Sign in with Facebook
Cecily's Reviews > House Taken Over
House Taken Over
by
by
Cecily's review
bookshelves: short-stories-and-novellas, ghosts-and-mysteries, magical-realism, psychology-psychological, unreliable-narrators
Sep 20, 2023
bookshelves: short-stories-and-novellas, ghosts-and-mysteries, magical-realism, psychology-psychological, unreliable-narrators
�It was eight at night� I went down the corridor� when I heard something in the library� muted and indistinct.�
I enjoyed the subtly escalating unsettling ambiguity of this: is it psychological, magical-realism, ghost/horror, the Sixth Sense, or some combination? Discussion in the Short Story Club about the Argentinian author and the time he was writing suggest a significant layer of political allegory as well.
Image: Black and white photo of wall: but is it a person’s shadow, or just chipped paint? By dodafoto. ()
�Little by little we stopped thinking. You can live without thinking.�
The denouement was unexpected without being shocking.
See also
� A brother and sister living in a large creepy house: Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, which I reviewed HERE.
� The sequence of unease as unnamed entities, "they", feed the quiet fear of being watched and worse: Kay Dick’s They: A Sequence of Unease, which I reviewed HERE.
� The unspecified, slippery sense of things not being quite right, not easily explicable: Virginia Woolf’s A Haunted House, which I reviewed HERE.
� �One can reread a book, but once a pullover is finished you can’t do it over again.�
The frequent mentions of knitting made me think of Mme Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities, though that analogy didn't really fit.
Image: The shadow of a pile of rubbish looks like a woman reading. “The Unglory� by anni.laukka. ()
Short story club
I read this in Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 4 September 2023.
You can read this story .
You can join the group here.
I enjoyed the subtly escalating unsettling ambiguity of this: is it psychological, magical-realism, ghost/horror, the Sixth Sense, or some combination? Discussion in the Short Story Club about the Argentinian author and the time he was writing suggest a significant layer of political allegory as well.
Image: Black and white photo of wall: but is it a person’s shadow, or just chipped paint? By dodafoto. ()
�Little by little we stopped thinking. You can live without thinking.�
The denouement was unexpected without being shocking.
See also
� A brother and sister living in a large creepy house: Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, which I reviewed HERE.
� The sequence of unease as unnamed entities, "they", feed the quiet fear of being watched and worse: Kay Dick’s They: A Sequence of Unease, which I reviewed HERE.
� The unspecified, slippery sense of things not being quite right, not easily explicable: Virginia Woolf’s A Haunted House, which I reviewed HERE.
� �One can reread a book, but once a pullover is finished you can’t do it over again.�
The frequent mentions of knitting made me think of Mme Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities, though that analogy didn't really fit.
Image: The shadow of a pile of rubbish looks like a woman reading. “The Unglory� by anni.laukka. ()
Short story club
I read this in Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 4 September 2023.
You can read this story .
You can join the group here.
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
House Taken Over.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
August 25, 2023
–
Started Reading
August 25, 2023
–
Finished Reading
September 20, 2023
– Shelved
September 20, 2023
– Shelved as:
short-stories-and-novellas
September 20, 2023
– Shelved as:
ghosts-and-mysteries
September 20, 2023
– Shelved as:
magical-realism
September 20, 2023
– Shelved as:
psychology-psychological
September 20, 2023
– Shelved as:
unreliable-narrators
Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Greg
(new)
Sep 20, 2023 12:31PM
Hi Cecily, hope all is great!
reply
|
flag
Hi Cecily, how are you doing?An excellent review, as always. I particularly liked the images you used.
Have you ever read Cortázars' "The Winners"? If so I would appreciate to know your thoughts about it.
Outstanding review Cecily. I enjoyed this as well.
Greg wrote: "Hi Cecily, hope all is great!"Getting slowly better thanks - with the exception of the last day and a half of work, which was manic. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Paulo wrote: "... I particularly liked the images you used.Have you ever read Cortázars' "The Winners"? If so I would appreciate to know your thoughts about it."
Thanks, but this was my first encounter with Cortázars, so I can't comment on "The Winners".
Glenda wrote: "Outstanding review Cecily. I enjoyed this as well."We're off to a good start, aren't we? Thanks, Glenda.
The two illustrations are fitting given the ambiguities embedded in this story. Stellar review. Cecily.
Laysee wrote: "The two illustrations are fitting given the ambiguities embedded in this story. Stellar review. Cecily."I found rather a lot of images in my collection that I could have used, but for such a short review, I whittled it down to two. I'm glad you liked them.
