claramaddie's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mellambert's review
Most stories felt unfinished. Ut very much like Scary Stories to tell in the dark for adults...but with less creepy pics.
wynnebirchmaple's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
3.75 stars because for a short story collection the majority of included pieces should be excellent and in this curation, a few of the stories were stunning and with a unique twist and too many weren’t. However, I love how hi-brow this author is—classic art, philosophy, literature, theater and music embedded into each story in tasteful combinations all while luring her readers into mysterious circumstances swirling with loss and pain.
I appreciated the elegant dialogue exchanged between unhappy artistic and/or academic couples The dialogue was analytical, thoughtful, expansive and borders on unrealistic or rare outside this collection of Gothic short stories. It kind of reminded me of a show I used to watch when I was way too young to watch it, “Thirtysomething” and I couldn’t wait to grow up and be married and process life with a partner only to discover that those kind of conversations that do happen, happen very infrequently. This leaves me respectfully nodding at the aspirational aspect Murray holds her characters, especially the overeducated ones, to.
The author’s sense of liminal spaces is gorgeous and filmic in how she draws readers into mists, bogs, lakes, convents, gardens and abandoned haunted homes. One book not referenced but I felt permeates through these mini narratives is “The Secret Garden” as there was an unearthing of the beauty life offers even as it’s fleeting or unappreciated by people gifted with privilege and life itself. However, the liminal spaces employed by Murray began to become predictable and would appear as glints and glimmers in other stories throughout the selection. On the positive side, a reader can discern a writer’s toolkit which is why some readers enjoy series reading or stay with an author’s collected works. But a short story collection should offer the best array of a writer’s craft and tools and not struggle to not be a novel which for me this work did. Examples of presenting an array of craft and tools can be found in works by: Carmen Maria Machado, Helen Oyeyemi, and Mariana Enriquez.
This collection is plagued by the unbalanced power dynamics between older husbands and younger wives picked before ripening into womanhood and who’d likely choose otherwise had they waited until further bloom to marry. Male characters struggle with traditional male tropes—widowed millionaire, failed professor, cheating artist, frustrated playwright, absent professional fathers— abound in these stories, though there are a couple of male characters who amend male molds but these characters mostly hang around the periphery. The woman border on mad, depressed, child-free, cold mothers, bratty bullying girls and the like. The women sort of linger between ball and chain trophy wife or retreating to a psychological attic where they can linger quietly in madness and sadness.
Motherless children are raised or guided by surrogates or spirits and families live quietly with the ghosts of their deceased children. When they don’t live in this manner they ship their children off to schools and visits shared in these works are highly compartmentalized both physically and psychologically.
I wasn’t into the animal harm—it just doesn’t work or deliver for me. After a bit I was frustrated with the lack of story for the shadowy male figure who suggests death—he never develops nor does the archetypal woman in the light gown an effigy who distracts drivers and disappears these figures seem to diminish the sophistication of characters, lives and conflicts by their mere presence.
Murray definitely understands the human psyche and heart and why people end up the way they might end up though she also points to the simultaneous existence of the other lives people would choose and how that too can exist in real time.
What bothered me was that most of the stories worked together and some didn’t and I questioned why they were there. This collection wants to be a novel even a short one. I usually don’t grab for a gothic work but now I’m further interested because I was engrossed and found myself jumping when disturbed, looking up images and mentioned works and philosophers I didn’t fully know. In this way the work for the most part is expansive however a short story collection seems to cheat the reader of this richness and growth.
Still happy I enjoyed this—it reminds me a little of Milan Kundera’s work. I’ll definitely give the author an additional shot and read a novel length work. Definitely a hidden gem unearthed here. Murray is quite an author and holds up important works within Classics that many people in the future will never know or appreciate, but by memorizing them even while scaring people a little will hopefully create space in collective memory for future scholars and influencers to celebrate and explore.
I appreciated the elegant dialogue exchanged between unhappy artistic and/or academic couples The dialogue was analytical, thoughtful, expansive and borders on unrealistic or rare outside this collection of Gothic short stories. It kind of reminded me of a show I used to watch when I was way too young to watch it, “Thirtysomething” and I couldn’t wait to grow up and be married and process life with a partner only to discover that those kind of conversations that do happen, happen very infrequently. This leaves me respectfully nodding at the aspirational aspect Murray holds her characters, especially the overeducated ones, to.
The author’s sense of liminal spaces is gorgeous and filmic in how she draws readers into mists, bogs, lakes, convents, gardens and abandoned haunted homes. One book not referenced but I felt permeates through these mini narratives is “The Secret Garden” as there was an unearthing of the beauty life offers even as it’s fleeting or unappreciated by people gifted with privilege and life itself. However, the liminal spaces employed by Murray began to become predictable and would appear as glints and glimmers in other stories throughout the selection. On the positive side, a reader can discern a writer’s toolkit which is why some readers enjoy series reading or stay with an author’s collected works. But a short story collection should offer the best array of a writer’s craft and tools and not struggle to not be a novel which for me this work did. Examples of presenting an array of craft and tools can be found in works by: Carmen Maria Machado, Helen Oyeyemi, and Mariana Enriquez.
This collection is plagued by the unbalanced power dynamics between older husbands and younger wives picked before ripening into womanhood and who’d likely choose otherwise had they waited until further bloom to marry. Male characters struggle with traditional male tropes—widowed millionaire, failed professor, cheating artist, frustrated playwright, absent professional fathers— abound in these stories, though there are a couple of male characters who amend male molds but these characters mostly hang around the periphery. The woman border on mad, depressed, child-free, cold mothers, bratty bullying girls and the like. The women sort of linger between ball and chain trophy wife or retreating to a psychological attic where they can linger quietly in madness and sadness.
Motherless children are raised or guided by surrogates or spirits and families live quietly with the ghosts of their deceased children. When they don’t live in this manner they ship their children off to schools and visits shared in these works are highly compartmentalized both physically and psychologically.
I wasn’t into the animal harm—it just doesn’t work or deliver for me. After a bit I was frustrated with the lack of story for the shadowy male figure who suggests death—he never develops nor does the archetypal woman in the light gown an effigy who distracts drivers and disappears these figures seem to diminish the sophistication of characters, lives and conflicts by their mere presence.
Murray definitely understands the human psyche and heart and why people end up the way they might end up though she also points to the simultaneous existence of the other lives people would choose and how that too can exist in real time.
What bothered me was that most of the stories worked together and some didn’t and I questioned why they were there. This collection wants to be a novel even a short one. I usually don’t grab for a gothic work but now I’m further interested because I was engrossed and found myself jumping when disturbed, looking up images and mentioned works and philosophers I didn’t fully know. In this way the work for the most part is expansive however a short story collection seems to cheat the reader of this richness and growth.
Still happy I enjoyed this—it reminds me a little of Milan Kundera’s work. I’ll definitely give the author an additional shot and read a novel length work. Definitely a hidden gem unearthed here. Murray is quite an author and holds up important works within Classics that many people in the future will never know or appreciate, but by memorizing them even while scaring people a little will hopefully create space in collective memory for future scholars and influencers to celebrate and explore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Car accident, Death, Abandonment, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
queenoftoads's review against another edition
3.0
It's often quite hard to properly explain a collection of short stories because of the variety of content and quality which can exist between each story. Not so much in this case. Muckross Abbey felt like a collection of old fashion English horror stories, only with American main characters. There was a familiarity to each of them (in fact I felt as though I had read "The Flower, the Birds, the Trees" somewhere before) and no new surprises.
While that may be the case Murray's writing was clear and accessible. She can build intriguing characters. A few of the stories might have fared better having being longer stories and been given the chance for her to explore the characters and their relationships.
Nothing stood out to me either good or bad and I doubt I will remember much later but for the nagging sense of trying to figure out why that story was so familiar to me.
I received this arc from Netgalley but the opinion is all mine.
While that may be the case Murray's writing was clear and accessible. She can build intriguing characters. A few of the stories might have fared better having being longer stories and been given the chance for her to explore the characters and their relationships.
Nothing stood out to me either good or bad and I doubt I will remember much later but for the nagging sense of trying to figure out why that story was so familiar to me.
I received this arc from Netgalley but the opinion is all mine.
toriestories06's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
foursythia's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I didn't know what I was expecting going in, but instead of a fully done ghost stories handfed to you, this is overall more of an atmospheric gothic supernatural reads perfect for entering the autumn season. Curl up under your blanket and hear the heavy rain pouring outside with thunders, open this book and read it in peace.
It's not scary at all. Eerie chill perhaps would fit better. The story always cut abruptly in the middle without clear conclusion (something to note if you NEED to understand what's going on in a story, but I personally don't mind it)
but I suppose that's exactly how ghost stories work. You tell a story, and stops in the middle, having no clear answer as to what happens next or if any of it is true. You just drop it and shrugs, letting the listener make what they believe out of it and pour yourself a hot coffee. That's how this book is best read. Felt like someone read you a creepy hanging superstition tales over the fireplace.
It's not scary at all. Eerie chill perhaps would fit better. The story always cut abruptly in the middle without clear conclusion (something to note if you NEED to understand what's going on in a story, but I personally don't mind it)
but I suppose that's exactly how ghost stories work. You tell a story, and stops in the middle, having no clear answer as to what happens next or if any of it is true. You just drop it and shrugs, letting the listener make what they believe out of it and pour yourself a hot coffee. That's how this book is best read. Felt like someone read you a creepy hanging superstition tales over the fireplace.
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