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The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque
As a follow-up to the acclaimed anthology Haunted, this collection offers another twenty-seven frightening short stories, including such literary gothic pieces as "The Crossing," "Scars," and "Death Mother." Reprint.
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
18 people are currently reading
1155 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
854 books9,643 followersJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
October 31, 2014
Forgive me but I have just discovered Joyce Carol Oates. More specifically I've just read the short story Black Rectangle and think it is the most darkly disturbing story I’ve ever read. No blood. No knives. No shrieks. Just a child visiting her cousin’s family for the first time and an ever present looming feeling of foreboding and darkness that oozes from word. And that is just one story of a couple dozen.
I've always known that Oates is a reader’s writer- how could anyone sell that many books and not be able to tell a story? I did not know that she is a writer’s writer as well. Every story in Collector is masterful. She tricks you with the simplicity and ease of her prose but the stories are deep and disturbing. She explores what should be kind and benevolent but becomes twisted and frightening.
The book is a truly wonderful read and if you read one story you I'll want to read them all. And it will be time tremendously well spent. Can’t wait to get on with the rest of her books.
Four stars.
I've always known that Oates is a reader’s writer- how could anyone sell that many books and not be able to tell a story? I did not know that she is a writer’s writer as well. Every story in Collector is masterful. She tricks you with the simplicity and ease of her prose but the stories are deep and disturbing. She explores what should be kind and benevolent but becomes twisted and frightening.
The book is a truly wonderful read and if you read one story you I'll want to read them all. And it will be time tremendously well spent. Can’t wait to get on with the rest of her books.
Four stars.
September 15, 2012
Love this book but I love this author, too. I've read so much by Oates that I feel like I'm in her skin - okay I only wish I had her literary talents, too. This collection has a Gothic feel, though some of the stories were originally published in an assortment of magazines and anthologies, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
I especially loved the story 'Scars' and 'Evening Shadows.' With Oates you can feel totally immersed in a tale and have a sense where it's going, then 'bang,' the rug is pulled out from under your feet. It's not so much she has twist endings - as surprise endings, or as I never saw that coming. Some stories just end. As though she closed the door quietly in your face: "I'm done with this one, good reader, and no, no candy for you tonight."
Love her. Love this collection. I borrowed this from the library; I need to own it.
I especially loved the story 'Scars' and 'Evening Shadows.' With Oates you can feel totally immersed in a tale and have a sense where it's going, then 'bang,' the rug is pulled out from under your feet. It's not so much she has twist endings - as surprise endings, or as I never saw that coming. Some stories just end. As though she closed the door quietly in your face: "I'm done with this one, good reader, and no, no candy for you tonight."
Love her. Love this collection. I borrowed this from the library; I need to own it.
February 17, 2022
Not quite as strong as its predecessor Haunted, but still very much a worthwhile collection of stories from my favorite author, all written and published throughout the 1990s.
My favorite story here is the very short “Posthumous”, what JCO pulls off in only a few pages is astounding. I did not dislike any of the stories here, though some I felt weren’t appropriate for this collection. A solid collection overall!
My favorite story here is the very short “Posthumous”, what JCO pulls off in only a few pages is astounding. I did not dislike any of the stories here, though some I felt weren’t appropriate for this collection. A solid collection overall!
August 15, 2022
Ugh I am torn. Joyce Carol Oates writes so beautifully but lord every story in this is bleaker than the last. They're horrifying to be sure and objectively very good, but whoof. I got done with this one and just felt emotionally exhausted and not in a good way. If you like incredibly, INCREDIBLY bleak fiction I'm sure this is a wonderful read. I finished it and just thought, "Well, I suppose I'm closer to death than I was before." I will say, like everyone, Black Rectangle is a standout short horror piece that is super worthwhile and Death Mother felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Read at your own...risk?
September 25, 2020
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
--William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
This collection of stories by Oates starts out with this rhyme by Blake. I thought this was really coincidental because the novel I read immediately before this was ENDLESS NIGHT by Agatha Christie which also used Blake's poem as a focus.
These stories by Oates were really quite disturbing. They are not horror stories in that there were no ghouls, vampires, or werewolves. But the horror of the these tales focused basically on families and the various maladies that affect most of us. There were stories about abusive parents and relatives, bullying, abandonment, mental illness, missing children, and yearnings to experience new things and people. Some of the stories reminded me of Shirley Jackson's unsettling stories of family life. Children were at the center of many of these.
In "Black Rectangle" (the title is an actual black rectangle), an 11-year-old girl is invited to visit her millionaire uncle for the first time: ''As we approached the big front door which was made of carved wood, with a beautiful gleaming brass American eagle, its dimensions seemed to shrink; the closer we got, the smaller the door got.'' Inside, the magnificent house turns into a series of cramped, disorderly rooms and awkward tunnels. And Uncle Rebhorn becomes increasingly tyrannical as he coerces the family into eating a lunch of strange lukewarm food served in plastic containers -- dessert is live jellyfish -- and then into going sailing. But whatever her uncle did not or did do on that summer day is obscured by a mysterious black rectangle that the narrator sees ''flicking'' toward her.
"Dear Mother" is about a college student whose mother shows up to live with her. But the narrator of the story was happy being away from her abusive mother who may have caused the death of her sister.
"The Hand Puppet" finds a mother at a loss when she finds out her daughter may be a bully.
"Schroeder's Stepfather" was one of the most disturbing stories where the narrator, John, recalls the abuses of his stepfather. The worst was what happened to Curly, a golden-red cocker spaniel puppy that had been given to John.
"The Sons of Angus MacElster" was a story about an abusive father and husband whose sons take revenge on him after he publicly shames his wife.
"Scars" is about a performer who returns to her hometown as a celebrity but carries the scars of bullying and abuse inflicted on her when she was in high school.
"The Crossing" has a woman in a coma and details what her mind is thinking as she sinks further and further away.
In ''The Affliction,'' a man turns his bizarre skin disease into the inspiration for a career as a highly successful painter.
I really thought this was a well-written anthology. I've read a few of Oates novels as well as another collection of her stories. She is a master of the written word and really provides some unexpected and unforeseen situations. Some of the stories in this collection could be interpreted in different ways which made them all the more interesting.
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
--William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
This collection of stories by Oates starts out with this rhyme by Blake. I thought this was really coincidental because the novel I read immediately before this was ENDLESS NIGHT by Agatha Christie which also used Blake's poem as a focus.
These stories by Oates were really quite disturbing. They are not horror stories in that there were no ghouls, vampires, or werewolves. But the horror of the these tales focused basically on families and the various maladies that affect most of us. There were stories about abusive parents and relatives, bullying, abandonment, mental illness, missing children, and yearnings to experience new things and people. Some of the stories reminded me of Shirley Jackson's unsettling stories of family life. Children were at the center of many of these.
In "Black Rectangle" (the title is an actual black rectangle), an 11-year-old girl is invited to visit her millionaire uncle for the first time: ''As we approached the big front door which was made of carved wood, with a beautiful gleaming brass American eagle, its dimensions seemed to shrink; the closer we got, the smaller the door got.'' Inside, the magnificent house turns into a series of cramped, disorderly rooms and awkward tunnels. And Uncle Rebhorn becomes increasingly tyrannical as he coerces the family into eating a lunch of strange lukewarm food served in plastic containers -- dessert is live jellyfish -- and then into going sailing. But whatever her uncle did not or did do on that summer day is obscured by a mysterious black rectangle that the narrator sees ''flicking'' toward her.
"Dear Mother" is about a college student whose mother shows up to live with her. But the narrator of the story was happy being away from her abusive mother who may have caused the death of her sister.
"The Hand Puppet" finds a mother at a loss when she finds out her daughter may be a bully.
"Schroeder's Stepfather" was one of the most disturbing stories where the narrator, John, recalls the abuses of his stepfather. The worst was what happened to Curly, a golden-red cocker spaniel puppy that had been given to John.
"The Sons of Angus MacElster" was a story about an abusive father and husband whose sons take revenge on him after he publicly shames his wife.
"Scars" is about a performer who returns to her hometown as a celebrity but carries the scars of bullying and abuse inflicted on her when she was in high school.
"The Crossing" has a woman in a coma and details what her mind is thinking as she sinks further and further away.
In ''The Affliction,'' a man turns his bizarre skin disease into the inspiration for a career as a highly successful painter.
I really thought this was a well-written anthology. I've read a few of Oates novels as well as another collection of her stories. She is a master of the written word and really provides some unexpected and unforeseen situations. Some of the stories in this collection could be interpreted in different ways which made them all the more interesting.
May 4, 2013
Joyce Carol Oates's collection is horrific, but you won't find any zombies, vampires, or even serial killers here. Rather, she highlights the horror of everyday life and relationships – from mental illness to the breakdown of relationships between parents and children, from repressed memories the psychological insanity, her book is that much more powerful and scarier because most of these stories could (and probably do) really happen. Of course, there were supernatural elements to many of the stories. My only complaint about this book is that some of the story seemed incomplete – Oates is a writer who leaves a lot up to the reader. Her stories inspire a great deal of thought and reflection, like all good literary fiction should.
Among my favorite stories was one simply called ---- [blank] about a little girls trip to her rich uncles and the horror she encountered. there is a young woman who arrives from abroad to care for her elderly aunt in the early 1900s,and who has a surreal run-in with a mysterious Singer. Perhaps my favorite story was the one where two former lovers meet again in a strange, sorted hotel room where they are forced to repeat their adulterous actions. Another good story was the story of a woman in a coma and her devoted husband. One story that was good but seemed very incomplete was the story of a mother whose daughter, a sullen and withdrawn girl of about 11, puts together a grotesque puppet and uses it to tease the children in the neighborhood. The story was compelling but it ended very suddenly with no resolution. This is common in the stories in this book, there is often no resolution to the strange and surreal events that happen.
Among my favorite stories was one simply called ---- [blank] about a little girls trip to her rich uncles and the horror she encountered. there is a young woman who arrives from abroad to care for her elderly aunt in the early 1900s,and who has a surreal run-in with a mysterious Singer. Perhaps my favorite story was the one where two former lovers meet again in a strange, sorted hotel room where they are forced to repeat their adulterous actions. Another good story was the story of a woman in a coma and her devoted husband. One story that was good but seemed very incomplete was the story of a mother whose daughter, a sullen and withdrawn girl of about 11, puts together a grotesque puppet and uses it to tease the children in the neighborhood. The story was compelling but it ended very suddenly with no resolution. This is common in the stories in this book, there is often no resolution to the strange and surreal events that happen.
March 3, 2009
I've got to stop reading Oates. The subtitle on this one - New Tales of the Grotesque - should have been enough to leave it on the library shelf. She's good at describing feelings or actions so bizarre that they don't occur to most people,and life is a bit too short to send time reading about them. As an aside - at the back of the book under a title of "Acknowledgments" each story is listed with the magazine that originally printed it. Many of those sources I'd never heard of and a kind of wonder passed through my mind about whether she might use an agent to peddle what she's written. She has written so much that it seems improbable that she also spends time mailing things again and again to out-of-the-main-stream magazines.
August 3, 2023
Joyce Carol Oates is in my top three favorite authors. I LOVE reading one star reviews of her work as they are always people who expected something light hearted and with left struck with horror. JCO is a literary writer that doesn't pull punches and this collection of short stories isn't any exception. If I had to list the stories that really resonated with me it would be The Affliction, Intensive, Valentine, Schroeder's Stepfather, and The Omen.
I chose to start my Halloween reading off with some Gothic horror and I wasn't disappointed in my choice. Oates always comes through for me.
5/5
I chose to start my Halloween reading off with some Gothic horror and I wasn't disappointed in my choice. Oates always comes through for me.
5/5
March 17, 2012
I had really high hopes for this book, but it didn't deliver. I have about a 99% completion rate for books -- even ones I can't stand -- but I abandoned this one about 2/3 of the way through. Each of the stories started off with great promise, but just fizzled out/got boring/made no sense. They are not "tales of the grotesque" but rather "odd stories without any point."
July 27, 2017
bence üç buçuk yıldız.
oates'in amerikan taşrasını oldukça garip bir biçimde anlatması için okunur ama en iyi kitaplarından değil bence.
oates'in amerikan taşrasını oldukça garip bir biçimde anlatması için okunur ama en iyi kitaplarından değil bence.
October 3, 2023
I REALLY wanted to enjoy “The Collector of Hearts” collection, especially after how much I enjoyed “Haunted” by JCO but I’ll be honest, this was a DNF for me. There was a few gems in here I enjoyed, but there was just too many stories that felt like hollow vignettes where nothing is actually happening, creepy but meatless set pieces. Some had narratives, but I wasn’t sure what actually happened by the end of it. I love elevated, transgressive and experimental horror, but this went beyond even my high brow tastes.
April 3, 2023
I don't know what to say about this book. I sort of wanted to read it for Filth because well I can't get past a certain amount of stories. Anytime I read this book and I've tried three or four times now I fall asleep during I feel triggered, annoyed, I feel like the stories don't have a point some of them, the ones that do have a point are just plain triggering and like a child molestation sort of way. I don't know if it's just me and this is the wrong time in my life to be reading it or if it's truly just not for me and I shouldn't be trying to read it so I did not give it a one rating because I can't figure out if I either hate this book or if it's just absolutely not for me to read now or ever. Oops I sort of did read it for.
March 25, 2021
Some of the stories I did like. However, some of them left me scratching my head. I just didn't get a couple of them. A couple of them seemed to end before the story was finished. Overall it was ok.
April 1, 2008
I basically love everything Oates writes, and this is worth a look. Some of the stories are downright disturbing, and as usual, Oates delivers her unique voice and style to these horrific tales.
December 13, 2017
A bit of a mixed bag for me. Favorites were:
Labor Day
The Collector of Hearts
The Affliction
The Crossing
Shadows of the Evening
Labor Day
The Collector of Hearts
The Affliction
The Crossing
Shadows of the Evening
May 2, 2019
I liked her other short stories better.
July 13, 2012
Unreal. These stories are a tour of shocking and truly chilling themes. Incredibly well written.
April 30, 2024
Antes que nada quiero aclarar que Oates es una de mis escritoras favoritas. Había leído varias novelas y esta fue mi primera experiencia con cuentos.
El libro consta de 25 cuentos en los que juega con la violencia y lo tétrico, pero dejando a la libre imaginación de cada uno cuál es el suceso traumático: te encontrás con temores íntimos, historias familiares, sueños, secretos y hasta deseos reprimidos, todos descriptos con sutileza (excepto en uno o dos cuyos finales te ponen la piel de gallina).
Sin embargo, a diferencia de otros que leí, este libro no me generó en ningún momento la necesidad de soltarlo por sugestionarme. Y tampoco me gustó que las historias quedaran tan en el aire, porque si bien entiendo que la gracia está en que cada uno le de un significado específico basado en sus propios temores, los finales fueron tirando a flojos.
De todos modos le doy una calificación alta por la narrativa de esta mujer que SIEMPRE es excelente
El libro consta de 25 cuentos en los que juega con la violencia y lo tétrico, pero dejando a la libre imaginación de cada uno cuál es el suceso traumático: te encontrás con temores íntimos, historias familiares, sueños, secretos y hasta deseos reprimidos, todos descriptos con sutileza (excepto en uno o dos cuyos finales te ponen la piel de gallina).
Sin embargo, a diferencia de otros que leí, este libro no me generó en ningún momento la necesidad de soltarlo por sugestionarme. Y tampoco me gustó que las historias quedaran tan en el aire, porque si bien entiendo que la gracia está en que cada uno le de un significado específico basado en sus propios temores, los finales fueron tirando a flojos.
De todos modos le doy una calificación alta por la narrativa de esta mujer que SIEMPRE es excelente
December 19, 2022
I put it down, which I never do with a book. I'll see them to the bitter end even if I'm really not thrilled with it. I don't know what i was expecting exactly, but when the subtitle is "New Tales of the Grotesque" I was expecting something a little more biting. This book was definitely not for me."
August 6, 2017
these are stories which turn every day life into something that isn't quite horror, but more macabre. There's literacy to these stories, her characters and settings are well drawn out. Most of the people in these stories are relatable, people we'd see everyday.
November 2, 2021
I read a handful of these short stories throughout the Halloween season. Joyce Carol Oates is a master when it comes to creating characters and plots you can invest in, I just always found the end of her stories unsatisfying.
October 5, 2023
Yes, reality can be the most horrifying thing of all. Here, we go from bad romances to beasties to supernatural stories. Try "Unprintable" for your Halloween season chills, and if you like it, move on to "Scars" or the title story. But some stories here seemingly go nowhere, hence my rating.
October 11, 2024
Oates Odyssey #20
Book #20 for the old biddy and this is another weird collection of tales from old rolled Oates.
She is certainly out there, and this is no exception, what goes on in the brain of hers!
Book #20 for the old biddy and this is another weird collection of tales from old rolled Oates.
She is certainly out there, and this is no exception, what goes on in the brain of hers!
July 25, 2021
Reading back-to-back short story collections from Oates, the themes can definitely get repetitive. Yet the writing is always great, and I enjoyed this collection.
April 4, 2023
My first introduction to Oates- and boy, was it something! I have nothing to add to her lovely, grotesque, fascinating storytelling.
May 16, 2022
Joyce Carol Oates is a popular and widely lauded author. She is also absolutely a horror author, although I feel like many people, both fans and publishers alike, would be hesitant to assign her to that unfairly maligned genre.
The Collector of Hearts is a truly disturbing collection, and also one of her best. Highlights include:
"The Hand Puppet" - A woman is unnerved by a creepy hand puppet her daughter creates, leading her to further wonder if there is more about her child than she knows.
"The Sepulchre"- A daughter flies home to try and find her father when her mother calls her, claiming he's gone missing.
"Labor Day" - Does the narrator know more than he lets on about a missing child?
"Elvis Is Dead: Why Are You Alive?" - One of my favorites. A man dreams of Elvis's funeral, and the dreams start to profoundly affect his waking life.
"The Sons of Angus MacElster" - A brief tale of revenge that doesn't suffer from lack of length.
"An Urban Paradox" is a bizarre, almost dreamlike tale and my other favorite in the collection.
"Shadows of the Evening" - A girl travels to stay with a distant relative and falls in love with a voice she hears singing. There is a dark story behind this beautiful voice and an obsession that she will be lucky to escape.
I really can't even do these stories justice by describing them though. You have to read to understand how truly breathtakingly written they are, as well as how truly dark and disturbed they get. Horror fans, don't miss out on this one just because it's not shelved in the horror sections. And literature fans, remember, just because it's horror doesn't mean it can't also be well written and literary.
Note: I had to skip most of "Schroeder's Stepfather" due to really heartbreaking dog death. Just a warning, if you, like me, don't handle animal death well.
The Collector of Hearts is a truly disturbing collection, and also one of her best. Highlights include:
"The Hand Puppet" - A woman is unnerved by a creepy hand puppet her daughter creates, leading her to further wonder if there is more about her child than she knows.
"The Sepulchre"- A daughter flies home to try and find her father when her mother calls her, claiming he's gone missing.
"Labor Day" - Does the narrator know more than he lets on about a missing child?
"Elvis Is Dead: Why Are You Alive?" - One of my favorites. A man dreams of Elvis's funeral, and the dreams start to profoundly affect his waking life.
"The Sons of Angus MacElster" - A brief tale of revenge that doesn't suffer from lack of length.
"An Urban Paradox" is a bizarre, almost dreamlike tale and my other favorite in the collection.
"Shadows of the Evening" - A girl travels to stay with a distant relative and falls in love with a voice she hears singing. There is a dark story behind this beautiful voice and an obsession that she will be lucky to escape.
I really can't even do these stories justice by describing them though. You have to read to understand how truly breathtakingly written they are, as well as how truly dark and disturbed they get. Horror fans, don't miss out on this one just because it's not shelved in the horror sections. And literature fans, remember, just because it's horror doesn't mean it can't also be well written and literary.
Note: I had to skip most of "Schroeder's Stepfather" due to really heartbreaking dog death. Just a warning, if you, like me, don't handle animal death well.
December 16, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed The Collector of Hearts, I found it to be quite an enjoyable read. As for its subtitle, "Tales of the Grotesque", I can certainly attest to it being true. Many of the stories are quite disgusting in a very nice way, and made my stomach churn with every page I read. The many plots that inhabit the short story all revolve around seemingly average people who all have some kind of traumatic problem or issue that they have experienced or will experience within the text, and they all seem fairly realistic, and feel as if they could be real events. Overall the tones of the stories stayed very consistent, all keeping that same sense of mystery and terror that inhabits the Thriller genre. The settings themselves were often fairly believable, however one of my main issues with the book lies in settings. Often the settings are mentioned fairly briefly and not expanded on to a very deep degree, and while I could still imagine the places the characters inhabited, I felt that for some stories it felt somewhat skimmed over and more emphasis was placed on the characters. If I were to recommend this book, I think it would be best suited for young adults or above, due to the word choice sometimes being above the realm of younger readers, and the stories and themes being too mature for anyone too young to pick up on or fully understand. Overall this book was a great read and I look forward to reading more books written by Joyce Carol Oates soon.
December 20, 2015
Joyce Carol Oates is from Lockport. I grew up in Lockport. She's a writer. I always wanted to be a writer and while I put words together for a living most days I would not consider what I'm doing writing. But let that self deprecation sit for another time.
I picked up this collection of short stories at a book sale at a winery in Niagara County known for its ghost stories. I felt that was appropriate to mention.
I took my time reading this collection, taking in a story every few days. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the stories, few of which had any resolution, leaving much of the piece to the mind of the reader. For the first few stories I thought I just wasn't smart enough to get it. I still probably am not smart enough and am missing TONS of nuance and literary device but the deeper I got into the work the more confidence I got to engage in it. I think it was the first story in part two, the title just a dark rectangle, that first let me going, "Oh wait! Oh what the hell?"
I also enjoyed "The Crossing" very much and it's two-sided portrayal of death. (OK, that could be a spoiler, so that's why I checked the spoiler button on this review."
Life is strange. Life is fleeting. Life is a narrative we construct for ourselves. Oh, and sometimes it's just plain messed up.
I picked up this collection of short stories at a book sale at a winery in Niagara County known for its ghost stories. I felt that was appropriate to mention.
I took my time reading this collection, taking in a story every few days. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the stories, few of which had any resolution, leaving much of the piece to the mind of the reader. For the first few stories I thought I just wasn't smart enough to get it. I still probably am not smart enough and am missing TONS of nuance and literary device but the deeper I got into the work the more confidence I got to engage in it. I think it was the first story in part two, the title just a dark rectangle, that first let me going, "Oh wait! Oh what the hell?"
I also enjoyed "The Crossing" very much and it's two-sided portrayal of death. (OK, that could be a spoiler, so that's why I checked the spoiler button on this review."
Life is strange. Life is fleeting. Life is a narrative we construct for ourselves. Oh, and sometimes it's just plain messed up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2012
Collector of Hearts is another short story collection that centers around grotesque characters and plots. Despite the similarity with themes in Haunted, Collector of the Hearts pales in comparison. In fact, it seems as if Oates has ripped herself off with this collection by using almost the exact same techniques as she did in her previous collection (such as numbering certain segments and arranging the stories in three parts). Similar to Haunted, the stories in Collector of Hearts are almost entirely about family relationships that become violent with physically or sexually. However, they are far more weird and border on being science fiction.
I finished the collection but it took a great deal of motivation! I found some of the tales to be terrifying, but not in a "spooky ghost story". Instead, it was terrifying in a "how could someone think of anything this sick and twisted" way. Perhaps the best word to describe this collection is disturbing.
www.iamliteraryaddicted.blogspot.com
I finished the collection but it took a great deal of motivation! I found some of the tales to be terrifying, but not in a "spooky ghost story". Instead, it was terrifying in a "how could someone think of anything this sick and twisted" way. Perhaps the best word to describe this collection is disturbing.
www.iamliteraryaddicted.blogspot.com
May 23, 2008
blah. the vocab in this book is too limited to be descriptive in a crisp way, so the style ends up feeling tired and predictable. Some of the inner monologues of main characters don't seem to match the personality that they project through their spoken words and interactions with others. Some of the short stories are just trying too hard to pick up a feel you can tell the author is going for, but she falls short. This is the first anything I've read by Oates, and although I'll grant that it is not one of her greater-known works, I'm a bit disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews