Sigo Paolini’s Reviews > Short Stories about Madness > Status Update

Pastoral Tale by AC Doyle. No Sherlock but its a crime mystery, nonetheless. It is a tale of a mad psychopathic killer that haunts a small Tyrolean town. Narrator was very Holmesy.

The Fall of the House of Usher. Narrator is excellent. Haven't heard this story in years, and the Vinny Price movie is far different, so if that's all you've seen, I'd recommend this one. Included is one of Poe's poems.

Alot of cruft after Lovecraft...and then there is the Yellow Wallpaper which I hadn't read in a while. Made me want to learn more about that short, but all there is Julie Dock's feminist history of its publication. Pity.

I've learnt one thing from this.........compilations suck. They don't have chapters, no liner notes just one story that runs into another. No way to skip around.

7 - The Diary of a God by Barry Pain humourous 5/4

8 - Brothers by Sherwood Anderson pass. Yes he, the other narrator, is crazy, but no one cares.

9 - The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
The narrator has an appropriately menacing tone of a sick alcholic. Cat lovers may enjoy this one, revenge is sweet :-) 5/5

It's warm and 75 so the windows are down and at a stop light someone heard Herlihy and Cthulu and backed up and asked, What is that? Lovecraft. Waved thanks and goodbye. I wish I could tell you more but it's best you don't know:-) 5/5

I'm up to Tales of Ctulthu. He doesn't start out mad but once he decides to follow the Norwegian from Providence to Auckland to Sydney to Oslo, he sure it. Good narration; I think its John Herlihy -- well it sounds like him.. 5 for madness/5 for narrator.

Well it seems GR lost my first update. Let's try it again.

1. Pit and Pendulum. Not really a story on madness, but the thought that one was. 2. Narrator. Exquisite. 5. I think the Cask of Amontillado would have been a better choice.
2. Diary of a Madman. With a nod to Gogol's Diary of a Madman, later in the book, Tolstoy is obviously describing his own descent into madness. 4. Narrator. 3.

Two ratings. One on the madness rating/the narration
1. PIt and Pendulum 2/5 Narrator is perfect.
2. Diary of a Madman 4/3 Narrator is ok.
3/ The Horla 5/5 -- Ian Holm does a superb job.
4.