The Fall of the House of Usher

One of the best books of Edgar Allan Poe!

Kevin Sorbo is doing audio books now? ? yes! I hope he does more because it was good. It's a project by Macabre mansion to bring back old radio readings of audiobooks. loved it!

This was a perfect short re-read for Halloween this year! Fall of the House of Usher was my first Poe story and one of my very first few brushes with horror as a child, and certainly one of the most vivid. I remember it so well that I've only wanted to re-read it just a couple of times since to refresh my memory on it.

The prose in here was more challenging than I recall. I'm no stranger to 19th century works, but Poe's writing, in this story in particular, is more purple-prosey than I expected. I'm glad that I had read an abridged, simplified version as a child (with illustrations too), otherwise I'd never have understood a thing about it. Even now, I found myself having to re-read sentences and whole paragraphs to really get what was going on. In that sense, it reminded me quite a bit of the writing style of Jane Eyre, which checks out given that both are such mainstays of Gothic literature.

There's also a lot more symbolism and imagery here that I never fully appreciated, but I won't delve into it here for fear of sounding pretentious.

This is deservedly a classic in horror and gothic lit, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in those genres.

40 some pages to tell me a story I could have summed up in 3-4 pages.
Maybe this was horrifying 200 year ago, but now it was just tedious

Poe is one of America's most prolific and most known gothic/horror writers and with this book it's easy to see why. The details are not spared and the characters are well written. Have a read.

He gets extreme creepiness from so few words and so little plot.

This is my favorite of Poe's stories. The gothic setting of decay and despair really pulls me into the story. No matter how many times I read or listen to it, I am always read to read again.

Cheer me up, he said
his sister is a goner,
quite a lively one.

Didn't get good until the last few pages but okay I guess?

Rating: 3.63 leaves out of 5-Characters: 3/5 -Cover: 4.5/5-Story: 3/5-Writing: 4/5Genre: Horror, Mystery, Gothic, Classic-Horror: 1/5-Mystery: 3.5/5-Gothic: 5/5-Classic: 5/5Type: AudiobookWorth?: YesHated Disliked Meh It Was Okay Liked LovedA reread for me! This is a great little gothic story but it isn't my favorite of Poe's.

Follows the 1960 movie s Vincent Price pretty well!

The show did the story justice but the book was so much better

Summary: The narrator of this short story goes to stay at a foreboding mansion because his friend, the owner, has fallen ill and asked him to come. The longer the narrator stays, however, the more he witnesses strange and creepy happenings.

I am familiar with all of Poe's work and love much of his writing. This singular reading of one of his more famous short stories was done in preparation for a new novella based loosely on this tale, which I will be getting to in due course. Poe was a master and his command of the language and ability to bring beauty to the darkness is evident in Usher, as it is throughout his canon.

And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh –but smile no more.

Lots of vibes. I think this is the second time reading and i still think i'll forget everything about it in a fee days.