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50th out of 168 books
—
250 voters
Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque
Novelist, poet, dramatist and author of many of the best American short stories of our time, Joyce Carol Oates shows yet another aspect of her unbounded creativity in these tales of the grotesque. Haunted, a collection of sixteen tales that range from classic ghost stories to portrayals of chilling psychological terror, raises the genre to the level of fine literature - co...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
February 1st 1995
by Plume
(first published 1994)
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I have come to the conclusion that Oates is a national treasure. What an incredible stylist she is. Considering this is a collection of her shorter, more eerie works I found it to be more than appropriate reading for the Halloween season. There are many stories in here that I'm still mulling over and probably will be for days to come. The stories are listed below and my favorites are highlighted. Of course, in this collection nearly all the stories are highlighted, the peek into the psyches of h...more
As a fan of The Melvins, I've long since gotten used to their penchant for suddenly ending songs just when they sound like they're really getting underway. And, I was quickly reminded of this aspect of their music while reading Joyce Carol Oates' stories of murder and bloodshed, which often share that truncated quality. However, when The Melvins cut a song off, they simply proceed onto the next one without any demand on listeners to understand what they have just heard. This is not quite the cas...more
Joyce Carol Oates' Haunted is an excellent collection of stories that, for the lack of a better word, are "scary". However, these are not "scary" in the sense that Edgar Allan Poe or H.P Lovecraft are. These tales are much more like the plot of an episode of Twilight Zone with a twist at the end. As other reviewers have stated, her stories range from traditional scary stories that could to told on Halloween, to creepy tales with psychological implications, to horrific passages of violence.
The ma...more
The ma...more
The only thing I've ever read before by Oates was the excerpt of "Zombie"--her novel based on the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer--published in the New Yorker, which I didn't care for at all. This collection of stories, however, is wonderful, albeit very disturbing. If Poe had suddenly found himself transported to the 1990s and transformed into a woman, this is likely the kind of book s/he might write. Oates creates compellingly damaged characters and sets nightmarish events in motion around them, more...more
Heard nothing but glittering reviews for anything and everything by Oates. Perhaps I set the bar too high because I was mildly disappointed. I liked the writing style well enough but I was honestly bored and kept falling asleep while reading, halfway through I just kept hoping the next story would be the one that would validate the book for me. I wasn't expecting scary, but I just wanted the stories to go a little farther, a little something more.
I am intrigued enough and plan on reading more w...more
I am intrigued enough and plan on reading more w...more
I was really into horror books growing up. When I was in eighth grade, my mom checked this one out from the library, read it, and passed it on to me. I remember being totally engrossed by these stories. However, when I think back on what they were about, I can hardly see what my mom thought was appropriate about this book for a 13 year-old! Ah well, the fact that she didn't censor, or dumb things down for me is probably a major reason that we got along growing up. Still...
Be prepared for grotesq...more
Be prepared for grotesq...more
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This review originally appeared in the BOULDER CAMERA
Thirteen horrifying reads for Halloween
by Vince Darcangelo
Posted: 10/24/2008 02:34:00 AM MDT
October is the time of year to indulge those horror cravings. As the leaves turn, and a haunting chill fills the evening air, there's nothing better than curling up with a good thriller, be it a psychological mystery or supernatural scare, a genre gore-fest or high-minded literary horror.
We've compiled 13 can't-mi...more
This review originally appeared in the BOULDER CAMERA
Thirteen horrifying reads for Halloween
by Vince Darcangelo
Posted: 10/24/2008 02:34:00 AM MDT
October is the time of year to indulge those horror cravings. As the leaves turn, and a haunting chill fills the evening air, there's nothing better than curling up with a good thriller, be it a psychological mystery or supernatural scare, a genre gore-fest or high-minded literary horror.
We've compiled 13 can't-mi...more
I was interested in reading something in the spirit of the season (Halloween) so I picked up this book of short stories, which ranged from creepy to downright disgusting. As an author, Joyce Carol Oates shows an uncanny ability to come up with strikingly different situations within which she weaves remarkable tales. With Oates, you never know what you're going to get because each story is completely different than the one before.
However, what is the same about each of the stories in this book is...more
However, what is the same about each of the stories in this book is...more
2 likes · like · see review
Joyce Carol Oates, Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (Dutton, 1994)
I've been a fan of Joyce Carol Oates for coming up on twenty years now. I was first introduced to her through her short fiction (“The Rose Wall”, published in the inaugural issue of the sadly-defunct Twilight Zone magazine, to this day the best publication of its kind), and I've always had a soft spot for her “weird” fiction because of that; this was a book that was right up my alley, in other words. And while, like most short stor...more
I've been a fan of Joyce Carol Oates for coming up on twenty years now. I was first introduced to her through her short fiction (“The Rose Wall”, published in the inaugural issue of the sadly-defunct Twilight Zone magazine, to this day the best publication of its kind), and I've always had a soft spot for her “weird” fiction because of that; this was a book that was right up my alley, in other words. And while, like most short stor...more
Oct 27, 2011
Victoria
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
horror,
short-stories
Some of the stories I like and some I just didn't get. Then, I read the last story, and it was so disgusting, I almost threw up. I think horror stories are better when the horrible (grotesque) things are just hinted at and left to the imagination rather than laid out before you in sickening detail. Until I read the final story, I was going to give this book 3 stars.
Horror fans take serious note of all of Joyce Carol Oates' collections of macabre tales. She is a master of writing a story which will unsettle and disturb you, but for reasons which are difficult to put your finger on. There's always just something profoundly eerie about her not-quite-supernatural stories, and she's got plenty of them.
I thought this book was very good, despite its lack of overt ghost stories, which seemed to flummox some other readers. Check here for a more in-depth review by me: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-83...
Oates' short stories at her absolute darkest and most disturbing. Prolly worse than Edgar Allan Poe because they are so current. I terrorized myself out of insomnia when I got up at 3 am with my to read. Horror as hight art. Love it.
If one reads two or three Oates books in a row, the recurrent use of the word "glittering" starts to distract.
She is a very precise and compelling author, but I felt suffocated by her point of view by the third book I read...
She is a very precise and compelling author, but I felt suffocated by her point of view by the third book I read...
Aug 08, 2011
Jennifer Schneider
added it
The stories are well-written, but many left me scratching my head. I don't mind a story that makes me think, or leaves me wondering, but I don't enjoy a story that makes no sense to me, as a few of these did.
"To gaze upon it, Quint thinks, succumbing, is to be aroused"
"On the way home Mary Lou said, 'Somethings are so sad you can't say them.' But I pretended not to hear.
"On the way home Mary Lou said, 'Somethings are so sad you can't say them.' But I pretended not to hear.
The first two stories were really good, particularly "The Doll," but it was all downhill from there with the exception of "The White Cat" (a re-imagining of Poe's The Black Cat.) If it weren't for the first two, I would have given this book only one star. Her endings are often weak and the stories just didn't do anything for me - in fact they often pissed me off because they were so ridiculous. After getting half way through the second to the last story (a re-imagining of A Turn of the Screw) I...more
Like any collection, this had strong stories and less strong stories. My favorites: "Haunted," "The Premonition," "Phase Change," "Poor Bibi," and "Blind."
Haunted is a collection that truly lives up to its name. The opening lines of the first story set the tone for the entire book; a feeling of quiet unease, a nostalgic paranoia, a sense of an unseen "something" fill the pages and the readers thoughts. Oates is a master at establishing and sustaining tone in her work. Some genuinely creepy work in here. Five stars. Highly recommended.
Well done, but freaky. These horror stories had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end spontaneously, and me jumping at shadows.
Can't look away, can't stop reading. I really hate Joyce Carol Oates. And I still keep reading her.
Generally I prefer Oates's short stories to her book-length fiction, and this collection has some real gems in it.
The most unsettling story, really a masterpiece of style and structure, is "Because."
The most unsettling story, really a masterpiece of style and structure, is "Because."
Slightly uneven group of horror shortstories from one my favorite authors.
Oct 05, 2012
Brandon Mccord
added it
How can you go wrong with Joyce Carol Oates writing short stories.
The title story is one of my favorite short stories ever.
Feb 21, 2012
Kim
marked it as to-read
Recommended by Dan Chaon in The Week, 2/17/12.
This is a wonderful anthology.
Read while still in South Pasadena.
An examplery short fiction collection.
Dove stai andando, dove sei stata?
Come ascoltare una canzone della Band.
Come guardare un quadro di Hopper.
Come vedere 'Jeremiah Johnson'.
Come respirare l'odore di un barbecue.
Puro Americana, nutrito della cultura degli States.
Per quanto mi riguarda, amo nei racconti la potenzialità di compressione drammatica; l'equilibrio da raggiungere tra quello che si inserisce e si leva; l'opportunità di presentare personaggi per il minor tempo possibile, ma in maniera vivida. J.C.Oates
Come ascoltare una canzone della Band.
Come guardare un quadro di Hopper.
Come vedere 'Jeremiah Johnson'.
Come respirare l'odore di un barbecue.
Puro Americana, nutrito della cultura degli States.
Per quanto mi riguarda, amo nei racconti la potenzialità di compressione drammatica; l'equilibrio da raggiungere tra quello che si inserisce e si leva; l'opportunità di presentare personaggi per il minor tempo possibile, ma in maniera vivida. J.C.Oates
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Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Pseudonyms ... Rosamond Smith and Laure...more
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