I want to start off by saying how lovely this book is! Yes, the cover is graced by Marv, and he isn't beautiful, but still, the composition of the dust jacket is nice, but remove that and underneath is perfection! It's a lovely, deep brown, gold foil type and the inside pages are a gorgeous mossy green. The hardbacks are very thick and textured. I just pet it for a while before digging in.
I will say that, despite the sincerity of his sentiments, Lilja was not edited in his foreword. I think most of the grammar issues are due to translation, but it was a little funny to find so many "typos" in such a lovely tome. I love Lilja, so I don't mean this as a bad thing, just a quirky thing. ;-)
The Blue Air Compressor *** This is far from King’s best, but it is a fun little tale that has a ridiculous ending. It’s pretty easy to see why he never included it in any of his personal anthologies, but it’s great to read something here that is hard to find elsewhere.
The Net ***** This was terrific! Not only was it cleverly framed in such a way that the tension built and built, but the ending was exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. Super clever!
The Novel of the Holocaust ** I just didn’t care for this. Not only because I didn’t quite understand it, but it was just dull, and at the risk of sounding like a jerk, I think sometimes writers think that just writing about the Holocaust, or including it in a title, ensures a successful tale. Not so.
Aeliana **** This was just odd enough that I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next! The writing was lovely, but so was the tale.
Pidgen and Theresa *** I enjoyed the writing and the way the words were strewn together. The world-building with just crumbs dropped here and there was fantastic, but I didn’t understand the actual story. The secret language was entertaining, and exploring the relationship between twins was as well, and the way they became twins was fascinating, but I didn’t really know what happened in the end. I love iguanas, though. O_o
An End to All Things **** This was pure despair. It actually hurt my heart to read it. The story opens with a man donning a bathrobe and taking a walk, being careful not to drag his robe-tie in the goose shit. It just gets more desperate from there. I don't want to give anything away, but this was pure misery and beautifully written.
Cemetery Dance *** Weird, but I think I enjoyed it more because of the title than because of the story, although that last line… pretty darn good!
Drawn to the Flame ** I love Joe Hill, with the exception of NOS4R2. This was in that same vein. Just a bit too outlandish for me to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the ride. The setup was terrifically atmospheric, but then the actual events fizzled out for me. Too, too much.
(since writing this review I have reread NOS4A2 and now love it, but still don't love this little tale)
The Companion ** Not a fan.
The Tell Tale Heart ***** Who doesn’t love Poe? I remember reading this in an illustrated version when I was about eight. The illustration at the end was of him ripping up the floorboards and the eye just crazy, wobbly staring at him! Poe was a master and endures for so many reasons!
A Mother’s Love ***** This was infinitely clever. Our family was in a bit of the same situation with our Father-in-Law, but thank goodness we didn’t resort to the solution found here. The very end was, like The Net, the opposite of what I thought was happening. A real “gothcha!” moment.
The Keeper’s Companion ***** His writing is sublime. Much like Murakami, you know the genius runs deep since it has to transcend the translation process. I grew up on D&D and my sons also loved it, so I understood the underlying language of this story better than most. This was the third, and best, example of the twist ending in the collection. Not only do I feel the satisfaction of the little asshole getting his comeuppance, but the twist made it all the sweeter!