Reviews for Emerson and Thoreau: The Contemporary Reviews

The average rating for Emerson and Thoreau: The Contemporary Reviews based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-10 00:00:00 Matt Pearson While it had not been that long since I read a Peter Straub book, I was still looking forward to reading SIDES. Straub is always a huge treat to read. Even though I knew that SIDES was a collection of Straub's non-fiction over the last twenty years and not a new fiction story, I figured that I would be amazed as I always him with his quality of writing. In that regards, I was not disappointed. His writing was lyrical and poetic and beautiful as it always is. However, the content of what he was writing about was a hit and miss with me. Straub primarily broke the collection down into three sections: Encounters where he provided Introductions or Afterwords to other author's books, "Two Essays and a Frivolity" or as I thought of it "Miscellaneous" and then Observations by Putney Tyson Ridge, Straub's alter ego and a fictional critic. The Encounters section was fabulous! As Straub would discuss the different books, I would yearn to read or reread the book in question. THE STEPFORD WIVES. DRACULA. THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. And to seek out more books by some of the authors mentioned: Richard Laymon, Graham Joyce, Caitlin R. Kiernan. (Granted I read most of Laymon's and Joyce's book already but it made me want to reread them.) Straub was a little too complete in his discussion because he would discuss the entire book and I would realize that I no longer need to read them anymore. At least not for the story. The middle section though is where Straub started to lose me. His piece entitled "Mom" was fabulous and will make most people appreciate their own mother. The other two pieces were fine but not as interesting. It was the last section with which I became bored. The writings of Straub's alter ego were boring and very uninteresting. There was not enough insight to offer anything new nor enough humor to make them funny. I'm sure that Straub was poking fun at himself but it was a poking that did nothing for me. Overall I would recommend stopping halfway through but at the same time, I know that I would not be able to do so myself.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-24 00:00:00 Kathryne Caston Some great essays in this collection of non-fiction by one of the most literary gothic writers writing today, Peter Straub. I especially enjoyed Straub's riff on Milwaukee in "My Fantasy of Everyday Life," and impassioned discussion of Stephen King's development as an author in "Secret Windows." Other good essays to watch for are "Stepford Wives" (Ira Levin) and "Hope to Die" (Philip K. Dick).