Skip to main content

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque

Review

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque



Move over, Stephen King! THE COLLECTOR OF HEARTS is another
fascinating volume of nightmarish fiction from Joyce Carol Oates.
Like her previous collection, HAUNTED, THE COLLECTOR OF HEARTS
blends heart-stopping horror with the elegant style that is Oates'
forte.

A woman surrenders to her deepest fears as she searches a house
room by room for a man believed to be dead. A mother invites her
daughter into a terrifyingly dark and icy realm where they can
never be apart. A celebrated entertainer returns to her hometown,
where she is welcomed by half-remembered faces and an unnerving
greeting: "Welcome Back Forever." There are over 30 examples of the
depths to which Oates will go to turn out the most spine-tingling
tales with the most efficient language, creating stunning examples
of the Literary Fiction at its best.

Awarded the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in Horror
Fiction and the Best Horror Novel (for ZOMBIE), and nominated for a
World Fantasy Award (for HAUNTED), Oates has an affection and
unstoppable predilection for the intellectual and visceral
mysteries of the human experience. THE COLLECTOR OF HEARTS is sure
to make your hair stand on end and your brain stand up and cheer
for the intelligent and elegiacal prose with which Oates scares the
living daylights out of you!

Definitely read these at night, preferably late and rediscover the
hairs on the back of your neck. It will be days before you or they
relax again...

     

Reviewed by Jana Siciliano on January 21, 2011

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque
by Joyce Carol Oates

  • Publication Date: October 1, 1999
  • Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction
  • Paperback: 321 pages
  • Publisher: Plume
  • ISBN-10: 0452280249
  • ISBN-13: 9780452280243