Nostalgia Reader > Recent Status Updates

How to Write A Blackwood Article: 3 stars. Amusing, but definitely not any special unless you read it's sequel below (which, imho, should ALWAYS be published with this story, they don't play well individually).

A Predicament: 5 stars. OH BOY, a new favorite! I knew the twist, but how we got there was *chef's kiss*. Also an excellent story to pick apart for racist themes and Blackwood Article satire!!

Ligeia: 4 stars. Once again, mostly points for aesthetics, but also a genuinely fun story, despite seeing the twist a mile away. In a way, a much more detailed Morella, but also playing interestingly on good vs. evil.

Morella: 3.5 stars. In a lot of ways I actually was quite bored with this one, but Morella herself was an intriguing character and it seemed.... vaguely progressive with her characterization? I think I also got some Addam's Family vibes from it all, so bonus points for the 0.5 star.

Berenice: 3 stars (reread; up 0.5 stars) Yet another suuuuper slow set up, where you almost just need to read the last section of the story to get the same horror effect. But I liked the themes of monomania and intrusive thoughts, and the ending IS quite excellent.

Silence--A Fable: 2.5 stars. Points for visual imagery, as always, but really a lackluster story. The moral of the fable I got was that complete peaceful silence is more horrific than noise and tragedy... or perhaps a noisy desolate mind is better than a silent one? But also given the ending in the tomb, obviously Silence is another Metaphor for Death.

Shadow--A Parable: 5 stars. OOOOH this was a fun one. It's a perfect mini read when you need a Poe fix but don't want to commit to Poe's lengthy style. I felt like this could EASILY have been a prologue for King Pest from the Pestian's POV a few months before the events of the story.

The Assignation: 1 star. BOOORRRRINGGGG. I could see the aesthetic through multitudes of The Strangers veils and tapestries, but I did not care, nor did the overly wordy style make any of it easier to parse. These earlier stories show how Poe's still not quite succinct in his unity of effect style yet... the effect permeates throughout, but there are still too many words to make it impactful in a horrific way.

MS. Found in a Bottle: 3 stars. Essentially, Narrative of A.G. Pym, condensed and with the hypothetical that they boarded the ghost ship. Nothing really much new here, if you've read Poe's other sea voyage ventures, but still a nice short dip into the genre!

Bon-Bon: 3.5 stars. LOVED the second half of this with the Devil, it literally read like a magic poster. However, the beginning was an awful slog (as Poe is sometimes usually good at doing), and the ending was very anti-climactic, although it establishes a fun Poe Trope!

Metzengerstein: 3 stars (reread; down 0.5 stars).

SO atmospheric, but the overall character and plot is just meh. Still very foundational in tropes and atmosphere though, and again, the atmosphere is so gooooood.