Customer Reviews

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Joyce Carol Oates is simply one of the best writers working today in any genre, any language. This book is a great collection of miniatures to complement her wonderful and engrossing novels. For lovers of the thrill, or of good writing, this could prove a excellent ocassion to discover the great Oates. Like all of her work, highly recommended.

It is one thing to read fantasy/horror novels that are "safe" because of their improbability; there is nothing "safe" here. Oates zeroes in with relentless precision at the spectres that quietly haunt our hearts: lost loves, parental relationships, childhood fears, the darkness of closets and beneath beds, sexual longings, hometown memories, strangers. These stories draw up from within your tenderest vulnerabilities and quietly slice into them, crushing your heart. Good storytelling...but not for the thin-skinned.

joyce carol oates is one of my favorite all-time writers & this is an excellent selection of really morbid or eerie short stories which is bound to strike a nerve with you. with the exception of perhaps one or maybe two stories, oates has taken suspense to a new literary height & she invites you to her ghastly world of tormented souls & creepy happenings. at times, i'm reminded of the classic tales of terror written by shirley jackson or edgar allan poe as joyce has a distinct literary voice not to be confused with any other living writers. one of the most disturbing tales in the collector of hearts is called death mother. if this one doesn't leave feeling a bit uneasy or nervous, then perhaps you no longer have a pulse. the majority of the stories here are taut, sometimes a bit gruesome, & extremely macabre in oates continual exploration & study of evil which lurkes inside us all. joyce knows the dark screts of the human heart all too well & the things which will constrict our throats but this novel is solid evidence that she isn't afraid to reveal her knowledge. as diverse as she is eclectic in her masterful writing style, you simply cannot go wrong with this marvelous collection of short stories. if you enjoy this, you may also like her her book called faithless: tales of transgression or haunted which are also excellent choices. modern day horror writers like koontz or king should be taking notes &/ or attending workshops that this woman may offer. unpleasant reading, my friends. enjoy!

This morbid short story collection is not for the faint of heart as the talented Joyce Carol Oates makes her tales of horror seem so real that they could occur to any of us. The tales, for the most part, center around human phobias such as the fears of death and separation. The better stories are those that have a Homo Sapien as the ogre because they feel so frighteningly genuine. The few tales that include an otherworldly creature are also well-written, but pale when compared to the human monster.

One of the all time leading American short story writers, Ms. Oates shows she still is at the top of her game with her latest book, a worthy continuation of HAUNTED, a fabulous short story collection. Any reader who enjoys the macabre will take pleasure with Ms. Oates, current horror anthology.

Harriet Klausner

This book is scary as hell from story one. The Collecter of hearts--woe to be alone after reading this. JCO lives in Princeton NJ, and my mom did work in her house when I was young, years before I read Blackwater and then proceeded to read every word she ever wrote. I am happy to have met her in my lifetime, and wish I knew then how significant it was. She is the best writer out there, in my opinion.

Collector of Hearts is another short story collection that centers around grotesque characters and plots. Despite the similarity with themes in Haunted, Collector of the Hearts pales in comparison. In fact, it seems as if Oates has ripped herself off with this collection by using almost the exact same techniques as she did in her previous collection (such as numbering certain segments and arranging the stories in three parts).Similar to Haunted, the stories in Collector of Hearts are almost entirely about family relationships that become violent with physically or sexually. However, they are far more weird and border on being science fiction.

I finished the collection but it took a great deal of motivation! I found some of the tales to be terrifying, but not in a "spooky ghost story". Instead, it was terrifying in a "how could someone think of anything this sick and twisted" way. Perhaps the best word to describe this collection is disturbing.

This is by no means Oates best collection of stories, but it's better than Haunted, and it has enough bang to keep readers interested.
The first story, "The Sky Blue Ball," quite honestly blew me away. It's short, odd, and written with amazing precision. While it may be argued that this story, along with several others, are hardly grotesque, that story is in it's own way. The last paragraph it very odd and sad, and is a beautiful wrap up.
A lot of these stories, such as The Hand-Puppet and The Collector of hearts, are grotesque in their own way, but not in the way we're expecting them to be.
Oftentimes the grotesque in Oates stories is an abusive relationship with family members, things like this. It even includes a story about the journey of growing grass.
This is very worthwhile for fans of Oates in general, or someone who wants to be creeped out or disgusted (The story Demon will certainly do that)

Those who have followed my reviews know that I love Joyce Carol Oates's writing. Her books are beautifully written and her stories are poignant and haunting at the same time. There is nothing grotesque about The Collector of Hearts, but the stories within this collection are dark, strange, and sometimes downright disarming. This collection, like many of this author's other works, center on broken families and relationships gone awry, and, just like her other books, these stories are at times disturbing and thought provoking to the core. My favorite stories are "Death Mother," "The Sepulchre," "Demon," "Posthumous," "Scars," "The Dream-Catcher," and "Shadows of the Evening." These are my favorites, but there are more incredible stories in this collection. Joyce Carol Oates is one of the best literary voices of today. I urge everyone to read her books if you haven't done. Her books are not for the faint at heart, but for those who enjoy reading strong, dark literature that touch and haunt you in more ways than one.

Oates' stories in "The Collector of Hearts" are billed as grotesque, but the stories are not grotesque in the usual sense. Rather, it is the sense of foreboding, of struggling to conquer childhood hurts and broken relationships, that provide the horror in these tales. These are not stories you read for a good scare, so much as to get a sense of what in our ordinary lives might be horrific. One drawback -- the characters in these stories start to look and sound alike after awhile.

Joyce Carol Oates has an interesting approach to horror. The vague view of the plot and characters allows you to fill in their personalities with the traits of those whom you know. Most of the stories center around family relations gone wrong. I found Haunter more frightening and suggest you read that first.