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The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories
VINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIES
Spine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.
Edgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader.
Spine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.
Edgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader.
398 pages, Paperback
Published December 5, 2023
70 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,878 books28.6k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 10, 2011
Well, that was a long, hard slog through a broad range of fiction, but it's finally over. And with it, I'm proud to say, I've completed my stack of classic fiction from the Great Writers Library! Thenk yew, thenk yew.
This book is probably the first time I've read Poe since high school (aside from occasionally running into The Raven). I saved it until last in this stack of books I've been reading, because I expected to really enjoy it. I was disappointed. Poe's painfully purple style and last-three-words twist endings clearly had a huge influence on the awful way I write, and were most likely The Shit to high-school Twilight-Zone-fan me, but I've definitely changed since then. Now, his writing is just painful, his casual references are long past dated and the way he delivers those twists is utterly comical. There are stories here ranging from classics ('Murders in the Rue Morgue,' 'Gold Bug,' 'Cask of Amontillado') to ones I'd never heard of ('William Wilson,' the dreadful and largely pointless 'Balloon Hoax'), from the best-known gothic-horror work like 'Fall of the House of Usher' to kind-of-funny humour writings like 'Some Words With a Mummy.' So, Poe's probably pretty well represented here.
Having read such a broad representation of his stuff now, I'm certain of one thing: I'll never do it again. I may hit a story or poem (his poetry is entirely unrepresented here) now and then, but I can't see myself going through another entire collection of his. This was, all things considered, a good collection of his short fiction, and I would recommend it to someone wanting to take the Poe plunge. I just wouldn't recommend reading him in the first place.
This book is probably the first time I've read Poe since high school (aside from occasionally running into The Raven). I saved it until last in this stack of books I've been reading, because I expected to really enjoy it. I was disappointed. Poe's painfully purple style and last-three-words twist endings clearly had a huge influence on the awful way I write, and were most likely The Shit to high-school Twilight-Zone-fan me, but I've definitely changed since then. Now, his writing is just painful, his casual references are long past dated and the way he delivers those twists is utterly comical. There are stories here ranging from classics ('Murders in the Rue Morgue,' 'Gold Bug,' 'Cask of Amontillado') to ones I'd never heard of ('William Wilson,' the dreadful and largely pointless 'Balloon Hoax'), from the best-known gothic-horror work like 'Fall of the House of Usher' to kind-of-funny humour writings like 'Some Words With a Mummy.' So, Poe's probably pretty well represented here.
Having read such a broad representation of his stuff now, I'm certain of one thing: I'll never do it again. I may hit a story or poem (his poetry is entirely unrepresented here) now and then, but I can't see myself going through another entire collection of his. This was, all things considered, a good collection of his short fiction, and I would recommend it to someone wanting to take the Poe plunge. I just wouldn't recommend reading him in the first place.
November 1, 2024
honestly? the classics are classics for a reason, 100% recommend those, but the rest are definitely an acquired taste. very nice for spooky season
April 10, 2024
Really liked: The Black Cat, Elenore, The Man That Was Used Up, The Gold-Bug, The Pit and the Pendulum
Notes for Self
• The Black Cat ✪✪✪✪ - Crazy Man, Poor Cat
• The Pit and the Pendulum ✪✪✪✪ – [mental]torture & horror / time-mortality
• The Tell-Tale Heart ✪✪✪.5 – insanity + paranoia + guilt
• The Fall of the House of Usher ✪✪✪.5
• A Descent into the Maelström ✪✪✪.5 - Whirlpool
• The Gold-Bug ✪✪✪.5 - treasure hunt + cipher
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue ✪✪✪.5 - murder mystery / sensitive-analytical-observative-intuitive perception to understanding people's trains of thoughts = detective Dupin
• The Cask of Amontillado ✪✪✪
• Elenore ✪✪✪ - Loved the poetic prose
• The Oblong Box ✪✪✪
• Berenice ✪✪✪ - Creepy protagonist, unreliable narrative, teeth
• MS. Found in a Bottle - ✪✪✪ storm-shipwreck-lost at sea-ghost ship-whirlpool
• The Man That Was Used Up ✪✪✪ - I found this humorous /satirical
• William Wilson ✪✪✪ - double nature / split identity (moral vs. immoral / conscience-alter ego / steady shift in morality-deteriorating relationship with his doppelganger)
• ‘Thou Art The Man’ ✪✪✪ - comical detective story
• The Masque of the Red Death ✪✪.5
• The Facts in the Case of M. Valdermar ✪✪.5 - Eeewwww!
• The Oval Portrait ✪✪.5
• The Assignation ✪✪.5
• Morella ✪✪.5 - attraction vs. repulsion, enhancing intellect vs. physical deterioration
• Ligeia ✪✪.5 - Gothic love story
• The Mystery of Marie Roget ✪✪.5 - murder mystery / detective Dupin / unsolved
• The Purloined Letter ✪✪ .5 - detective Dupin / stolen letter
• Mellonta Tauta ✪✪ - Set in future, satirical, mash up of past, incorrect spelling of people & places/comical
• Metzengerstein ✪✪ - Rival/feuding families, prophecy/curse, metempsychosis/reincarnation
• The Man of the Crowd ✪.5 – People watching, follow a weird stranger/pointless
Quotes
Mesmeric Revelation: “To be happy at any one point we must have suffered at the same. Never to suffer would have been never to have been blessed.”
Metzengerstein: “Pestis eram vivus - moriens tua mors ero. / "Living, I was your plague - dying, I shall be your death.” ~Martin Luther
Ligeia: “in our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.”
The Purloined Letter: "Il y a à parier que toute idée publique, toute convention reçue, est une sottise, car elle a convenu au plus grand nombre." / "It is safe to wager that every public idea and every accepted convention is sheer foolishness, because it has suited the majority." ~Nicolas Chamfort
Notes for Self
• The Black Cat ✪✪✪✪ - Crazy Man, Poor Cat
• The Pit and the Pendulum ✪✪✪✪ – [mental]torture & horror / time-mortality
• The Tell-Tale Heart ✪✪✪.5 – insanity + paranoia + guilt
• The Fall of the House of Usher ✪✪✪.5
• A Descent into the Maelström ✪✪✪.5 - Whirlpool
• The Gold-Bug ✪✪✪.5 - treasure hunt + cipher
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue ✪✪✪.5 - murder mystery / sensitive-analytical-observative-intuitive perception to understanding people's trains of thoughts = detective Dupin
• The Cask of Amontillado ✪✪✪
• Elenore ✪✪✪ - Loved the poetic prose
• The Oblong Box ✪✪✪
• Berenice ✪✪✪ - Creepy protagonist, unreliable narrative, teeth
• MS. Found in a Bottle - ✪✪✪ storm-shipwreck-lost at sea-ghost ship-whirlpool
• The Man That Was Used Up ✪✪✪ - I found this humorous /satirical
• William Wilson ✪✪✪ - double nature / split identity (moral vs. immoral / conscience-alter ego / steady shift in morality-deteriorating relationship with his doppelganger)
• ‘Thou Art The Man’ ✪✪✪ - comical detective story
• The Masque of the Red Death ✪✪.5
• The Facts in the Case of M. Valdermar ✪✪.5 - Eeewwww!
• The Oval Portrait ✪✪.5
• The Assignation ✪✪.5
• Morella ✪✪.5 - attraction vs. repulsion, enhancing intellect vs. physical deterioration
• Ligeia ✪✪.5 - Gothic love story
• The Mystery of Marie Roget ✪✪.5 - murder mystery / detective Dupin / unsolved
• The Purloined Letter ✪✪ .5 - detective Dupin / stolen letter
• Mellonta Tauta ✪✪ - Set in future, satirical, mash up of past, incorrect spelling of people & places/comical
• Metzengerstein ✪✪ - Rival/feuding families, prophecy/curse, metempsychosis/reincarnation
• The Man of the Crowd ✪.5 – People watching, follow a weird stranger/pointless
Quotes
Mesmeric Revelation: “To be happy at any one point we must have suffered at the same. Never to suffer would have been never to have been blessed.”
Metzengerstein: “Pestis eram vivus - moriens tua mors ero. / "Living, I was your plague - dying, I shall be your death.” ~Martin Luther
Ligeia: “in our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.”
The Purloined Letter: "Il y a à parier que toute idée publique, toute convention reçue, est une sottise, car elle a convenu au plus grand nombre." / "It is safe to wager that every public idea and every accepted convention is sheer foolishness, because it has suited the majority." ~Nicolas Chamfort
August 1, 2024
Perhaps a version issue, but it really annoyed me that there were no explanatory notes (not even a glossary), especially for obscure references.
Maybe it's my fault that I don't know what Metempsychosis or a simoom or one of the thousand other references is, but having to look up meanings every 5 minutes made reading this way less fun :(
Maybe it's my fault that I don't know what Metempsychosis or a simoom or one of the thousand other references is, but having to look up meanings every 5 minutes made reading this way less fun :(
September 17, 2024
Some were brilliant but some were so fucking mid
March 26, 2024
I... Really didn't like Poe's prose. It's a shame. He's written some of my favourite poems. But I find his stories to be... Condescending.
I started this collection full of excitement. Genuinely, poems like Annabel Lee have made a huge impact on me, and I was taken aback when I realised I had never read any of his stories. Now I kind of wish I never had.
To be honest, I completely understand that this is completely a matter of opinion. Although, I can't help feeling that many of those who preach his genius are enamoured by his complex language, and feel themselves more intelligent for being able to understand it, without seeing that each paragraph could be written much shorter, and likely with much more emotional impact. I believe Hemingway made a similar criticism of William Faulkner. But many people love William Faulkner. As they do Edgar Allan Poe. So who am I to judge?
Admittedly, as the collection went on, the writing became more palatable to me, and I almost went for three stars. Some of the characters became more interesting, the stories more entertaining, and the ideas more compelling. Or maybe I just got used to the writing. Who knows.
But then the last story came along. Mellonta Tauta. A dystopian piece of fiction written from the perspective of someone 1000 years from when Edgar Allan Poe wrote it. And, like most dystopias, it's meant to be a warning. But unlike Margaret Atwood's frustrated defeatism, George Orwell's hope-against-the-odds, and Aldous Huxley's confused amusement (admittedly haven't finished Brave New World yet, may change my mind on that), Mellonta Tauta drips with an arrogant condescendance, which just reeks of 'if I, Edgar Allan Poe, were the boss, all would be right'. And it really rubbed me up the wrong way.
In addition, the opening paragraph: "I am going to punish you for your impertinences by being as tedious, as discursive, as incoherent, and as unsatisfactory as possible." Felt to me like an admission of guiltless responsibility. Absolutely, I have many impertinences. No, it is not your job to punish me for them, Mr Poe. So I'll thank you to stop flashing your unnecessarily complex vocabulary at me, please.
I started this collection full of excitement. Genuinely, poems like Annabel Lee have made a huge impact on me, and I was taken aback when I realised I had never read any of his stories. Now I kind of wish I never had.
To be honest, I completely understand that this is completely a matter of opinion. Although, I can't help feeling that many of those who preach his genius are enamoured by his complex language, and feel themselves more intelligent for being able to understand it, without seeing that each paragraph could be written much shorter, and likely with much more emotional impact. I believe Hemingway made a similar criticism of William Faulkner. But many people love William Faulkner. As they do Edgar Allan Poe. So who am I to judge?
Admittedly, as the collection went on, the writing became more palatable to me, and I almost went for three stars. Some of the characters became more interesting, the stories more entertaining, and the ideas more compelling. Or maybe I just got used to the writing. Who knows.
But then the last story came along. Mellonta Tauta. A dystopian piece of fiction written from the perspective of someone 1000 years from when Edgar Allan Poe wrote it. And, like most dystopias, it's meant to be a warning. But unlike Margaret Atwood's frustrated defeatism, George Orwell's hope-against-the-odds, and Aldous Huxley's confused amusement (admittedly haven't finished Brave New World yet, may change my mind on that), Mellonta Tauta drips with an arrogant condescendance, which just reeks of 'if I, Edgar Allan Poe, were the boss, all would be right'. And it really rubbed me up the wrong way.
In addition, the opening paragraph: "I am going to punish you for your impertinences by being as tedious, as discursive, as incoherent, and as unsatisfactory as possible." Felt to me like an admission of guiltless responsibility. Absolutely, I have many impertinences. No, it is not your job to punish me for them, Mr Poe. So I'll thank you to stop flashing your unnecessarily complex vocabulary at me, please.
May 24, 2025
This compact hardback from the Great Writers Library contains 39 of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
I'm glad I was spacing them out as part of my reading a story a day schedule as to read this book straight through would be a lot and in places a struggle.
The quality of the writing is very up and down with some tales aging better than others.
There are the classics which are well known for good reason. The Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia and Hop-Frog which deserve a place in any short story collection. Atmospheric tales full of vivid imagery.
But there are too many stories where Poe's purple prose runs away from him, vast interminable passages of description or irrelevant facts to wade through to get to the point of the tale and several with twists at the end which are so contrived or obvious as to be comical instead of giving the sense of shock or terror desired. And there are a small number which are barely stories at all. More mood pieces of atmosphere and description almost becoming magazine articles rather than carrying a plot.
Thankfully there's enough here to make the book worthwhile and maybe an edition that includes his poetry to break things up a bit would have been better.
I'm glad I was spacing them out as part of my reading a story a day schedule as to read this book straight through would be a lot and in places a struggle.
The quality of the writing is very up and down with some tales aging better than others.
There are the classics which are well known for good reason. The Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia and Hop-Frog which deserve a place in any short story collection. Atmospheric tales full of vivid imagery.
But there are too many stories where Poe's purple prose runs away from him, vast interminable passages of description or irrelevant facts to wade through to get to the point of the tale and several with twists at the end which are so contrived or obvious as to be comical instead of giving the sense of shock or terror desired. And there are a small number which are barely stories at all. More mood pieces of atmosphere and description almost becoming magazine articles rather than carrying a plot.
Thankfully there's enough here to make the book worthwhile and maybe an edition that includes his poetry to break things up a bit would have been better.
September 23, 2024
My overall average for the 22 short stories I read from this collection: 3.5
I think Poe is at his best when he leans into the themes of death and grief. The Tell Tale Heart, A Premature Burial, The Cask of Amontillado. Those were my absolute favorites!
I found that I tended to enjoy the works from him from the 1840s, and less so from his earlier works.
I liked seeing his detective character and learning that it came before Poirot and Holmes. Unfortunately, I only liked the orangutang one of the detective/investigative type stories.
It got to a point where I felt I had read all of the best ones (I was jumping around and not reading linearly) and had no interest in going through the ramblings of others I wasn't enjoying. What I truly wanted was to read all the horror-based ones for spooky season and those were surely my favorite of this collection.
I'm glad to have finally read more from Poe outside of The Raven (which nearly every kid in the US learned in school). Also, I bought this version I have in Venice, Italy, so it's always going to hold a special place in my heart.
I think Poe is at his best when he leans into the themes of death and grief. The Tell Tale Heart, A Premature Burial, The Cask of Amontillado. Those were my absolute favorites!
I found that I tended to enjoy the works from him from the 1840s, and less so from his earlier works.
I liked seeing his detective character and learning that it came before Poirot and Holmes. Unfortunately, I only liked the orangutang one of the detective/investigative type stories.
It got to a point where I felt I had read all of the best ones (I was jumping around and not reading linearly) and had no interest in going through the ramblings of others I wasn't enjoying. What I truly wanted was to read all the horror-based ones for spooky season and those were surely my favorite of this collection.
I'm glad to have finally read more from Poe outside of The Raven (which nearly every kid in the US learned in school). Also, I bought this version I have in Venice, Italy, so it's always going to hold a special place in my heart.
December 26, 2023
Love most of the stories but it took me a really long time to read this since I am not used to reading old English. It is interesting to see how old stories looked like, how they were paced. There were some really interesting word choices that we don't really use anymore. There are quite a few really thrilling stories that sent a chill down my spine. Especially loved The Fall of the House of Usher.
December 22, 2025
I was so bored. I have read a few of the other stories so those came as no surprise but man I was really hoping I would like The Fall of the House of Usher because I liked the Netflix show. But I was so bored and uninterested. I wasn't a fan of some of the other stories either. I just wanted to get to the end and be done.
November 3, 2024
While there are some absolutely brilliant stories, the fall of the house of usher, the black cat, the murders in the Rue Morgue, the Pit and the pendulum, the Tell tale Heart, The Oblong box, the Premature Burial, others are not quite at the same standard and and seem rushed at times.
July 23, 2025
Short stories. Some good! Some not.
October 19, 2025
My man Poe knows how to write dense walls of text
March 4, 2024
[EN]
This book was my first contact with Edgar Allan Poe and, perhaps, the fact that I read it in English was not the best option for me. It is written in old English and I had a hard time getting into the stories. Anyway, I would like to reread some of the stories in the future.
The whole thing is interesting, seeing the rhythm of the stories and how they are constructed, quite slowly and with special attention to the atmosphere. If all the stories that make up this compilation have something in common, it is a disturbing and disconcerting atmosphere.
Some of the stories, it must be said, have been a bit boring to me. I'm not sure if it's because of the conflict that Old English has caused me or if it's because of the story itself. Although the atmosphere is still there, I felt like nothing interesting enough was happening to keep me in.
The story that stands out the most is, precisely, the one that gives the compilation its title: “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I recommend you to read it, even if it is independently.
I think that, in the future, I will reread all the stories and, without a doubt, I will continue reading the author.
[ES]
Este libro ha sido mi primer contacto con Edgar Allan Poe y, tal vez, el hecho de que fuese en inglés no ha sido la mejor opción para mí. Está escrito en inglés antiguo y me ha costado adentrarme en los relatos. De todos modos, me gustaría releer, en un futuro, algunos de los relatos.
El conjunto es interesante, ver el ritmo de las historias y cómo están construidas, de forma bastante pausada y con una atención especial a la atmósfera. Si algo tienen en común todos los relatos que conforman este recopilatorio es una atmósfera inquietante y desconcertante.
Alguno de los relatos, cabe decir, me han resultado un tanto aburridos. No tengo claro si por el conflicto que me ha supuesto el inglés antiguo o si por la propia historia en sí. Aunque la atmósfera sigue estando ahí, sentía que no ocurría nada lo suficientemente interesante cómo para mantenerme dentro.
El relato que más destaco es, precisamente, el que le da título al recopilatorio: “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Os recomiendo leerlo, aunque sea de forma independiente.
Creo que, en un futuro, voy a releer todos los relatos y, sin duda, voy a seguir leyendo al autor.
This book was my first contact with Edgar Allan Poe and, perhaps, the fact that I read it in English was not the best option for me. It is written in old English and I had a hard time getting into the stories. Anyway, I would like to reread some of the stories in the future.
The whole thing is interesting, seeing the rhythm of the stories and how they are constructed, quite slowly and with special attention to the atmosphere. If all the stories that make up this compilation have something in common, it is a disturbing and disconcerting atmosphere.
Some of the stories, it must be said, have been a bit boring to me. I'm not sure if it's because of the conflict that Old English has caused me or if it's because of the story itself. Although the atmosphere is still there, I felt like nothing interesting enough was happening to keep me in.
The story that stands out the most is, precisely, the one that gives the compilation its title: “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I recommend you to read it, even if it is independently.
I think that, in the future, I will reread all the stories and, without a doubt, I will continue reading the author.
[ES]
Este libro ha sido mi primer contacto con Edgar Allan Poe y, tal vez, el hecho de que fuese en inglés no ha sido la mejor opción para mí. Está escrito en inglés antiguo y me ha costado adentrarme en los relatos. De todos modos, me gustaría releer, en un futuro, algunos de los relatos.
El conjunto es interesante, ver el ritmo de las historias y cómo están construidas, de forma bastante pausada y con una atención especial a la atmósfera. Si algo tienen en común todos los relatos que conforman este recopilatorio es una atmósfera inquietante y desconcertante.
Alguno de los relatos, cabe decir, me han resultado un tanto aburridos. No tengo claro si por el conflicto que me ha supuesto el inglés antiguo o si por la propia historia en sí. Aunque la atmósfera sigue estando ahí, sentía que no ocurría nada lo suficientemente interesante cómo para mantenerme dentro.
El relato que más destaco es, precisamente, el que le da título al recopilatorio: “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Os recomiendo leerlo, aunque sea de forma independiente.
Creo que, en un futuro, voy a releer todos los relatos y, sin duda, voy a seguir leyendo al autor.
March 3, 2017
You know how it is… browsing at the library, you see a title that seems familiar, something that you meant to read at some stage because it’s listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die…
The Fall of the House of Usher is classic horror, a short story that has muscled its way into 1001 Books (a canon which is supposed to be confined to novels) because
it is simply impossible to imagine the modern novel without considering Poe’s masterful writing, and this seminal tale in particular. (p.111)
Well, the good thing about bringing home this collection is that I have knocked off three titles from 1001 Books in the space of an hour, because there are two other short stories honoured by inclusion in the list. 1001 Books tosses around epithets such as gifted writer; incredible legacy; and with significance as indisputable as artworks so diverse as Borges’s tales, The Name of the Rose, and The Usual Suspects. If you are a fan of the horror genre, you will presumably agree, but these stories just made me laugh.
To read my brief reviews of 3 stories from this collection please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/09/14/t...
The Fall of the House of Usher is classic horror, a short story that has muscled its way into 1001 Books (a canon which is supposed to be confined to novels) because
it is simply impossible to imagine the modern novel without considering Poe’s masterful writing, and this seminal tale in particular. (p.111)
Well, the good thing about bringing home this collection is that I have knocked off three titles from 1001 Books in the space of an hour, because there are two other short stories honoured by inclusion in the list. 1001 Books tosses around epithets such as gifted writer; incredible legacy; and with significance as indisputable as artworks so diverse as Borges’s tales, The Name of the Rose, and The Usual Suspects. If you are a fan of the horror genre, you will presumably agree, but these stories just made me laugh.
To read my brief reviews of 3 stories from this collection please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/09/14/t...
November 17, 2024
Review is for audiobook. BJ reads the Fall of the House of Usher and other stories. Could not find the actual version that I listened to on here. But this is the picture on the 'cover'.
Narrator- very good. I'm wondering if some of the audio was older as some stories were of lesser audio quality. There was no pause between stories. Quick title read and narrator was off and running. It made it hard to tell when new stories began. There was no chapter/story delineation- there was no way to find a story that you want to listen to. Or skip to the next one. There was no list of stories. I thought The Black Cat was on here. But I never heard it.
The audiobook seemed to jump around a bit. (I did not have it on shuffle). It skipped a whole section and I had to go back to search for it.
Stories of course were good. Poe is a bit wordy ;-) The nautical ones were difficult to follow at times as I am not up to 'date' on 1800's nautical terminology. The detective ones also had long expositions that were hard to concentrate on.
Narrator- very good. I'm wondering if some of the audio was older as some stories were of lesser audio quality. There was no pause between stories. Quick title read and narrator was off and running. It made it hard to tell when new stories began. There was no chapter/story delineation- there was no way to find a story that you want to listen to. Or skip to the next one. There was no list of stories. I thought The Black Cat was on here. But I never heard it.
The audiobook seemed to jump around a bit. (I did not have it on shuffle). It skipped a whole section and I had to go back to search for it.
Stories of course were good. Poe is a bit wordy ;-) The nautical ones were difficult to follow at times as I am not up to 'date' on 1800's nautical terminology. The detective ones also had long expositions that were hard to concentrate on.
January 30, 2018
I've been dipping in and out of this between other books for some time now, but finally decided to put some effort in and complete it.
As with any collection of short stories, it's a little inconsistent and - at it's best - would receive a full five stars. However, I have two major criticisms which have meant that it receives a lower rating.
Firstly, there are a number of stories in the collection where the prose is rather too dense to allow the narrative to flow smoothly. Quite simply, reading becomes hard work and unpicking the plot from the denseness of the description is arduous.
Secondly, Poe does has a tendency to spend too long creating the world for his tales at the beginning of the story. This means that the actual story and pay-off are disproportionately small in comparison with the time set establishing the scene.
Nevertheless, Poe is an incredibly important writer, and, at his best, his writing does stand the test of time and is enjoyable to read.
As with any collection of short stories, it's a little inconsistent and - at it's best - would receive a full five stars. However, I have two major criticisms which have meant that it receives a lower rating.
Firstly, there are a number of stories in the collection where the prose is rather too dense to allow the narrative to flow smoothly. Quite simply, reading becomes hard work and unpicking the plot from the denseness of the description is arduous.
Secondly, Poe does has a tendency to spend too long creating the world for his tales at the beginning of the story. This means that the actual story and pay-off are disproportionately small in comparison with the time set establishing the scene.
Nevertheless, Poe is an incredibly important writer, and, at his best, his writing does stand the test of time and is enjoyable to read.
July 22, 2024
There's a surprising amount of Poe works I've never read, so this was a great collection to come across. I enjoyed the narrator and the wide range of what was included, both stories and poetry.
A downside was the way the audiobook was put together. It seemed to be made of two or three separate collections squashed together (instead of being a single, cohesive bunch) so the transition between stories/collections was sometimes jarring.
There were also a few stories I was confused by. I couldn't figure out what they were about or what the endings meant. Perhaps they'd be clearer if I'd read them or maybe I wouldn't understand them either way. I'm voracious but not the most literary reader and some concepts do go over my head.
Overall, some weird stories, some confusing ones, but most were horrific or creepy in some way.
A downside was the way the audiobook was put together. It seemed to be made of two or three separate collections squashed together (instead of being a single, cohesive bunch) so the transition between stories/collections was sometimes jarring.
There were also a few stories I was confused by. I couldn't figure out what they were about or what the endings meant. Perhaps they'd be clearer if I'd read them or maybe I wouldn't understand them either way. I'm voracious but not the most literary reader and some concepts do go over my head.
Overall, some weird stories, some confusing ones, but most were horrific or creepy in some way.
April 8, 2024
A collection of horribly dry stories, most of which boil down to a tricky situation and some kind of supposed ingenious solution. Made it to the end of Hans Pfall before I decided to stop torturing myself with this book.
October 1, 2018
I just read The Fall of the House of Usher from this book... It was for a challenge. I'll read the others at another time.
December 28, 2024
An enjoyable reread / relisten of some classic tales by the original master of Horror.
December 25, 2025
no notes (some notes, but negligible ones at best)
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