Classic Horror Story Book Reviews
Today's post is going to be all about classic horror stories! We're going to be starting with a well known favorite, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
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Author: Washington Irving
Published: 1820
Format: Audio book via Audible
Review*:
I know this story is a classic, but I've listened and have read it several times and I still find it dull. First off, I don't care for Ichabod Crane. I can't stand needy people, and Ichabod seems to find that personality exactly.
Sleepy Hollow seems like a super cool town. The people are immune to weird stuff happening, like their resident Headless Horseman just galloping through the woods. It seems very "New England". For some reason it's giving me Mystic Falls vibes from Vampire Diaries.
Circling back to Ichabod, he socializes with women mostly, specifically maternal or nurturing ladies who can take care of him. He finds a woman to fall in love with him though, Miss Kartina. She is the only child of a wealthy farmer and already has a suitor, Brom.
A common theme in literature, especially older fiction, is this theme that a man has to find a woman to love. We see it in Poe's writing, Shakespeare, it's fucking everywhere. It's in books being published now as well, but we've also added more in-depth story lines. I'm not calling it out as problematic, more often then not I'll read it. However the dominance and selfishness that Ichabod portrays is what really makes me dislike this story.
We can see examples of Ichabod's need for dominance from the way he disciplines his school children and in the fact he picks the wealthiest woman in town to pursue simply because he knows it increases his social standard. He is selfish that he also is looking for someone to take care of him, someone who has a lot more to offer than he does.
Now if we take these attributes of Ichabod, his demise at the end of the book seems a little closer to karma. Authors are known for their dark humor and a lot of the time there are life lessons to be taught. I may be biased with my dislike for Ichabod, but I'd say this was just what he deserved for being such a pig.
Our characters are simple, not much is given to their story other than their dynamic. We have the White family, with Mr., Mrs., and their son. The story starts with their friend the Sargent Major over for a visit. All characters are adults, Mr. & Mrs. White being older, their son probably in his 20's, at least of working age. Sargent has obviously served the military, having traveled to different parts of the world.
This little fact leads us right into the mummified monkey's paw, which is supposed to grant the holder 3 wishes. The Sargent comments on the paw being cursed and brings up that the previous owner used his final wish for death. With that, the man throws the paw onto the fire.
Now the Whites, not understanding why anyone would dispose of something that could grant wishes, pull it back out of the flames. Their friend comments "Don't blame me for what it does to you". So of course, Mr. White wishes for £200 and in an amazing act of being dramatic, White Jr. creates a crashing noise on the piano he was sitting at. Of course nothing happens right away, other than White Sr. commenting he thought he felt the paw move when he made his wish.
Cue to the next day, a visitor shows up to the Whites door. Jr. and the Sargent are long gone, and this guest is not someone the Whites recognize. The man sits down and tells them that there was a terrible accident at the factory that their son works at and he died. The family that employed him felt terrible and would like to compensate the family.... with £200.
You see where this is going, right?
Of course the parents are distraught and spend the next few days in sorrow for their loss. Mother remembers what created this mess in the first place and asks Father to use his second wish to bring their son back.
Now anyone who has read or watched a story that includes bringing back the dead, this isn't going to go well either. Sure enough, they start hearing a pounding on the door over a lapse in time. Horrified, the Whites realize that their sons corpse was brought back to life and now there was a zombie pounding at their door trying to get in. In his fear, Mr. White picks up the paw and makes his final wish, however it is never stated outloud. We then end the story with the door swinging open to reveal a deserted road and Mrs. White disappointed that their final wish was gone.
All in all, this is the best example of "Be careful what you wish for." A lot of older stories, as we've seen in the Monkey's Paw and Sleepy Hollow, have dark twists to teach us simple life lessons. Back in the good ole days, I'm sure these were much more emotionally damaging to children. As I mentioned before though, they are messages that you frequently can remember despite how gruesome they may be.
Much like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, our main character is motivated by his need for companionship. Insert Winzy, a gentleman who is working for a philosopher named Cornelius as his assistant. Winzy didn't want to work for Cornelius at first, but alas that need to support a family drove him into the philosopher's chambers.Cornelius is working on a potion that he states will suppress the feelings of love.Whatever that means.
Winzy has found himself a lady, dear Bertha, who is growing quite irate at Winzy for not spending enough time with her. Of course, the irony is that he was working hard to be able to support her which is why he couldn't spend all of his time with her. Bertha, being a sensible woman, decides she's going to move onto another man instead of trying to be with Winzy.
Of course Winzy becomes jealous, and in his spite he takes the potion that had just been completed and decides to drink it. Makes sense, right? So then he decides to find Bertha and as he does so, she seems completed enamored with Winzy. So much so that the pair run off and get married. Winzy quits his job with Cornelius, everything seems like a happy ending.
But of course, that is never the case.
On his deathbed, Cornelius calls for Winzy. The philosopher has spent the last 5 years perfecting the same potion Winzy originally drank. Cornelius asks his previous assistant to hand him the vile of potion right after it finishes and turns the correct color. While they wait, the old man reveals that his potion to suppress the feelings of love was actually an immortality potion. Just as the potion turns, Cornelius raises the vile to his lips and dies before the liquid can pass his lips. Again, that dark humor.
Winzy goes home with this knowledge that he will not die and keeps it from his wife. Bertha starts to physically age and Winzy, though he feels older, doesn't look a day passed 23. Of course the towns folk notice, and they start to think Winzy a weirdo. Bertha starts to get resentful at her husband's youthful appearance.
Winzy feels guilty about how his immortality is effecting his wife and tells her to leave him. Bertha instead suggests that they run away to France to be together in solitude and Winzy agrees. Of course Bertha eventually passes away, and Winzy is faced with the wide expanse of immortality in solitude in front of him. He reflects on his lonliness and after 300 years of feeling older but not looking older, he chooses to take his own life.
Again, we learn another life lesson here. Again, I will quote Harry Potter with Hagrid's good ole "Yer meddlin' in things that aught not to be meddled in; it's too dangerous." Whether you blame Cornelius for being the creator or Winzy for being ignorant, messing with the unnatural can have terrible consequences.
Sleepy Hollow seems like a super cool town. The people are immune to weird stuff happening, like their resident Headless Horseman just galloping through the woods. It seems very "New England". For some reason it's giving me Mystic Falls vibes from Vampire Diaries.
Circling back to Ichabod, he socializes with women mostly, specifically maternal or nurturing ladies who can take care of him. He finds a woman to fall in love with him though, Miss Kartina. She is the only child of a wealthy farmer and already has a suitor, Brom.
A common theme in literature, especially older fiction, is this theme that a man has to find a woman to love. We see it in Poe's writing, Shakespeare, it's fucking everywhere. It's in books being published now as well, but we've also added more in-depth story lines. I'm not calling it out as problematic, more often then not I'll read it. However the dominance and selfishness that Ichabod portrays is what really makes me dislike this story.
We can see examples of Ichabod's need for dominance from the way he disciplines his school children and in the fact he picks the wealthiest woman in town to pursue simply because he knows it increases his social standard. He is selfish that he also is looking for someone to take care of him, someone who has a lot more to offer than he does.
Now if we take these attributes of Ichabod, his demise at the end of the book seems a little closer to karma. Authors are known for their dark humor and a lot of the time there are life lessons to be taught. I may be biased with my dislike for Ichabod, but I'd say this was just what he deserved for being such a pig.
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Title: The Monkey's Paw
Author: W.W. Jacobs
Published: 1902
Format: Audio book via Audible
Review*:
I originally read the Monkey's Paw in Jr. High and ever since then it's been a short story that slowly comes back into memory. I'm glad I re-read it because my recollection of the events have been severely darkened over time. It is probably my favorite short story that I have encountered so far.Our characters are simple, not much is given to their story other than their dynamic. We have the White family, with Mr., Mrs., and their son. The story starts with their friend the Sargent Major over for a visit. All characters are adults, Mr. & Mrs. White being older, their son probably in his 20's, at least of working age. Sargent has obviously served the military, having traveled to different parts of the world.
This little fact leads us right into the mummified monkey's paw, which is supposed to grant the holder 3 wishes. The Sargent comments on the paw being cursed and brings up that the previous owner used his final wish for death. With that, the man throws the paw onto the fire.
Now the Whites, not understanding why anyone would dispose of something that could grant wishes, pull it back out of the flames. Their friend comments "Don't blame me for what it does to you". So of course, Mr. White wishes for £200 and in an amazing act of being dramatic, White Jr. creates a crashing noise on the piano he was sitting at. Of course nothing happens right away, other than White Sr. commenting he thought he felt the paw move when he made his wish.
Cue to the next day, a visitor shows up to the Whites door. Jr. and the Sargent are long gone, and this guest is not someone the Whites recognize. The man sits down and tells them that there was a terrible accident at the factory that their son works at and he died. The family that employed him felt terrible and would like to compensate the family.... with £200.
You see where this is going, right?
Of course the parents are distraught and spend the next few days in sorrow for their loss. Mother remembers what created this mess in the first place and asks Father to use his second wish to bring their son back.
Now anyone who has read or watched a story that includes bringing back the dead, this isn't going to go well either. Sure enough, they start hearing a pounding on the door over a lapse in time. Horrified, the Whites realize that their sons corpse was brought back to life and now there was a zombie pounding at their door trying to get in. In his fear, Mr. White picks up the paw and makes his final wish, however it is never stated outloud. We then end the story with the door swinging open to reveal a deserted road and Mrs. White disappointed that their final wish was gone.
All in all, this is the best example of "Be careful what you wish for." A lot of older stories, as we've seen in the Monkey's Paw and Sleepy Hollow, have dark twists to teach us simple life lessons. Back in the good ole days, I'm sure these were much more emotionally damaging to children. As I mentioned before though, they are messages that you frequently can remember despite how gruesome they may be.
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Title: The Mortal Immortal
Author: Mary Shelley
Published: 1833
Format: Audio book via Audible
Review*:
You know how, in most literature, they refer to an elongated life as 'the curse of immortality'. This story is literally where that came from. I feel like Firenze from HP & The Sorcerer's Stone was literally boring this entire story into Harry's soul when he said " A half life, a cursed life" when talking about Voldemort drinking unicorn blood.Much like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, our main character is motivated by his need for companionship. Insert Winzy, a gentleman who is working for a philosopher named Cornelius as his assistant. Winzy didn't want to work for Cornelius at first, but alas that need to support a family drove him into the philosopher's chambers.Cornelius is working on a potion that he states will suppress the feelings of love.Whatever that means.
Winzy has found himself a lady, dear Bertha, who is growing quite irate at Winzy for not spending enough time with her. Of course, the irony is that he was working hard to be able to support her which is why he couldn't spend all of his time with her. Bertha, being a sensible woman, decides she's going to move onto another man instead of trying to be with Winzy.
Of course Winzy becomes jealous, and in his spite he takes the potion that had just been completed and decides to drink it. Makes sense, right? So then he decides to find Bertha and as he does so, she seems completed enamored with Winzy. So much so that the pair run off and get married. Winzy quits his job with Cornelius, everything seems like a happy ending.
But of course, that is never the case.
On his deathbed, Cornelius calls for Winzy. The philosopher has spent the last 5 years perfecting the same potion Winzy originally drank. Cornelius asks his previous assistant to hand him the vile of potion right after it finishes and turns the correct color. While they wait, the old man reveals that his potion to suppress the feelings of love was actually an immortality potion. Just as the potion turns, Cornelius raises the vile to his lips and dies before the liquid can pass his lips. Again, that dark humor.
Winzy goes home with this knowledge that he will not die and keeps it from his wife. Bertha starts to physically age and Winzy, though he feels older, doesn't look a day passed 23. Of course the towns folk notice, and they start to think Winzy a weirdo. Bertha starts to get resentful at her husband's youthful appearance.
Winzy feels guilty about how his immortality is effecting his wife and tells her to leave him. Bertha instead suggests that they run away to France to be together in solitude and Winzy agrees. Of course Bertha eventually passes away, and Winzy is faced with the wide expanse of immortality in solitude in front of him. He reflects on his lonliness and after 300 years of feeling older but not looking older, he chooses to take his own life.
Again, we learn another life lesson here. Again, I will quote Harry Potter with Hagrid's good ole "Yer meddlin' in things that aught not to be meddled in; it's too dangerous." Whether you blame Cornelius for being the creator or Winzy for being ignorant, messing with the unnatural can have terrible consequences.
That's all for me today guys. I hope you liked these mini-reviews for some Classic spooky stories. I wanted to get this up in time for Halloween to create some spooky vibes. I'm hoping to get back into my normal uploading schedule for November. Now that Winter is coming, I'll more than likely have more free time to read.
Let me know some of your favorite spooky stories in the comments below!
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