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Slowly, Slowly in the Wind
Slowly, Slowly in the Wind brilliantly assembles many of Patricia Highsmith's most nuanced and psychologically suspenseful works.
Rarely has an author articulated so well the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church while conveying the delusions of a writer's life and undermining the fantasy of suburban bliss. Each of these twelve pieces, like all great short fiction, is a crystal-clear snapshot of lives both static and full of chaos. In "The Pond" Highsmith explores the unforeseen calamities that can unalterably shatter a single woman's life, while "The Network" finds sinister loneliness and joy in the mundane yet engrossing friendships of a small community of urban dwellers. In this enduring and disturbing collection, Highsmith evokes the gravity and horror of her characters' surroundings with evenhanded prose and a detailed imagination.
Rarely has an author articulated so well the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church while conveying the delusions of a writer's life and undermining the fantasy of suburban bliss. Each of these twelve pieces, like all great short fiction, is a crystal-clear snapshot of lives both static and full of chaos. In "The Pond" Highsmith explores the unforeseen calamities that can unalterably shatter a single woman's life, while "The Network" finds sinister loneliness and joy in the mundane yet engrossing friendships of a small community of urban dwellers. In this enduring and disturbing collection, Highsmith evokes the gravity and horror of her characters' surroundings with evenhanded prose and a detailed imagination.
222 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
26 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Highsmith
485 books4,992 followersPatricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.
Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.
Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.
Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan , plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.
She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."
She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.
Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.
Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.
Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.
Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan , plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.
She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."
She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.
Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
February 10, 2020
Adult situations (murder, child abuse, child death), YA execution. I lost count of how many dei ex machina involved life-ending blows to the head.
October 30, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK/Short 44 (of 250) SPECIAL AWARD: FAVORITE HALLOWEEN READ
I read this collection 4 years ago and it's stayed with me since, especially "The Network" which I think the best in the collection (although the title story is probably one of the great "read-out-loud-at-Halloween" stories and I'd say it's pure horror) and a work that HAS to be included within Mid-20th Century American Crime works. It's amazingly prescient, and yes, it concerns a social network, old-school style. Lady Gaga recently said something like "Social Media is the worst invention ever." Highsmith agrees, but as early as 1970!
HOOK - 4 stars:>>>>>The telephone-two Princess telephones (it's 1970, right?), one yellow, one mauve-rang in Fran's small apartment every half hour or so. It rang so often, because Fran now and indeed since about a year was unofficial Mother Superior of the Network.<<<<PACE - 4: A short that gets to the point very fast.
PLOT - 3: There is a saying that there are only 2 stories: someone leaves town, or someone comes to town. Here, someone new comes to town. The network heats up fast and furious when someone (standard plot, really) comes to town.
CAST - 4: Fran, our Mother Superior, is, well, like all Mother Superiors you may know about. (Except the lovely, brilliant, kind one in "The Sound of Music.") She's more like Meryl Streep's Mother Superior in "Doubt." Then there are 2 phones playing a huge part. Then the new person. Then the rest of the network. But this story is all about that network, that's the main character.
ATMOSPHERE - 5: Weirdly prescient of Highsmith to predict the consequences of social media, the crime of trapping ourselves and others by giving everything away. Yes, go ahead, right now, try to escape...no matter what, everything you've ever written is out there FOREVER (just in case you try to run for a political office, for example).
SUMMARY: 4.0. Highsmith is one of those authors who can easily tell the difference between short story material, novella material, and what makes a good to great novel. Here, though, she not only nails a very good short story, she shows a prescience that it's just plain downright frightening. She KNEW where we where headed!
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
For those who consider themselves the independent type, maybe the kind of person on the runrunrun (I've moved all over the USA) when the net starts to close, "The Network" is as close to a truly terrifying story we'll ever get, or want to. Among this dozen shorts, there's a story or two bound to make almost anyone uncomfortable at leaving their cozyhomecorner world of reading. But alas, I must have more Highsmith! So I'm off to the library anyway. All alone. And hopefully back before dark.
BOOK/Short 44 (of 250) SPECIAL AWARD: FAVORITE HALLOWEEN READ
I read this collection 4 years ago and it's stayed with me since, especially "The Network" which I think the best in the collection (although the title story is probably one of the great "read-out-loud-at-Halloween" stories and I'd say it's pure horror) and a work that HAS to be included within Mid-20th Century American Crime works. It's amazingly prescient, and yes, it concerns a social network, old-school style. Lady Gaga recently said something like "Social Media is the worst invention ever." Highsmith agrees, but as early as 1970!
HOOK - 4 stars:>>>>>The telephone-two Princess telephones (it's 1970, right?), one yellow, one mauve-rang in Fran's small apartment every half hour or so. It rang so often, because Fran now and indeed since about a year was unofficial Mother Superior of the Network.<<<<PACE - 4: A short that gets to the point very fast.
PLOT - 3: There is a saying that there are only 2 stories: someone leaves town, or someone comes to town. Here, someone new comes to town. The network heats up fast and furious when someone (standard plot, really) comes to town.
CAST - 4: Fran, our Mother Superior, is, well, like all Mother Superiors you may know about. (Except the lovely, brilliant, kind one in "The Sound of Music.") She's more like Meryl Streep's Mother Superior in "Doubt." Then there are 2 phones playing a huge part. Then the new person. Then the rest of the network. But this story is all about that network, that's the main character.
ATMOSPHERE - 5: Weirdly prescient of Highsmith to predict the consequences of social media, the crime of trapping ourselves and others by giving everything away. Yes, go ahead, right now, try to escape...no matter what, everything you've ever written is out there FOREVER (just in case you try to run for a political office, for example).
SUMMARY: 4.0. Highsmith is one of those authors who can easily tell the difference between short story material, novella material, and what makes a good to great novel. Here, though, she not only nails a very good short story, she shows a prescience that it's just plain downright frightening. She KNEW where we where headed!
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
For those who consider themselves the independent type, maybe the kind of person on the runrunrun (I've moved all over the USA) when the net starts to close, "The Network" is as close to a truly terrifying story we'll ever get, or want to. Among this dozen shorts, there's a story or two bound to make almost anyone uncomfortable at leaving their cozyhomecorner world of reading. But alas, I must have more Highsmith! So I'm off to the library anyway. All alone. And hopefully back before dark.
May 13, 2024
Every story had a macabre or horrific element. Highsmith was a master at chronicling the ennui, the unease, the lack of morality, the social contradictions, and the psychological and sometimes physical violence that splintered American middle-class life in the mid- to late-twentieth century. While some of these stories were hard to read, it was impossible to look away, because she is such a skilled writer stylistically and in terms of plotting; for me, she ranks up there with Angela Carter and Shirley Jackson - women writers, pioneer storytellers of psychological suspense, whose sense of the macabre and terrifying illuminated the repressed lives of their characters and possibly themselves. "Those Awful Dawns" is probably the most disturbing story in the collection. I think I liked "The Pond" the best, with its creeping sense of menace and suffocation. Startlingly original, but all the trigger warnings here...
May 18, 2015
I like some of Highsmith's novels, but I wasn't really impressed with this collection. Creepy? Spooky? Or just plain, get-under-your-skinnish? Not so much. I was surprised to see several of them had been published in magazines which are known for mystery short fiction, yet the stories weren't really mysteries, but just kind-of-creepy. (Not full-on creepy, just kinda.)
A disappointing read and I am a fan of short stories.
A disappointing read and I am a fan of short stories.
November 29, 2020
Awesome. Who doesn't love short stories at their most expertly cruel? Highsmith lines herself up alongside Saki and Dahl in that regard.
"Those Awful Dawns" was particularly repulsive. Highsmith absolutely nails sociopaths, in that story and "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" in particular. The boredom; seeing other humans as a source of attention at best, objects at worst; the twisted imagination, the complete misunderstanding of/ambivalence towards how others' minds work.
I recently watched this fantastic video on Starship Troopers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nojrp...
Where these guys point out that a big selling point of fascism is the aesthetic thrill of violence. Few things have disturbed me more than realising that what thrilled me about Starship Troopers as a teenager was designed to appeal to—what would you call it, my innately sadistic side? (I mean they made a tonne of sequels so I'm not the only one who enjoyed it and missed the point!)
I feel that Highsmith mines similar territory here. She reveals to us the parts of ourselves that would revel in cruelty. And that's the weird double-edged joy of reading her prose. And I think most of my favourite fiction/ art in general leaves you with a message so potent that you cannot hide behind the fact that it didn't happen.
"Those Awful Dawns" was particularly repulsive. Highsmith absolutely nails sociopaths, in that story and "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" in particular. The boredom; seeing other humans as a source of attention at best, objects at worst; the twisted imagination, the complete misunderstanding of/ambivalence towards how others' minds work.
I recently watched this fantastic video on Starship Troopers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nojrp...
Where these guys point out that a big selling point of fascism is the aesthetic thrill of violence. Few things have disturbed me more than realising that what thrilled me about Starship Troopers as a teenager was designed to appeal to—what would you call it, my innately sadistic side? (I mean they made a tonne of sequels so I'm not the only one who enjoyed it and missed the point!)
I feel that Highsmith mines similar territory here. She reveals to us the parts of ourselves that would revel in cruelty. And that's the weird double-edged joy of reading her prose. And I think most of my favourite fiction/ art in general leaves you with a message so potent that you cannot hide behind the fact that it didn't happen.
January 21, 2014
"A merced del viento" es una colección de relatos cortos muy interesante. La mayoría están muy emparentados con la novela negra (pero obviamente en versión corta)como "Un extraño suicidio" o el que le da título a la colección; pero algunos de ellos definitivamente pisan el terreno del horror como en "El estanque" (aunque bueno, casi todos tienen la capacidad de causar esa sensación de incomodidad en el lector). El último y excelente relato es "Por favor, no disparen a los árboles" y es un muy buen cuento de Ciencia Ficción.
En lo personal lo que más me ha gustado de estos relatos es que Patricia Highsmith es capaz de escarbar a profundidad en la condición humana con una economía de medios rayante en lo paupérrimo. Casi sin ningún adorno estilístico, ni dejando que las emociones que podrían contribuir a incrementar el impacto de las situaciones presentadas se muestren de una forma más contundente. Y vaya, no considero esto como algo negativo, por el contrario, causa mucha extrañeza y de plano contribuye a incrementar en el lector la profunda sensación de desasosiego que queda tras la lectura.¡Incomoda realmente! No sé, es como me imagino que debe ser para un doctor del IMSS el realizar operación tras operación en un día de trabajo, simplemente dejando deslizar el escalpelo sin el más mínimo sentimiento... por decir algo. Reitero, esta falta aparente de adornos no es para nada un impedimento para disfrutarlo, sino que por el contrario, es lo que le confiere un carácter especial a los relatos, pocas veces encontrado en la literatura.
Con excepción de dos de los cuentos (uno muy metafórico y el ya referido "Por favor, no disparen a los árboles")se presentan situaciones ordinarias hasta cierto punto, perfectamente susceptibles de acontecer en el día a día; y se me hace muy curioso que sea en el último relato de tema decididamente fantástico donde se hace una excepción a ese ritmo desplegado en todas las demás historias: ¡ese si que está lleno de florituras aquí y allá y logra "acelerar" al lector al feroz ritmo de la historia mostrada! Supongo que el hecho de estar hasta el final y romper con el ritmo general impuesto le ayuda mucho a resaltar sobre el resto de las historias contenidas.
Una opción muy interesante para sumergirse en emociones aparentemente sin emoción. Muy fácil de leer aún y cuando los temas tratados sean un poco difíciles de digerir por la oscuridad de los mismos...
En lo personal lo que más me ha gustado de estos relatos es que Patricia Highsmith es capaz de escarbar a profundidad en la condición humana con una economía de medios rayante en lo paupérrimo. Casi sin ningún adorno estilístico, ni dejando que las emociones que podrían contribuir a incrementar el impacto de las situaciones presentadas se muestren de una forma más contundente. Y vaya, no considero esto como algo negativo, por el contrario, causa mucha extrañeza y de plano contribuye a incrementar en el lector la profunda sensación de desasosiego que queda tras la lectura.¡Incomoda realmente! No sé, es como me imagino que debe ser para un doctor del IMSS el realizar operación tras operación en un día de trabajo, simplemente dejando deslizar el escalpelo sin el más mínimo sentimiento... por decir algo. Reitero, esta falta aparente de adornos no es para nada un impedimento para disfrutarlo, sino que por el contrario, es lo que le confiere un carácter especial a los relatos, pocas veces encontrado en la literatura.
Con excepción de dos de los cuentos (uno muy metafórico y el ya referido "Por favor, no disparen a los árboles")se presentan situaciones ordinarias hasta cierto punto, perfectamente susceptibles de acontecer en el día a día; y se me hace muy curioso que sea en el último relato de tema decididamente fantástico donde se hace una excepción a ese ritmo desplegado en todas las demás historias: ¡ese si que está lleno de florituras aquí y allá y logra "acelerar" al lector al feroz ritmo de la historia mostrada! Supongo que el hecho de estar hasta el final y romper con el ritmo general impuesto le ayuda mucho a resaltar sobre el resto de las historias contenidas.
Una opción muy interesante para sumergirse en emociones aparentemente sin emoción. Muy fácil de leer aún y cuando los temas tratados sean un poco difíciles de digerir por la oscuridad de los mismos...
August 12, 2016
Mi primer acercamiento a la obra de Highsmith y me quedé con muy buen sabor de boca. Definitivamente me sorprendió lo que encontré en sus relatos, que no resultaron lo que esperé que fueran.
Sus historias están plagadas de una cotidianidad que a lo mejor no deberían tener y el resultado es una estilo que, sin valerse de vocabulario rimbombante y recursos literarios rebuscados, deja la sensación de que algo está mal, como una incomodidad disfrazada y escondida, pero que permanece bastante perturbadora.
Mis favoritos: "El estanque", "Esos horribles amaneceres" y "Por favor, no disparen a los árboles".
Sus historias están plagadas de una cotidianidad que a lo mejor no deberían tener y el resultado es una estilo que, sin valerse de vocabulario rimbombante y recursos literarios rebuscados, deja la sensación de que algo está mal, como una incomodidad disfrazada y escondida, pero que permanece bastante perturbadora.
Mis favoritos: "El estanque", "Esos horribles amaneceres" y "Por favor, no disparen a los árboles".
July 28, 2011
Get it, read it!
Read
May 22, 2021diminishing returns i'm afraid. only "don't shoot the trees," "baby spoon," and 1st 2/3 of the title story really hit for this reader. qty of bludgeonings here is near-parodic. sup w/ highsmith and head trauma? will be tracking down mermaids on the golf course nevertheless
July 24, 2021
Usually don’t enjoy short stories that much but loved this collection by one of my favourite authors
December 1, 2012
Slowly, Slowly in the Wind by Patricia Highsmith is a collection of short stories that is full of oddly disturbing tales. From the pond that comes to life and takes the life of a woman and her son to the psychopath who becomes a little too involved with a wax museum full of murderers, the world in Highsmith's stories is just a little claustrophobic and irrational. Highsmith tackles the themes of believability and guilt; justice and injustice. There is the man who writes a life's worth of novels in his head and the man who exacts revenge on his neighbor for slights real and imagined. The oddest story of all is the last one--a strange, cautionary tale about ecological damage and the revenge that nature might take on humanity if we go too far. More science fiction thriller than mystery, it reminds me of Harlan Ellison at his weakest. I think perhaps Highsmith should have stuck to things mysterious rather than venture into things science fictional. The theme of revenge is a good one--just a little too fantastic in this last story.
Overall, a very good collection. Thrilling, memorable and just a bit on the creepy side. Four stars.
This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Overall, a very good collection. Thrilling, memorable and just a bit on the creepy side. Four stars.
This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
June 24, 2010
Patricia Highsmith betrays her hidden past as a comic book writer by compiling a group of stories that read straight out of "The Vault of Horror" or some other EC comics scare-a-thon.
There's "The Pond" about a tiny murky pond that claims the life of a woman's child, then her husband and then comes beckoning for her. Paging Jack Kamen.
Then there's "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" where some psycho creep replaces the figures of a wax museum of horrors with the murdered staff, thinking its all so hysterically funny until he discovers nobody believes the replaced wax dummies are real people. Paging Graham "Ghastly" Ingels.
"One For The Islands" and "A Curious Suicide" are pretty comic-book like, too. The only odd one in the pack is "Those Awful Dawns" which children's social workers could adopt as their theme story. Child abusers beware!
There's "The Pond" about a tiny murky pond that claims the life of a woman's child, then her husband and then comes beckoning for her. Paging Jack Kamen.
Then there's "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie" where some psycho creep replaces the figures of a wax museum of horrors with the murdered staff, thinking its all so hysterically funny until he discovers nobody believes the replaced wax dummies are real people. Paging Graham "Ghastly" Ingels.
"One For The Islands" and "A Curious Suicide" are pretty comic-book like, too. The only odd one in the pack is "Those Awful Dawns" which children's social workers could adopt as their theme story. Child abusers beware!
June 8, 2020
Es un libro muy agradable y recomiendo leer un cuento por día. De esta manera la emoción a la que apela la escritora no se vuelve monótona y nos agarra de improviso en cierto momento del día en cuestión.
La concepción psicológica de los personajes es uno de los rasgos que más admiro de Patricia Highsmith. El otro es su habilidad para suscitar la aprensión del lector. Nos hace pasar un momento paradójicamente incómodo y fascinante.
Me parece que, debido a la brevedad del género, algunos relatos parecen urgidos por llegar al desenlace. Los personajes sufren de un apremio involuntario por realizar las acciones desencadenantes de la tragedia. Tal vez en sus novelas esta característica no sea tan notoria.
Aún así, siempre es bueno adentrarse en el territorio “Highsmith“.
La concepción psicológica de los personajes es uno de los rasgos que más admiro de Patricia Highsmith. El otro es su habilidad para suscitar la aprensión del lector. Nos hace pasar un momento paradójicamente incómodo y fascinante.
Me parece que, debido a la brevedad del género, algunos relatos parecen urgidos por llegar al desenlace. Los personajes sufren de un apremio involuntario por realizar las acciones desencadenantes de la tragedia. Tal vez en sus novelas esta característica no sea tan notoria.
Aún así, siempre es bueno adentrarse en el territorio “Highsmith“.
July 26, 2019
¡Gran escritora! Me gusta mucho su estilo. Utiliza un lenguaje coloquial y sencillo pero no por eso cae en expresiones vulgares o frases trilladas. Me encanta que con expresiones simples y a partir de elementos cotidianos introduzca el suspenso y el terror ¡y lo bien que lo hace!
En la mayoría de los cuentos se mantiene la expectativa hasta el final, aunque en algunos uno ya se pueda imaginar que sucederá. Me gusta, también, cómo nos hace explorar la psicología de sus personajes a través de sus descripciones, acciones y diálogos.
Mis favoritos: “A merced del viento”, “Esos horribles amaneceres” y “La corbata de Woodrow Wilson”.
En la mayoría de los cuentos se mantiene la expectativa hasta el final, aunque en algunos uno ya se pueda imaginar que sucederá. Me gusta, también, cómo nos hace explorar la psicología de sus personajes a través de sus descripciones, acciones y diálogos.
Mis favoritos: “A merced del viento”, “Esos horribles amaneceres” y “La corbata de Woodrow Wilson”.
February 28, 2016
Four and a half stars.
Delightfully macabre, this collection often made me grin with twisted delight and/or shock. Perfectly formed tales of murderers and the murdered, with only one misfire, I think: One for the Islands. Apart from that, excellent. Worth the price of admission just for the title drop--a sudden chill crept through me at that one.
Delightfully macabre, this collection often made me grin with twisted delight and/or shock. Perfectly formed tales of murderers and the murdered, with only one misfire, I think: One for the Islands. Apart from that, excellent. Worth the price of admission just for the title drop--a sudden chill crept through me at that one.
September 20, 2019
Vielleicht ein Fehler, diese Geschichten am Stück zu lesen. Jede für sich, gar nicht so schlecht bis gut. Aber mehrere hintereinander zu lesen ermüdet leider ein wenig. Zu gleichförmig der Stil. Am besten Der Teich , Man muss damit leben und Immer dies gräßliche Aufstehen. Und es gibt sogar eine Science Fiction-Geschichte. Nun ja. 7/10
April 4, 2015
These stories are entertaining and dark. They are enjoyable save for the blatant racism on display on The Network and Broken Windows. If you can get past that, she's worth a read.
February 2, 2018
Notable colección de cuentos de la maestra.
November 15, 2018
Una raccolta di racconti brevi fra l'horror, il noir, la distopia e un pizzico di fantascienza.
April 28, 2024
Α, πολύ μου άρεσε τούτη η συλλογή διηγημάτων της αγαπημένης Πατρίσια Χάισμιθ. Όμως υπάρχει ένα μεγάλο ψέμα στον τίτλο της ελληνικής έκδοσης: Δεν πρόκειται για ιστορίες μυστηρίου. Όποιος αποφασίσει να διαβάσει τούτη τη συλλογή (σε περίπτωση που τη βρει σε κάποιο παλαιοβιβλιοπωλείο δηλαδή, μιας και είναι εξαντλημένη εδώ και χρόνια) πιστεύοντας ότι θα διαβάσει ιστορίες με μυστήριο, ανατροπές και τα τοιαύτα, τότε θα απογοητευτεί πολύ. Οι ιστορίες διαθέτουν πολλά στοιχεία, όπως ψυχολογικό δράμα, κυνισμό, σκληρούς χαρακτήρες που κάνουν σκληρά πράγματα, λίγη μιζέρια και μπόλικο σκοτάδι, αλλά μυστήριο δεν έχουν. Καμία σχέση. Και ευτυχώς, γιατί έτσι κι αλλιώς υπάρχουν πολλές ιστορίες μυστηρίου εκεί έξω, αλλά ιστορίες σαν κι αυτές όχι και τόσες, και σίγουρα όχι τόσο καλογραμμένες. Δεν είναι ούτε από τα πιο γνωστά ούτε από τα πιο αγαπημένα βιβλία της Χάισμιθ, όμως εγώ το βρήκα πολύ καλό και δυνατό και άκρως ενδιαφέρον, με ιστορίες που μου έκαναν αρκετή εντύπωση, που με ανατρίχιασαν, που με έκαναν να σκεφτώ πολλά και διάφορα. Έχει καλό υλικό εδώ μέσα και ας μην έχει εκτιμηθεί από πολλούς αναγνώστες. Αν ήταν να επιλέξω τέσσερις ιστορίες που για τον έναν ή τον άλλο λόγο μου έκαναν μεγαλύτερη εντύπωση, μάλλον θα ήταν αυτές: "Η γραβάτα του Γούντροου Γουίλσον", "Σπασμένο γυαλί¨, "Αργά, αργά στον άνεμο" και "Αυτές οι φρικτές χαραυγές".
February 25, 2020
Scordatevi la Highsmith dei tempi d'oro. Se qui c'è qualche assassino senza scrupoli, viene disbrigato nelle poche pagine di un racconto, senza emozioni da parte dell'autrice e nemmeno del lettore.
I veri protagonisti di questi racconti sono per lo più vittime: i fragili, le donne, gli anziani, gli animali domestici, i bambini. Soggetti che ci sorprendono in un sussulto di coraggio o di dignità per come prendono in mano situazioni apparentemente compromesse, prendendosi rivincite o vendette tardive.
Si sente tutto il peso dell'invecchiamento della scrittrice, via via più isolata e autosegregata dal mondo, spaventata da una New York sempre più violenta, dall'aggressività (lei che la sfogava nella scrittura, la temeva moltissimo nel quotidiano).
Si sente anche, come in tutte le sue ultime opere, il crescere del nichilismo e della misantropia, del disprezzo: per le altre donne, ma anche per gli uomini, per i giovani, per il mondo che la lasciava indietro e che lei non capiva più.
Raccolta prescindibile e un po' triste, insomma, ma non priva di interesse.
I veri protagonisti di questi racconti sono per lo più vittime: i fragili, le donne, gli anziani, gli animali domestici, i bambini. Soggetti che ci sorprendono in un sussulto di coraggio o di dignità per come prendono in mano situazioni apparentemente compromesse, prendendosi rivincite o vendette tardive.
Si sente tutto il peso dell'invecchiamento della scrittrice, via via più isolata e autosegregata dal mondo, spaventata da una New York sempre più violenta, dall'aggressività (lei che la sfogava nella scrittura, la temeva moltissimo nel quotidiano).
Si sente anche, come in tutte le sue ultime opere, il crescere del nichilismo e della misantropia, del disprezzo: per le altre donne, ma anche per gli uomini, per i giovani, per il mondo che la lasciava indietro e che lei non capiva più.
Raccolta prescindibile e un po' triste, insomma, ma non priva di interesse.
August 19, 2023
This book comprises a dozen short stories by American writer Patricia Highsmith. Some had been published earlier in pulp magazines and other anthologies, but when the book came out in 1979, it was the first time that they had appeared together. They tell about such wide-ranging subjects as a failed novelist, a group of middle-class gossips, a home invasion, a wax museum, a sea cruise, street crime, and many other topics. There’s even a sci-fi yarn set in 2049. I’m very familiar with Highsmith’s fiction, so its variety is surprising, but she follows her trademark style in the short form by often ending in the middle of the action with a lot of unanswered questions, and the characters who die are usually killed by blunt force trauma to the head. These stories contain less humour and irony than she usually expresses, but none of them are boring. If you like her novels, such as The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers on a Train, for which she is most famous, you’ll probably like this book, too.
April 24, 2022
This was so close to a DNF. If this was a novel I would have given up, but I carried on in the hope that the next story would be better. There were a couple that were OK, but on the whole, these stories were poor.
I found the writing style was poor, the scene setting was almost high-school like - the first couple of pages of most of the stories just seemed to be setting the background. There was no suspense or build up, no cliff hangers, and no characters that I particularly liked. I think the only bit of suspense was in the story 'Something you Have to Live With' when the main character thinks she hears someone downstairs. But many of the tales involve someone killing someone for no good reason at all - particularly the main character in 'Slowly, Slowly in the Wind'.
I think this is my third Highsmith book, and definitely my last. I might be missing something, but life is too short to find out.
I found the writing style was poor, the scene setting was almost high-school like - the first couple of pages of most of the stories just seemed to be setting the background. There was no suspense or build up, no cliff hangers, and no characters that I particularly liked. I think the only bit of suspense was in the story 'Something you Have to Live With' when the main character thinks she hears someone downstairs. But many of the tales involve someone killing someone for no good reason at all - particularly the main character in 'Slowly, Slowly in the Wind'.
I think this is my third Highsmith book, and definitely my last. I might be missing something, but life is too short to find out.
February 25, 2018
Somewhere between her Texas birth and her death in Switzerland 70-odd years later, Patricia Highsmith learned how to write elegant, informed and suspenseful prose. Her great Tom Ripley series (5 novels) followed at intervals her first and most successful novel, "Stranger on a Train" (1950).
Along the way, she published many short stories, quite a few in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine", which is where I first found her.
The present volume contains a dozen first-rate stories ranging from psychological observation to futuristic Apocalypse. This slender slip-cased edition from Otto Penzler Press appeared in several guises. Obviously, Penzler worked closely with her. He thought her writing was brilliant, but she herself was a most difficult person. Fortunately for us, we have her stories and her difficult self only as a reflection in some of her characters.
Highly Recommended
Along the way, she published many short stories, quite a few in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine", which is where I first found her.
The present volume contains a dozen first-rate stories ranging from psychological observation to futuristic Apocalypse. This slender slip-cased edition from Otto Penzler Press appeared in several guises. Obviously, Penzler worked closely with her. He thought her writing was brilliant, but she herself was a most difficult person. Fortunately for us, we have her stories and her difficult self only as a reflection in some of her characters.
Highly Recommended
June 26, 2022
This collection of short stories is the definition of speculative fiction, from some sci-fi tales, horror tales, creepy supernatural stuff, the most excellent titular story, and just plain odd dramas interspersed throughout. I have been on a Highsmith binge, thanks to this book. If you want a solid introduction to her style, I recommend grabbing a copy. She's a deceptively simple writer. When I first began the book I wondered where the story was going and how it seemed a little bit pedestrian (I was assuming to find a bunch of super action thrillers for some silly reason), but Highsmith has a way of reeling you into her worlds and characters, and before you know you are right there inside the world with its inhabitants. She is masterful!
August 21, 2023
I have read one other book (Strangers on a Train) by Highsmith and it was really good. In that one she slowly draws out the suspense and I do mean slowly. The main character twists in the ever increasing mistake he has made.
Anyway, this book is short stories so they're short and not drawn out. I didn't really like the first two but then I began to like the rest of them. The stories were written in the 1970s but seem to be more from the 1950s. There is a sense of disquiet in each story and then someone murders someone else! These are not crime stories where the plot is to figure out who did what to whom. These are the stories leading up to the crime. Most are not planned and a few stories end with the hammer slamming down.
Good enough!
Anyway, this book is short stories so they're short and not drawn out. I didn't really like the first two but then I began to like the rest of them. The stories were written in the 1970s but seem to be more from the 1950s. There is a sense of disquiet in each story and then someone murders someone else! These are not crime stories where the plot is to figure out who did what to whom. These are the stories leading up to the crime. Most are not planned and a few stories end with the hammer slamming down.
Good enough!
September 30, 2023
Patricia Highsmithin englanniksi vuonna 1979 kirjoittama novellikokoelma käännettiin suomeksi vuonna 1991 ja pitää sisällään kymmenkunta sangen erilaista tarinaa niin tyyliltään kuin sisällöltäänkin. On siellä muutama jännitystarinakin ja lopussa yksi tieteisnovelli. Tieteisnovelli sijoittuu vuoteen 2049 ja vaikka muuten elämä on siinä sangen modernia, itseäni huvitti suuresti kuinka puhelimet olivat vielä paikoillaan pysyviä ja langallisia. Yksi parhaista kertomuksista kertoo ryöstetyn vanhuksen kostosta. Olin vähällä hylätä tämän kirjan ennen kuin aloitinkaan. Mutta sitten aloitin ja ... aina kannattaa aloittaa.
April 23, 2018
Ao ter encontrado mais um livro desta minha escritora preferida numa feira de velharias, fiquei radiante, pois todos os livros dela que fui conseguindo, comprei-os sempre. tenho-os quase todos e ela já não vai escrever mais... este livro de contos foi mais um exemplo de como ela domina o suspense como ninguém (mesmo eu gostando muito de King), de como escreve bem, sempre de forma surpreendente, com ironia, sentido crítico, preocupações ambientais, com os idosos, com as pessoas e, claro, a morte, sempre a morte.
September 21, 2022
El mundo de Patricia Highsmith es un lugar oscuro, lleno de personas mezquinas, rotas o sumergidas en la convicción de que la vida es un viaje que nació muerto, que ya todo está perdido y que el fin de la existencia, inevitable, merece ser precipitado.
En "Despacio, despacio, a merced del viento" y "La corbata de Woodrow Wilson", Highsmith alcanza un nivel soberbio, con personajes crueles, como es su costumbre, cuya única motivación es causar daño.
También destaco "Se ruega no disparar a los árboles", donde, para mi sorpresa, Patricia Highsmith presenta un relato de ciencia ficción que por supuesto, es tan sombrío y apocalíptico cómo podría esperarse de su pluma.
En "Despacio, despacio, a merced del viento" y "La corbata de Woodrow Wilson", Highsmith alcanza un nivel soberbio, con personajes crueles, como es su costumbre, cuya única motivación es causar daño.
También destaco "Se ruega no disparar a los árboles", donde, para mi sorpresa, Patricia Highsmith presenta un relato de ciencia ficción que por supuesto, es tan sombrío y apocalíptico cómo podría esperarse de su pluma.
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