- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; (Reissue) edition (28 Jun 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586212027
- ISBN-13: 978-0586212028
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 11.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,189,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A collection of six short stories by the author of "If You Could See Me Now" and "Koko". These stories include "Blue Rose", which tells a story about the childhood of Harvey Beevers, the villain of "Koko". Other stories featured include "The Juniper Tree" and "Mrs God".
From the Back Cover
Beneath the silent surfaces of the everyday world, behind the walls of buildings you’ve never dared enter, there lies a realm of mystery which we know exists, but can only reach through imagination, trauma or violence. In this provocative collection of stories, which includes 'Blue Rose' and 'The Juniper Tree', Straub coaxes the reader into his errie world of deranged minds and childhood terror, of destructive obsession and deadly innocence.
“The thinking man’s Stephen King.”
'NEW YORK TIMES'.
“His most notable work yet. Everyone, no matter how ordinary, has a secret, and sometimes that secret is more appealing than we can guess. Therein lies the chilling focus of Straub’s work.”
'LOCUS.'
“Straub is a a master of the slow burn. His superb short stories draw the unsuspecting reader slowly but surely into the horror that can lie behind the most unassuming of situations. The chill factor is high.”
'WESTERN MAIL.'
“A spellbinding collection of stories from a very classy author…a treat.”
'MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found the six stories in Houses Without Doors worth the time and money ("Blue Rose" is less effective, probably, if you didn't read KoKo; if you did, it's a sucker punch). Although it's not graphic, "The Juniper Tree" is probably one of the most horrifying stories I have ever read. "The Buffalo Hunter" is flat-out surreal, which I loved. These short stories, being short, are neither typically tangly nor big on character development (read: sentiment). This collection wobbles between artsiness and pure dread, and will probably displease *both* fans of modern fiction and fans of pulp horror. I adored it.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In 'Houses Without Doors' Peter Straub delivers a collection of short horror stories. Some of the stories are indeed horrific but as I went through the book the horror disappeared and the stories just became bizarre. This in itself was not a bad thing but towards the end of the book there seemed to be a lack of coherence. The book is too long. One review on the back cover says that the author is "the master of the slow burn". This is just a polite was of saying he is too verbose. In Straub's defense his stories are original and they have interesing ideas. They are also plausible but in the final analysis they were not sufficiently gripping.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Evocative, But Never Pretentious
17 April 2004
Format:Paperback
This collection of short stories lifts its title from an Emily Dickinson poem ("Doom is the house without a door..."). There is a sense of doom pervading each of the stories, as the major characters are cursed by psychological maladies (psychosis, repression, obsession) or are forced to interact with powers beyond their (and our) comprehension. Some of the stories end with the characters clearly not escaping their doom (most notably in "The Buffalo Hunter"), while others leave it to the reader to guess at the outcome ("Mrs. God," "The Juniper Tree"). All of the stories, including the interludes, work overtime to produce a dark mood and an off-kilter worldview.
"The Buffalo Hunter" and "Mrs. God" were my favorites. The former presents a loner who gets lost in his own imagined relationships and later in the paperback novels he reads. I'm a fan of Raymond Chandler's work, so Straub's pastiche of "The Lady in the Lake" was particularly enjoyable. If I were more familiar with Anna Karenina I might have had a better appreciation for the ending of the short story, but as it was I sensed something bad coming and Straub didn't disappoint. "Mrs. God" felt a lot like Ghost Story to me; particularly nice was the way Henry James and other authors were woven into the piece. I had read "Blue Rose" when Penguin issued it as a stand-alone mini-book in the mid-90's; it's the "oogiest" of all the stories - even the second time through it still creeped me out and made me slightly nauseated.
I enjoyed these stories a great deal. Straub can be crueler and more terrifying than some of his contemporaries, even while his syntax and phraseology are more refined. If you're a fan of Straub's or the psychological/horror genres in general you'll likely enjoy this book. Beyond that, there aren't many to whom I'd recommend this collection of short fiction, unless it would be a student who wants to see how words can be used effectively to create mood and transport readers to worlds they'd not likely find on their own.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A House Can Be Without A Door, But Still Have A Window
1 Dec 2002
Format:Paperback
What I loved about this collection of stories was that in every one of them it showed the dark side of people who can at least be consisdered kind of normal. Peter Straub holds nothing back when it comes to his characters and it has always been a great rule of fiction to always tell the truth. Straub has told the truth here and may have dove too deep into it for some people's tastes.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Great collection of stories!!
13 April 2002
Format:Unknown Binding|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was glad to see that Peter Straub released this short collection of his work. There are some dark & memorable stories here. Blue Rose and The Juniper Tree are the best of the lot. I enjoyed those especially since they tie in heavily to Koko and The Throat. I was sorry to see that The Ghost Village wasn't part of this collection, but, it did appear later in another of Peter's collections called Magic Terror. The last story in the book, Mrs. God is excellent. Since there is a longer, slightly different version of it, in limited release, I would recommend that instead. There are smaller interludes that divide each story and these interludes make up their own short story as well. All in all, anything by Peter Straub is a going to show what a true Master he is at his craft.
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