carrionlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
"Introduction" by Roald Dahl - Bleh, skip this off topic misogynistic drivel.
⭐
"W.S." by L. P. Hartley - Not a ghost story. Self indulgent choice by Dahl.
⭐⭐
"Harry" by Rosemary Timperley - The perfect ghost story. All the necessary beats are here. Chilling.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith - Boring.
⭐⭐
"In the Tube" by E.F. Benson - Pessimistic tale of the supernatural.
⭐⭐⭐
"Christmas Meeting" by Rosemary Timperley - Too short to be satisfying.
⭐⭐
"Elias and the Draug" by Jonas Lie - Not a ghost story. Old white guy literature. yawn.
⭐
"Playmates" by A.M. Burrage - Excellent ghost story. I've read this one before in Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories by Audrey Niffenegger.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Ringing the Changes" by Robert Aickman - What the hell am I supposed to take away from this? Great premise. Poor execution. Not frightening. Just confusing and vaguely insulting.
⭐⭐
"The Telephone" by Mary Treadgold - More sexist melodrama than ghost story. Sad because the premise was pretty interesting. Why are all these beautiful young women attracted to useless old men again? Oh right, fuck the patriarchy.
⭐⭐
"The Ghost of a Hand" by J. Sherian Le Fanu - Intriguing, but dated style.
⭐⭐
"The Sweeper" by A. M. Burrage - Not sure why Burrage rated two stories out of only fourteen stories, but he could have chosen a worse ghost story.
⭐⭐⭐
"Afterword" by Edith Wharton - Confusion causing title aside, solid enough ghost story. Perhaps a tad longer and more florid than necessary.
⭐⭐⭐
"On the Brighton Road" by Richard Middleton - Forgettable.
⭐⭐
"The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford - A subtler touch would have made this one a lot scarier but not a bad tale.
⭐⭐⭐
⭐
"W.S." by L. P. Hartley - Not a ghost story. Self indulgent choice by Dahl.
⭐⭐
"Harry" by Rosemary Timperley - The perfect ghost story. All the necessary beats are here. Chilling.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith - Boring.
⭐⭐
"In the Tube" by E.F. Benson - Pessimistic tale of the supernatural.
⭐⭐⭐
"Christmas Meeting" by Rosemary Timperley - Too short to be satisfying.
⭐⭐
"Elias and the Draug" by Jonas Lie - Not a ghost story. Old white guy literature. yawn.
⭐
"Playmates" by A.M. Burrage - Excellent ghost story. I've read this one before in Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories by Audrey Niffenegger.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Ringing the Changes" by Robert Aickman - What the hell am I supposed to take away from this? Great premise. Poor execution. Not frightening. Just confusing and vaguely insulting.
⭐⭐
"The Telephone" by Mary Treadgold - More sexist melodrama than ghost story. Sad because the premise was pretty interesting. Why are all these beautiful young women attracted to useless old men again? Oh right, fuck the patriarchy.
⭐⭐
"The Ghost of a Hand" by J. Sherian Le Fanu - Intriguing, but dated style.
⭐⭐
"The Sweeper" by A. M. Burrage - Not sure why Burrage rated two stories out of only fourteen stories, but he could have chosen a worse ghost story.
⭐⭐⭐
"Afterword" by Edith Wharton - Confusion causing title aside, solid enough ghost story. Perhaps a tad longer and more florid than necessary.
⭐⭐⭐
"On the Brighton Road" by Richard Middleton - Forgettable.
⭐⭐
"The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford - A subtler touch would have made this one a lot scarier but not a bad tale.
⭐⭐⭐
groovygreeks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
childofmongreldogs's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Unsure if these are so lackluster because I have access to really good writing with more palatable modern conventions or if the choices are just based on an old white man's taste. Are these groundbreaking? I don't think so.
erica_lynn_huberty's review against another edition
5.0
After a somewhat cocky intro by Dahl (explaining how most ghost stories are rubbish, and a surprising number of good ones are written by women... sigh), the collection is truly one of the best I've read. There is nary a dull or unoriginal one in the bunch.
laurenhurley97's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
njohnson's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
tcgarback's review against another edition
Too dated, basic, and problematic for me to invest my time in. I read the intro, the first 6 stories, and online summaries of 8 other stories.
When I was in the right mood, these stories were actually ethically stimulating because they’re all so problematic it’s like a game: will this story display vehement sexism, classism, racism, or a mix of all three? It sort of left me feeling challenged in an inspired way, which strengthened my feeling that I was reading a homework assignment.
But this mood didn’t last. I long interest one day in.
The collection does not have much sociopolitical or artistic merit by today’s standards, except as a window into the values and creative status quos of the first half of the 20th century, which is why this feels like something better off studied than cozied up with, unless you’re able to look past how poorly outdated almost every story is.
The introduction is super idiotic, to the point of being entertaining. Dahl shows off how deeply he has deluded himself into thinking he’s not a sexist pig. It’s quite fascinating. His worldview on literary criticism is also closed-minded and pompous.
When I was in the right mood, these stories were actually ethically stimulating because they’re all so problematic it’s like a game: will this story display vehement sexism, classism, racism, or a mix of all three? It sort of left me feeling challenged in an inspired way, which strengthened my feeling that I was reading a homework assignment.
But this mood didn’t last. I long interest one day in.
The collection does not have much sociopolitical or artistic merit by today’s standards, except as a window into the values and creative status quos of the first half of the 20th century, which is why this feels like something better off studied than cozied up with, unless you’re able to look past how poorly outdated almost every story is.
The introduction is super idiotic, to the point of being entertaining. Dahl shows off how deeply he has deluded himself into thinking he’s not a sexist pig. It’s quite fascinating. His worldview on literary criticism is also closed-minded and pompous.
micia_silvia's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
yasza's review against another edition
5.0
It was the best ghost stories anthology I’ve ever read. Highly recommend!