, taking us places we wouldn't normally go, with characters who speak through the years in a language common to this mortal coil.
Yes, the prose is more formal than we're used to - especially in this age of the abbreviated and hyphenated colloquial - but it can be appreciated, and enjoyed with very little effort. The words flow beautifully.
In this time of Covid, the title novel, Pale Horse, Pale Rider is short cinema that for about 3/4ths of the novel takes place in the fevered hallucinations of a young woman struck down with the Spanish Flu. Katherine Anne Porter doesn't have to make much of the social conditions of the time, because she has a fine eye for those telling details that condense a time of national stress into a few sentences. It seemed awfully familiar, and I thought I could have been reading about the year 2020.
I recommend the three short novels: Old Mortality, the first about growing up privileged and lied to, Noon Wine, the second about life and a tragedy on a small dairy farm, and the third, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, about the time of flu. Miranda is the name of the protagonist in both the first and third novels. Same person? Why not?
Yes, the prose is more formal than we're used to - especially in this age of the abbreviated and hyphenated colloquial - but it can be appreciated, and enjoyed with very little effort. The words flow beautifully.
In this time of Covid, the title novel, Pale Horse, Pale Rider is short cinema that for about 3/4ths of the novel takes place in the fevered hallucinations of a young woman struck down with the Spanish Flu. Katherine Anne Porter doesn't have to make much of the social conditions of the time, because she has a fine eye for those telling details that condense a time of national stress into a few sentences. It seemed awfully familiar, and I thought I could have been reading about the year 2020.
I recommend the three short novels: Old Mortality, the first about growing up privileged and lied to, Noon Wine, the second about life and a tragedy on a small dairy farm, and the third, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, about the time of flu. Miranda is the name of the protagonist in both the first and third novels. Same person? Why not?
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
Pandemic classics continue with these 3 short novels. (Porter wouldn’t say “novella.”) The 1939 titular story is about doomed lovers during the Great Influenza. It’s autobiographical—although she claimed to hate writers whose fiction was “a thinly disguised personal confession which better belongs to the psychoanalyst’s séance.” As a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, Porter nearly died of influenza while romancing a young soldier. She claimed she wrote her stories in one sitting. (We should all be so blessed!) She’s fallen out of style, but you can hear her storytelling influence in Southern writers from Eudora Welty to Flannery O’Connor.
maryehavens's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it. Her writing is so engaging, despite being written 70 years ago. It draws you in and you can feel the humanity in it all. There are a few antiquated words/phrases that I had to look up but other than that, I felt I WAS one of the main characters. Their deepest thoughts are mine and that's what makes these stories so incredibly beautiful and poignant.
shreecat's review against another edition
5.0
Some of the best “short novels” I’ve ever read thank u miss katherine anne
floorflawless's review against another edition
3.0
It was fine, but didn't blow me away.
Oh and the N-word in the second story was unnecessary.
Oh and the N-word in the second story was unnecessary.
spauffwrites's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of three novellas, of which the final - Pale Horse, Pale Rider - is the best. Read the first and third together since they have the same characters. The middle story Noon Wine reads a bit like Flannery O'Connor
neglet's review against another edition
The edition I read contained three novellas; I found “Noon Wine,” about a mysterious drifter who changes a family’s fortunes, most compelling. The title story, which takes place during the 1918 influenza pandemic, is interesting but somewhat stream of consciousness, not my favorite style. An interesting collection, but somewhat challenging to read due to the long sentences and paragraphs.