Hello, again! I realize that I just posted here earlier today, but, after a few more hours of uneventful library work, I finished reading The Castle of Otranto, which was written by Horace Walpole. Though I had a better idea what to expect from this novel than I had from Revenge!, thanks to a recommendation from the author of decay-proof record scroll, (who I've known by so many user names that I'm not sure which to use here) after I'd been talking about The Mysteries of Udolpho on Twitter, I really didn't think that it would be as entertaining or quick to read as it was. Though, as late 18th century Gothic novels, they're usually mentioned in conjunction with each other, The Mysteries of Udolpho is an incredibly long and plodding novel about a bunch of people who make bad decisions for hundreds of pages on end, while The Castle of Otranto is the sort of book that begins with someone being crushed to death by a giant helmet and is finished two and a half hours later. It was written over 200 years ago, so the language in The Castle of Otranto may seem dated to some, but in actuality, the plot moves so quickly, and with such bizarre supernatural soap opera plot points, that the dated language isn't noticeable at all.
The Castle of Otranto is the sort of book that, if you're in the mood for something ridiculous and aren't put off by older books, is very easy to recommend. The last time that I checked, it was not available as an eBook from Amazon, which seemed sort of weird to me, but a very nicely formatted and typo-free one is available from Project Gutenberg.
No comments:
Post a Comment