Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural)

I loved "The House of Mirth". That was how I was introduced to Edith Wharton's writings. I loved this book! I love ghost stories of all kinds. Glad that I stumbled upon this treasure.

I like many of these classic ghostly tales. Traditional spooky stories. These are not like modern day ghost stories .

"After all, I thought, these people don't know what real trouble is; but they've manufactured something so like it that it's about as bad as the genuine thing."This great compilation of 15 ghost stories by Edith Wharton are more paranormal and dread-ful than 'scary.' I read them mostly out of order across 1.5 years and found most memorable. Even with recurring tropes of a competing woman (echoing her own troubled marriage), the sense of a malevolent invisible presence, along with instances of vanished individuals, the tales delightfully vary thanks to her perceptiveness and creative range. At times the appropriate biting humor also reminds that what's often scariest are people's actions and self-justification.My favorites were Miss Mary Pask, The Fulness of Life, Mr Jones, and The Looking Glass, with Bewitched as the most unusual. But I was most pleasantly surprised by A Bottle of Perrier, set in a crumbling Middle Eastern Crusader castle in the desert, with some fitting tension of 'Westerners abroad.'As for Edith, she admitted that until she was 27-28, she couldn't sleep in a room with books of ghost stories and even had to burn several out of fear. To me this entirely contradicts her claim that she 'didn't believe in them.'Although at the time ghost stories were considered inferior types of writing, her unfailingly gifted pen makes me wish she'd written more of them. I also had no idea that her estate The Mount in Lenox, MA is rumored to be haunted.

These are wonderful stories that truly live up to the title, "Ghost Stories". They are very easy reading for the most part. They are very atmospheric and don't depend on gore to shock the reader. Most of them take place before the invention of electricity and the reader can imagine the darkly lit, gloomy environs. This book would make a great gift for ghost story lovers to add to their collection although some may find them too subtle. This collection of Wharton's is a classic.

First, I love her style of writing and have since ordered her complete writing collection. Unfortunately, the stories were of little substance. It seems as if she never intended to publish these. I see her writing them late at night and deciding to throw them to the side.... Writing exercises or an attempt to ready her mind for bed... Too tired to crumple them up and take them to the trash can. This comes from someone who loves an old story without gore and overdone suspense. I love the eerie subtlety that usually accompanies an old ghost story. I had an open mind when I started every story, but every single ending left me frustrated. I finished the book, but I didn't want to. It was a forced read.

My son had to read this for school work but has really enjoyed it and repeated many of the stories to me in great detail.

I love that they're more supernatural than scary. Much more imaginative, and such LANGUAGE!

Entertainment

Beautifully written

Unbelievably great and dark dead serious stories by a lady.

Who would have known that Wharton wrote about ghosts. Some of the stories in this book are quite intriging others just let you wonder if they are ghost stories at all. Very entertaining for Wharton's fans.

Edith Wharton's style, which somewhat reminds one of Henry James, is admirably suited to the ghost story genre. Her subtle use of suggestion rather than outright revelation works very well, establishing an atmosphere of foreboding and mystery. At times, it is not entirely clear whether the tale really is a ghost story at all, but this ambiguity in no way takes away from the atmosphere of menace present in many of her tales. It is a pleasure to read ghost stories by someone who really writes well!

Des nouvelles, pour les admirateurs d'Edith Wharton. Une lecture très intéressante, en complément de ses grands romans. Peut-être pas une priorité.