Book Review: Terrifying Tales by Edgar Allan Poe

Terrifying Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all."

Worth reading if only to discuss with others who have read some Poe. As expected, haunting and stays with you long after.

For my own future reference:
The Tell-Tale Heart-This was shorter than I remembered, but just as impactful. One of my favorite shorts, to be sure.

The Cask of Amontillado-Again, shorter than expected, but no less brilliant. Dark and creepy. I really want to know what was said to offend the narrator!

The Masque of the Red Death-I didn't remember this one at all and the visual descriptions were absolutely stunning to my mind. I want to see an excellent adaptation of this.

The Fall of the House of Usher-This was a bit drawn-out for my taste, but it was a great dissection of madness. You really feel what the narrator is feeling if you can keep up with the prose.

The Murders in Rue Morgue-Lengthy, and with so many words I'm glad we have thesauruses. We could've saved the first half by saying he's just more observant than the rest of us. Conclusion was a little silly compared to previous stories.

The Purloined Letter-Features 'detective' Dupin from Rue Morgue story.

The Pit and the Pendulum-Completely absorbing prolonged torture without all the gore. The ending was abrupt, and I'd really like to know what crime this guy committed to land this type of sentence, but it was the best story in this collection.

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