Category: Other Reviews

“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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This incantatory poem examines bell sounds as symbols of four milestones of human experience—childhood, youth, maturity, and death.

This another okay poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is far as epic as some other work of Edgar Allan Poe but still it is a poem which every Edgar Allan Poe fan should read. 

This poem in the end is quite melodical and the beat truly nearly sounds like tolling bells.

The writing style is okay for the most part. But it is also very clever writing style in this poem. But on this one come on, we are talking about a poem which was written about Edgar Allan Poe.

For the most part it is a nice, simple  poem that follows the stages of life of the narrator. This poem needs to get points for the unique capture which Edgar Allan Poe have give us in this poem. Edgar Allan Poe had captured in a very good and nice way the feeling of the stages of life in just four simple verses.

This poem really doesn’t fail to show that Edgar Allan Poe isn’t just a gothic, dark and sinister writer. This poem shows that Edgar Allan Poe was able to write some light and different kind of tales and poems. 

In this one Edgar Allan Poe have molded his words to reflect the bells. And gave this poem a rhyme, rhythm together with joy, grief, elation and panic.

I give this poem 1 / 5

“A Descent into the Maelström” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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It is a tale of fear and terror.  In this piece, the narrator and his guide ascend a high peak on the coast of Norway, which overlooks a section of ocean where a great whirlpool is formed by the changing tide.

The whole story is not particularly creepy as some other tales written by Edgar Allan Poe. However the story is  interesting and vividly written and makes you almost feel like you are actually there and like you are living the story.

The whole plot of this story is a fascinating, because it covers the experience of a man’s near-death experience in a giant maelstrom or whirlpool at sea.

This tale is told from the perspective of an old man who is looking back at his near-death experience. 

The description in this tale is absolutely brilliant. Most of the times the descriptions are so good that you almost feel like you see the whole imagine in your head while you are reading this tale. Because of the description you really see and hear the fellows drawn into the eye of the storm and you feel the rage of the elements.

It is safe to say that this tale have one of the best depiction of a natural phenomenon I’ve at least read so far. 

This tale is considered by some critics to be a science fiction tale based upon an actual maelstrom off the coast of Norway in the Lofoten Islands. 

This tale really shows that Edgar Allan Poe have the huge ability to take all your senses into a story and make you live it. 

However this tale isn’t a horror tale as most tales written by Edgar Allan Poe. This is more or less science fiction tale, and as we all know science fiction isn’t something everyone likes and wants to read. 

This tale will also show you why some people might be afraid of sea and oceans. And if you are not afraid of the sea and oceans it might you give you a little paranoid about it. 

I give this tale 1 / 5

“Eleonora” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The story follows an unnamed narrator who lives with his cousin and aunt in “The Valley of the Many-Colored Grass”, an idyllic paradise full of fragrant flowers, fantastic trees, and a “River of Silence”.  It remains untrodden by the footsteps of strangers and so they live isolated but happy.

The best thing about this tale is that it is sort of a mix between horror tale and a romantic tale. But it is far from Edgar Allan Poe’s best tale / story. This tale is sort of a true love story mixed with a lots of horror elements in it.

The writing style is okay, sentimental and for the most part pompous. Some people will love the writing style in this tale and some will hate it.

Morella and Ligeia are related to this story in some way or another. So if you liked it then maybe consider reading these two as well. 

Ending in this one really surprised me because most tales written by Edgar Allan Poe doesn’t have happy endings but this one had. 

For the most part this tale is all about true love which makes it to a unique story written by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is a love story told in the form of prose poetry.

The descriptions in this story is amazing. However the most interesting  description was of the valley where the narrator lives along with the girl he loves.

It is also important to say that this story have sort of a autobiographical touch to it. Because it has couple of links to Edgar Allan Poe’s personal life.

Even though that this story revolves around true love, you will not miss the gothic and horror-ish elements in it. But for the most part this story is emotional, chilling, and involves the question “is it ok to fall in love after the death of your first love?”

I give this story 1 / 5

“A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The poem expresses doubt and uncertainty about the nature of reality, questioning whether life itself is just an illusion. The whole poem is asking the question of “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?”

This poem is for the most past a philosophical poem which brings us multiple questions about the reality and what separates the reality from dreams and imagination.

This poem is very short and very simple. It’s easy to follow up with. The ending itself is really hitting you. This poem really makes you wish that more poems could have been like this. Because it is so good. It is deep, well written and up to you on how deep the meaning is for you.

This poem really makes you think about your life and makes you question your definition of reality.

This poem is so well written that it short of makes you imagine Edgar Allan Poe being somewhere and thinking about these questions which he gives us in this poem and later making these thoughts to a beautiful poem.

This poem needs to get extra points for showing the reader how reality can be a tricky thing. The poem shows how the reality may escapes us when we don’t pay close attention to it.

The whole poem as you may think already is about sadness and loss which we all experience at some point in our lives.

This poem illustrates that human life is actually slipping away, dribbling like water or sand for that part and implies that our existence is just an abstraction of the mind.

This poem really stands out like something written by a gothic author who lived a some time ago. 

I give this poem 4 / 5

“The Man of the Crowd” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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After an unnamed illness, the unnamed narrator sits in an unnamed coffee shop in London. Fascinated by the crowd outside the window, he considers how isolated people think they are, despite “the very denseness of the company around”. He takes time to categorize the different types of people he sees. As evening falls, the narrator focuses on “a decrepit old man, some sixty-five or seventy years of age”, whose face has a peculiar idiosyncrasy, and whose body “was short in stature, very thin, and apparently very feeble” wearing filthy, ragged clothes of a “beautiful texture”.

This story isn’t as scary as most stories and tales written by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is interesting and fascinating. This story explores  the various ways we can be present in the world and experience the people and life around us. Which is very interesting topic for at least me. 

This story really makes you want to stop for a moment and observe whenever you see a big crowd. For someone people this tale may open eyes, because it touches on stuff like how much we are actually isolated and alone in the biggest crowds. But also how big crowds doesn’t have any connectedness with other people.

You will easily find a meaning behind this tale if you only look. Because the idea behind the plot goes actually deeper than just a gothic horror story. 

The narrator in this story carries with him a depth of separation and loneliness. Until he finds an unusual face amongst the crowd of supposed pretenders and hypocrites. This sort of gives you a stalker vibe which we all love when it happens in horror stories.

This story does a brilliant classification of characters and is especially fascinated by an old haunted man who aimlessly strolls through the street, always looking for people to be with.

In the end this story is somehow odd and weird. But this may be just a paranoia made by too many horror and thriller books and movies. Though this story involves the narrator following a person for 2 straight days and at the same time it gives us some descriptions about demeanor, gait and body morphology but doesn’t give us the important details in it.

This story is very enjoyable, interesting and it is a very quick read. Even though this tale isn’t written in the typical Edgar Allan Poe’s style. Which of course is dark, scary gothic style. 

The writing style is just through the roof. It is so richly written, and the old english in this story really brings a lot more to the story than you cant expect. 

I give this story 4 / 5

“The Lawnmower Man” by Stephen King Review

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One summer, Harold Parkette is in need of a new lawn mowing service. The summer before, a neighbor’s cat was accidentally killed when another neighbor’s dog chased it under the mower. Harold has been putting off hiring new help for the summer, but when he sees an ad for a mowing service he calls. A van reading “Pastoral Greenery” soon pulls up to Parkette’s home. The man working for the service, a hairy, pot-bellied fellow, is shown the overgrown back lawn and is hired. Harold is enjoying a rest as he reads the paper, wondering about the lawnmower man mentioning Circe, when he hears the lawnmower outside. Startled, he races to the back porch and sees the lawnmower running by itself and the naked lawnmower man following it on all fours and eating the grass. The lawnmower seemingly deliberately chases and kills a mole and Harold faints.When the police arrive, they conclude that Parkette was murdered and dismembered by a schizophrenic sex maniac. As they leave, the scent of freshly cut grass hangs strongly in the air.

This short story isn’t scary or creepy. It was nothing but disgusting. Because if you write about a fat naked man on fours eating grass and add to it a green juice running down his chin and drips into his pendulous belly it wont go good with the majority of the readers.

This book will probably not be for the majority of readers. Because it involves some disgusting, which even the die hard fans of saw movies wont handle that good as they think.

The main character which is Harold Parkette is a unique character which may be hard for some readers to reality to because of all these fucked up things he does throughout this book.

I need to give this story some points for the Greek mythologies references which this story has. However most of these references comes without any explanation to the Greek mythologies or what it has to do with the story. 

This story also doesn’t give us a clear explanation to what is happening in this book. Which only confuses the reader for the most part. 

This story is far from the best Stephen King’s work, and it very bizarre and strange story for the most part. And it is very hard to pin it down to only one single opinion or genre. However thats the fun with Stephen King because every time you think that Stephen King couldn’t possibly be more bizarre he gives us even more bizarre story. 

Stephen King gives us a very moody and amazing use of Greek mythology into modern day horror story. 

But that’s the problem with this story because to fully get into this book or like it you must know at least some fact about the Greek mythology.

I give this story 1 / 5

“Morella” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The tale is about the odd relations between a husband and wife. While offering few details, Edgar Allan Poe paints a morbid portrait of identity, death, and marriage.

At the beginning of this tale we are learning about how much the narrator adores his wife Morella. After sometime it turns into a philosophy part. 

This tale is a sad love story with a lot of gothic horror elements.

The story telling this tale was too basic in the end, it almost didn’t feel like the author of this tale was Edgar Allan Poe. But of course this tale needs to get its point for the chilling vibe to it.

However the topic of someone death haunting the main character which in this case is the narrator is pretty much overused. Even Edgar Allan Poe have multiple stories about the same topic, so you get super bored of it when you read about the same thing over and over again. This tale have the potential to be unique if Edgar Allan Poe had taken a different turn to it or written it somehow different. 

This story have the dark vibe to it, but it is for the most part boring. And if you looking for something good written by Edgar Allan Poe dont read this tale. Yes this book has the classic takes of Edgar Allan Poe, but it is far from his best work. 

The writing style is too simple, it almost looks like that while writing this tale Edgar Allan Poe was bored our of his mind or something similar. But of course if you love dark love stories with our happy endings you will enjoy this tale. 

I give this tale 2 / 5

“The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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A wounded man finds shelter in an abandoned chateau in the Appenines and with his valet settles into a small apartment in a remote turret. The oddly shaped room is full of paintings, and on his pillow the man finds a small book that appears to tell their stories. One painting in particular, of a beautiful girl, holds him spellbound, and, consulting the history book, he learns the startling secret of the oval portrait’s extraordinary execution.

This table cannot be described with nothing more than a beautiful, gripping and fascinating read.

This tale definitely needs to get extra points for the symbolism which it has. The the thing where fascination turns into obsession. This tale reminds readers why they love reading.

The theme of this tale about artistic obsession is just amazing. And this tale for sure gives the reader a good creep no matter if you get scared of it or just the feeling thrill mixed with the feeling of something being out of place or wrong. 

Yes this tale have only two pages, but the whole tale is more than this. This tale manages to pack so much more than just two pages. It will definitely leave you satisfying. However the ending of it feels take it comes too early together with being a little bit too obvious. It might leave some of you unsatisfied or give you the feeling that the ending leaves the whole tale losse its impact.

But definitely this table needs to get some points for the whole idea behind it. It’s a cool idea in the end no matter how it is interpreted.

However this tale may remind you of some scar Wilde’s work and “The Picture” by Dorian Gray.

The writing style itself is very on point here, its very moody. And of course the writing style is very gothic as in any other Edgar Allan Poe’s work. But that’s why people are reading Edgar Allan Poe’s work.

This whole story is a heart rending plot filled with love, death and neglect. But it is a sweet and fun way. Though it gives a decent creep, which much horror fans will appreciate.

I give this tale 5 / 5

“Suffer The Little Children” by Stephen King Review

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Miss Sidley, an experienced, no-nonsense teacher starts to lose her bearings when she suspects one of her students, Robert, is not quite human. In a momentary reflection in her eyeglasses she thinks she may have seen Robert changing into a monster. She soon discovers that not only does Robert change, but he may not be the only one of his kind. Sidley must get rid of them before it’s too late.

This is a short story written by no other than the horror goat himself aka Stephen King. Who doesn’t love a horror story from Stephen King ?

The whole plot is wow. Because if you take the concept of school teachers and school students and write a horror story to it, a lot of insane things can happen. 

This story may make some of you wonder if your teacher from school life you had wanted at some point kill you. At least it make me a little bit wonder about that.

The ending will definitely make your jaw drop. Because it makes this story even more twisted than it already was from the beginning. But for some of you the ending might seem as too much and too fast going. But again it is a personal think which people will disagree on as every other book in the world. 

For the most part this whole story was very dark, strange but also at times very unique because of the topic it touches on. It is important to say that this story involves child murder thoughts, so be warned about this if it might trigger some of you.

This story doesn’t fail like the classic Stephen King we know from the usual books he writes. This tale is a different take on his work. But the writing style here is the classic Stephen King in this one. Which of course means very dark, easy to get into, moody and amazing. 

I give this story 2 / 5

“Ms Found in a Bottle” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The plot follows an unnamed narrator at sea who finds himself in a series of harrowing circumstances. As he nears his own disastrous death while his ship drives ever southward, he writes an “MS.”, or manuscript, telling of his adventures which he casts into the sea.

Edgar Allan Poe starts this tale with by making it very clear that the narrator in this tale has no imagination. He also points out that narrator stable, rational together with little bit boring. 

This tale is typical Edgar Allan Poe tale, which is more or less a little bit different because the action involves sea and it takes a cool and unique take to it.

This tale makes you question if the narrator in this one goes crazy or if all this is real. I think that all likes a little bit thinking about stuff like that in books.

The plot its fun to read and for the most importantly it is a quick read. But it is also dense and complex. This story is more similar to Jules Verne work than to Edgar Allan Poe work. So if you are just starting your journey with Edgar Allan Poe then go for some other work. Because this tale would work better if you have read one or two stories written by Edgar Allan Poe but it wont be bad if you start here. The plot here is filled with gloomy, supernatural horror. But it has an oddly beautiful and captivating take to it, which Edgar Allan Poe is known for doing in some of his work.

The character development here is very good. Because we can see the clear changing process of the narrator as the tale goes on. It is important to say that the narrator shares the fate of the crew, their “destiny,” though he never really felt part of it.

This tale is however not a horror tale but rather a psychological tales of consternation. It makes you question things. 

The plot more or less is a sea adventure with a psychological take on it. But this tale gets the extra points for the way Edgar Allan Poe describes the ocean. 

The writing style is very gothic and moody which every horror and thriller fan will appreciate. 

I give this tale 2 / 5