Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes

Rating:
Summary: Highsmith reaches beyond her proven strengths..
Review: Patricia Highsmith is known for her tightly-woven psychological mysteries, especially where anxiety levels of the accused criminal approach the breaking point. Ms Highsmith has also published many short stories of lesser quality, mostly because she has a shorter runway for building the suspense. Having said this, her short story collection 'Eleven' does have nice juicy bits.

In 'Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes' Paticia Highsmith turns her attention to modern issues (eg, pollution) and writes some rather strange stories where these issues are turned upside-down. I would broadly classify them has horror rather than mystery/suspense, and they are quite readable. Yet one gets the impression that this is all very old hat. And this material relects the general demise of Highsmith's works during the latter part of her career (1980s onwards).

Bottom line: okay, but Highsmith has done much better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Highsmith reaches beyond her proven strengths..
Review: Patricia Highsmith is known for her tightly-woven psychological mysteries, especially where anxiety levels of the accused criminal approach the breaking point. Ms Highsmith has also published many short stories of lesser quality, mostly because she has a shorter runway for building the suspense. Having said this, her short story collection 'Eleven' does have nice juicy bits.

In 'Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes' Paticia Highsmith turns her attention to modern issues (eg, pollution) and writes some rather strange stories where these issues are turned upside-down. I would broadly classify them has horror rather than mystery/suspense, and they are quite readable. Yet one gets the impression that this is all very old hat. And this material relects the general demise of Highsmith's works during the latter part of her career (1980s onwards).

Bottom line: okay, but Highsmith has done much better than this.

Rating:
Summary: This is the real Highsmith
Review: These stories are interesting and well-conceived. They are not always what you would expect - but hat's what Highsmith does best. This is not Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr. Ripley, but it is clever fiction, well rendered.

Rating:
Summary: Tales to give you nightmares
Review: This book was classed as Mystery & Suspense, but presumably just because "that's what Patricia Highsmith writes." I'd class it as fantasy. These stories describe completely recognizable worlds, but "gone slightly mad" as one review accurately puts it. Some are enormously disturbing - I tried not to fall asleep in the middle of one because I feared the nightmares it would kindle!

That said, it's far from my favorite Highsmith. The stories just don't grip like most of her work - I couldn't stay awake when I tried. Peculiarly, many of them seem both too short, i.e. sketchy, and too long, i.e.moral/story could have been delivered much more quickly.

Perhaps mostly a good book for Highsmith completists; it's always interesting to read a favorite author's forays into a different genre.

Rating:
Summary: Tales to give you nightmares
Review: This book was classed as Mystery & Suspense, but presumably just because "that's what Patricia Highsmith writes." I'd class it as fantasy. These stories describe completely recognizable worlds, but "gone slightly mad" as one review accurately puts it. Some are enormously disturbing - I tried not to fall asleep in the middle of one because I feared the nightmares it would kindle!

That said, it's far from my favorite Highsmith. The stories just don't grip like most of her work - I couldn't stay awake when I tried. Peculiarly, many of them seem both too short, i.e. sketchy, and too long, i.e.moral/story could have been delivered much more quickly.

Perhaps mostly a good book for Highsmith completists; it's always interesting to read a favorite author's forays into a different genre.