I picked up this book of ghost stories anticipating to be filled with dread but that wasn't the case. However, that doesn't detract from Wharton's talent as a writer in crafting short stories.

These short stories were written by Edith Wharton spanning from 1909 through 1937, so while they may have originally been meant to scare, they may not be scary for modern readers. I consider these stories more as forays into psychological horror.

My favorite story of the collection was the first one, The Lady's Maid Bell. I'm not particularly fond of short story collections, as they can be a bit of a mixed bag. All of the stories in this collection were well written. I also particularly enjoyed Afterward, Mr. Jones, The Pomegranate Seed, The Looking Glass, and All Souls. My main bone to pick with these stories is that they all ended too abruptly, without explicit endings. Maybe these stories were better understood at the time of publication or perhaps I'm lacking in understanding, but I didn't get why, time and again, Wharton took me through a great story and then left me hanging.

If you are a wimp when it comes to scary stories, you can definitely read these at home alone, even late at night. I'd recommend these to anyone looking for a good fall read.

Fun, shivery collection of ghost stories, most of which hinge on relationships past and present--or the past (dead?) impinging on the present. Wharton's a terrific writer, so even the slighter stories have an impact through scenery or storytelling. The best have that, plus a chill that lingers. My favorite stories are "Afterward," "The Triumph of Night," and "Pomegranate Seed." My favorite scene is the one with the woman with the broken ankle, alone in the snowbound house, making her way slowly down the slippery staircase....

[Side comments on this edition: the story summaries on the back cover are all wrong. And MUST every Wharton paperback mention/allude to her similarity/sympathy with Henry James? Who cares?]

It’s got everything that should make it a really good, compelling and haunting collection of eerie ghostly tales, but really it’s all just a little bland and weak and just a touch insipid. I understand that Edith Wharton is known for being a very gifted authoress, but these short stories are incredibly verbose and superfluous and just over the top. The writing makes me want to fall asleep and I just wish all the characters would shut up or just shoot themselves in their misery. There were some that had potential to be creepy and could with a better writer be haunting, but the vast majority were just bland and boring. Sorry to say that it has put me off reading anything else by Edith.

The stories weren't scary which I was kind of dissapointed by. The prose was beautiful though and it was enjoyable to read. Many of the stories felt like they were missing something (mostly action) to make them completely satisfying.

Edith Wharton is one of my favorite authors, so I was a bit surprised these stories aren't more widely discussed. I was a bit less surprised once I read them and found them, although often arresting and lyrical, quite uneven relative to my high expectations. Some of them could have used some editing and some were downright confusing. But it was interesting to read them at the same time as MR James's ghost stories, written around the same time, and recognize in many of Wharton's stories much deeper concerns of relationships, class, wealth, and female autonomy than in James's academic, flashy, and trope-oriented stories. Wharton can weave a spell around a landscape, handily turn stories of abusive and jealous husbands into ghost stories without necessarily even reverting to the supernatural (although this theme did become a bit formulaic, I will admit), render an ancient house (or simply a life) haunted only by the ghosts brought along by modern residents, and reach a fevered gothic pitch with the best of them.

Favorites: Afterward, The Triumph of Night, Kerfol, Miss Mary Pask, A Bottle of Perrier

1. Ognisanti☆☆☆☆
2. Gli occhi☆☆☆
3. Dopo☆☆☆☆☆
4. Il campanello della cameriera☆☆☆☆☆
5. Kerfol☆☆☆☆
6. Il trionfo della notte☆☆☆☆
7. Miss Mary Pask☆☆☆
8. Stregato☆☆☆
9. Il signor Jones☆☆☆☆
10. Semi di melograno☆☆☆☆☆
11. Una bottiglia di Perrier☆☆☆☆☆

Leggendo questi racconti ho capito che, ciò che stimola la mia "paura", sono le case, abitate o infestate, la descrizione degli interni, i giardini, le strade buie che conducono, o allontanano, ospiti inattesi.
Ciò che accomuna molti di questi racconti è la mancanza di un finale, un po' come se l'incredulità non permettesse di mettere, nero su bianco, ciò che la ragione non riesce ad accettare. Sappiamo, o immaginiamo di sapere, ma non possiamo dire di averlo letto.

These are the best ghost stories I've ever read. Edith Wharton was, to put it simply, a genius. I can't really describe why they're so good except to say that unlike, say, M.R. James, who was great at creating a spooky atmosphere around strange unexplained phenomena, Edith Wharton gets inside of what is uncanny about human consciousness in the here and now, and how our own spookiness ties in with the world beyond and the paranormal. To me, that's the most interesting and chilling way to approach a ghost story. Eminently entertaining and readable.

Storie da leggere davanti a un caminetto d’inverno mentre fuori infuria la bufera. Storie suggestive, scritte con eleganza, storie d’altri tempi, piene d’atmosfera, alcune davvero appassionanti e inquietanti, altre meno. Ho amato soprattutto lo struggente racconto “Dopo”.

Their voices rose and fell, like the murmuring of two fountains answering each other across a garden full of flowers.

I have no regrets. I bought this for a group read and there wasn't any discussion, appropriate given how many people I have left hanging over the years when I decided midstream to not read in tandem. I like the idea of the supernatural especially as it is presented here, although I suspect the dead don't care about us.

Wharton parses the spectral terrain with aplomb. It is always subtle. The horror isn't Cosmic but an intersection of folk tradition and the emergence of the Modern. She is at her best in the drawing rooms of the Northeast. the gaslight, the whispers of stock markets, the winds. All these conspire to keep matters delightfully off balance. It is as if there's a herald in the Vermont winter for Gramscian monsters. The ancient rites are obsolete but who wants to be deposited at the next station with your newly deceased spouse?

Kerfol, Pomegranate Seed, and The Triumph of Night were my favorites.

subtelnie niepokojące, pięknie napisane.. i ta atmosfera!! te opowiadania idealnie wpisują się w mój gust jeśli chodzi o historie niesamowite. mogłabym zamieszkać w każdym z nich..

Loved this book and am sorry it came to an end.

On the other hand, Edith Wharton is a fantastic twentieth century author. Though I find her full length books a bit meandering, she is the master of the short story. (I have similar feelings about Henry James.) All of these ghost stories are interesting, easy to read, and paint a fabulous picture of life in the early twentieth century in New England and abroad. Even if you couldn't quite stomach The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth, any collection of her stories is worth a second look.