Customer Reviews

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, And Other Stories

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge" is a book of incredible power and suspense. All the fears of a young father come to light as his life swings in and out of reality. As a captured Southern loyalist, the character is bound by the neck and to be hung, when his life, all that is to be, flashes before him. In a split second he pictures his break from the noose, his race to freedom, and his reunion with his beloved family. Life, to this man, is nothing but the dream he holds of his freedom.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" seems to me like the type of story that a lot of people would read only grudgingly as a school assignment. That's too bad, because this definitely seems like one for the ages to me.

Curiously enough, I was led to this story by the TV show --- "Lost," one of the characters on there was reading it. Once I started reading, I was immediately drawn in by this author's storytelling power and ability to create powerful images using words. Some of the language he uses is rather high-toned and may go over the heads of some readers, but I think even if you can't completely understand it, there's quite enough that is understandable for general audiences to still work very well. (And hey --- why not crack that dictionary if you're not certain about some terms?)

The plot goes back to the Civil War and it's about a man who is caught and put to death by hanging at a bridge. As you read it, you can absolutely picture this scene in your head and understand what the main chaacter is feeling. This story has a surprising twist ending as well.


Now that I've read this, I think I may just seek out more by Ambrose Bierce. I like vivid storytelling and this certain fits the bill.

The first classical suspense, twlight zone story first written over 100 years ago. A quick page turner, excellent. The book could be found at local friends of library book sales. Be careful of buying it online. The normal sale price is $1, and online sells it for between $5 and $7.

First let me say that this review contains spoilers. This is a pity. The only reason I placed these spoilers in this review is that the product description here already lets the cat out of the bag as to the ending. This is a pity.

Anyway....

I first read this story years and years ago. It was one of the many short stories we had to read in a special advanced English course I took in high school. Like most kids of that age I felt I was being force fed a bunch of stuff I had absolutely no interest in and must admit that I fought it. Over the years I have forgotten most to many of the numerous stories we read during that year, which is sort of sad when you think about it, but I have to tell you that this offering from Ambrose Bierce was not one of those that I consciously or unconsciously shuffled either to the back of my mind or out of it completely. No, no - far, far from it! This one has stuck with me throughout the years and I was delighted when I found it as a free Kindle download.

A Confederate man; a planter in northern Alabama during the Civil War has been captured by Union Solders. He has been sentenced to death and the story begins on a railroad bridge as the man stands on a railroad bridge with a rope noose about his neck about to be hanged. The board he is standing upon is tilted and he begins to fall.

This entire short story takes place in the doomed mans mind as he falls to the end of the rope. The reader at this point does not realize this and we watch in sickening slow motion as the rope breaks, the planter hits the water, is shot at, makes a daring escape, struggles through the woods and finally finds himself going up the steps of his home to the loving arms of his wife...snap..white searing light!

As the story progresses in becomes more and more surreal and the reader starts getting hints that not all is as it seems. When you consider when this work was written and published; around 1891, this is a rather remarkable ploy. You know something strange is going to happen but it is not until the final line; the final word that your suspicions are confirmed. Now I have never been hung. I probably should have been on a few occasions, but so far I have been fortunate. I am not at all sure that that much would go through a persons mind during the last three for four seconds of his or her life but that is rather moot. Whether this would actually happen is beside the point. The great thing about this story is that the author had the ability to make it quite real.

This story deserves to be read closely. In truly great short stories what is not written is quite often just as important as what is written. All great short story writers have this ability and Bierce most certainly had it going when he wrote this one.

In many ways this is a haunting story; anyway it was to me. While it most certainly cannot be classified as a horror story I can most emphatically tell you that it horrified me when I first read it. It had the same effect as several of the stories Poe wrote; the impact on my mind was just as great.

The quality of the Kindle download is quite good on this one. It will take you 15 or 10 minutes to read and it is free. It is most certainly worth your time.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This is great for a short story. I downloaded this book for free. It took me ten or so minutes to read it. I loved it, and it was very short. It was just the perfect amount of writing needed to tell this story, which is refreshing, and needed in a culture where instant gratification is paramount. Everybody should read this, for as easy as it is and free to boot. The story does not take nearly as long as you think.

Good Job, Ambrose Bierce, and Kindle Books!

this book really caught my attention because the way the flow of the book went was really smooth. it gets you wondering about whats going to happen next. I would recomend this book to someone
who like exciting books. the reason i choose to read this book is because after i started reading it; it started to get my attention by making you wait to what is going to happen next.

Was really a short story, as opposed to a book, but I liked it. Took me about 20 minutes to read it at most.

A Creole man is arrested as a Confederate spy and sentenced to hanging on the bridge over Owl Creek. The rope breaks, the man hits the water and dives. Surviving a shower of Yankee bullets he escapes downriver and into the safety of a thicket. He struggles to get home and the story gets increasingly surreal. He is greeted at the gate of his plantation house by his smiling, lovely wife--but--his wife died years earlier....

Rod Steiger adopted this excellent tale for a 'Twilight Zone' Showing. It worked very well.

This is an enjoyable collection of short stories. And they really are short. As I listened to them, I recalled reading a few of them in high school English class and you probably will too.
Bierce is a master storyteller with a great command of the English language and its various literary devices. This is especially exemplified in The Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge which is his most famous short story (and the one you probably read or will read in high school). While a few stories fall short of the aforementioned, it is an overall good collection and a fast delightful read (or listen as in my case).

While not an English scholar to be sure, I must speculate that Bierce was a trailblazer in his story content (horror and bordering science fiction in Moxon's Master) and his surprise, 'twisted' endings (that now most movies incorporate ad nauseaum).

This doesn't have anything to do with the book listed above, but I figured some people might be interested in this information. This classic tale was put on film in the late Fifties or early Sixties and eventually purchased by Rod Serling and used as an episode of the Twilight Zone. You should be able to purchase this on DVD. It's a classic episode.