Ms. Hen reviews Tales of the Unexpected

 

Tales of the Unexpected

Roald Dahl

Vintage Books

1990

Ms. Hen decided to read this collection, because she watched some short films that were based on the author's stories, and wanted to learn more. She watched THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, and three other short films by Wes Anderson based on Roald Dahl. Ms. Hen loves strange stories, so she bought one of his books.

Ms. Hen learned that some of the author's short stories were adapted to ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, a mystery show she used to watch in reruns when she was young. She remembers one episode from the show that is a story in the book, "Lamb to the Slaughter," about a woman who kills her husband with a leg of lamb, then feeds it to the policemen who are trying to solve the case.

A lot of these stories are about gambling, which Ms. Hen does not understand. Also, a lot of these stories are strange, which Ms. Hen does appreciate. The story, "Royal Jelly," is about a man who discovers that the royal jelly from bees can help his baby grow, so he takes it from his bee hives, and fantastic things occur. The story "Skin," brings us to Paris and we find a man with a tattoo on his back that could be worth a lot of money. The story "The Landlady," is about a creepy boardinghouse where the character learns that two young men have disappeared and become something else.

Ms. Hen thinks these stories are written in a way that people don't write anymore. She thinks they are a little dragged out, and the time period in which they are written is evident. She thinks they're ironic, and sometimes cruel, and a little old-fashioned. But some of them are unsettling enough for the Halloween season.

Ms. Hen does not know if she would recommend this book. It's strange, but somehow, it's not strange enough, and not consistently strange. Ms. Hen desires things that are devotedly strange, so she can fall down a rabbit hole and get lost in the midst of darkness.

Ms. Hen reviews The Ancestor

 

The Ancestor

Danielle Trussoni

Harper Collins

2020

Ms. Hen chose this book, because she wanted to read a Halloween book she had never read before. She read about this on a list of the best books for Halloween in O Magazine, and decided to order it from the library. She's happy she got it from the library for free, because she would not want to pay fifteen dollars for a book this horrendous.

The first horrible thing Ms. Hen noticed is the writing style. The author writes like she does not know how to write. Every sentence is constructed piece by piece, awkwardly, and it sounds as if it's written by a high school student.

When Ms. Hen read about this novel, it was compared to REBECCA, which is one of Ms. Hen's favorite novels. This is nothing like that. The character goes to a mysterious house in Italy in the Alps, after she discovers that she's the sole heir to the Montebianco family. The house is creepy, but Ms. Hen doesn't think it's creepy enough. She doesn't believe what she read on the pages, because it doesn't come to life for her.

The story becomes more ridiculous when the character discovers that she's a decedent of snow beings who live in the mountains, a type of Yeti that live in a tribe like prehistoric people. Ms. Hen will spare you the agony of reading this atrocity by telling you what happens, the character goes to the tribe, and lives with them for a while, and takes a child with her to Paris, and tries to hide the fact the child is a snow person.

Ms. Hen does not know how she read this entire novel. She wanted it to get better, but it simply became worse. She doesn't know how books like this could get published. The world is full of mysteries, and some things in life don't make any sense, and the fact that this book got published and exists in the world is one of them. Read REBECCA instead.