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'Highsmith is a novelist whose books one can re-read many times. There are few of whom one can say that' Graham Greene 'Highsmith has an incredible talent for making these natural and unnatural errors into believable reportage. You could swear she's writing fact wrapped up in very sly fiction' San Francisco Chronicle 'Though Highsmith would no doubt disclaim any kinship with Jonathan Swift or Evelyn Waugh, the best of these stories is in the same tradition It is Highsmith's dark and savage humour, and the intelligence that informs her precise and hard-edged prose, which puts one in the mind of those authors' New York Newsday 'These stories leave us haunted with afterimages that will tremble - but stay in our minds' New Yorker
San Francisco Chronicle
‘An incredible talent ... You could swear she’s writing fact wrapped up in very sly fiction’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Controlled and clever,
By
This review is from: Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (Paperback)
In this small but somehow weighty book, Highsmith gives us ten controlled and clever stories which unsettle and unnerve the reader as much as they entertain. Highsmith is a past master at the seemingly banal setting, turning one's preconceptions into stark unease.
Sometimes, however, she forgets all subtlety and at times sinks into the actually banal, as here with her tale of Rent-A-Womb Versus the Mighty Right. However, at her best in far more of these stories than not, she is frequently unreservedly brilliant. I was captivated by Moby Dick II; or The Missile Whale, and by the cockroach infested luxury tower-block in Trouble at the Jade Towers. Highsmith is an acquired taste, but one which, once acquired, is difficult to satisfy. You just want to read more and more.
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3.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Neither Here, nor There, but not bad,
By lin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (Paperback)
My only exposure to Highsmith prior to reading this book is Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, which I loved. But somehow I can't believe the same person wrote them, as these stories hardly leave an impression me like Strangers on a Train did. The style reminds me of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller--a sort of mad-hatter of absurdities--which held me initially with a few painful chuckles, but it got old quickly if the story was too long.
Overall, I was not impressed by this particular work, but I am intrigued enough by what I've read to see her talent used in a different direction. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Stories that are not so much scary as just icky,
By Dave Deubler - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (Paperback)
Mystery and suspense writer Patricia Highsmith offers tales of Gothic horror in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft in a thoroughly modern (and at times, almost futuristic) setting. Most of these stories struck this reviewer as more unpleasant than truly horrifying, and more often than not, the bad guys only got what was coming to them, so no regrets. And as mysteries, these stories were not overly clever, and seemed to go on far too long for the amount of plot. If this was done with the hope of building suspense, it largely failed. Meanwhile, the topics of nuclear waste, plagues of insects, and the struggle for women's rights each figure prominently in more than one story, making this collection seem needlessly repetitive - a little more variety in subject matter probably would have helped. This reviewer's favorite tale was "Sweet Freedom! And a Picnic on the White House Lawn" which at least had a pleasant subplot. Also, "Sixtus VII: Pope of the Red Slipper" was pretty good and at least well-intentioned. The others fall short of being genuinely frightening without being funny, or clever, or presenting any positive message. The author certainly delivers on what the title promises, but this reviewer wonders "to what point?"
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tales to give you nightmares,
By A. C. Seligman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (Paperback)
This book was classed as Mystery & Suspense, but presumably just because "that's what Patricia Highsmith writes." I'd class it as fantasy. These stories describe completely recognizable worlds, but "gone slightly mad" as one review accurately puts it. Some are enormously disturbing - I tried not to fall asleep in the middle of one because I feared the nightmares it would kindle!That said, it's far from my favorite Highsmith. The stories just don't grip like most of her work - I couldn't stay awake when I tried. Peculiarly, many of them seem both too short, i.e. sketchy, and too long, i.e.moral/story could have been delivered much more quickly. Perhaps mostly a good book for Highsmith completists; it's always interesting to read a favorite author's forays into a different genre. |
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