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The Unrest Cure: Simplified For Modern Readers (2000)

by Saki(Favorite Author)

4.24 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

review 1: When I was a child in the Kingdom by the Sea, yes, that very same Kingdom, we stayed part of the summer at my grandfather's. Considering my grandfather's immense education, there were surprisingly few books. Actually, there were several bookshelves, but they were loaded with religion books. He was a theologian. And there was Saki. One volume. My father had raised me on Edgar Poe, thus Saki's vague creepiness was not totally to be snubbed. I remember reading the stories and promptly forgetting them. Later I would read the one about the boy and his ferret-God. I remember crying. Other than that, the only one that stood out in my memory was The Open Window. I believe it showed up on a lit crit test. I was unmoved. I don't think I would have bought this volume if it hadn'... moret been for the Gorey illustrations, and I was in NYC. I figured the stories were short enough for a subway ride of the medium length. Oddly, I think I should have been more impressed by Saki at a younger age rather than older, but the converse is true. I quite enjoyed the stories. The earlier ones offer piquant, satiric vignettes of upper-middle-lower aristocratic life in pre-WWI England. I found myself chuckling aloud at times. The later half has the stories that I had remembered, though only vaguely. However this time the mordant humor and laconic tone was not lost on me. Saki's strength lies in what he doesn't tell. While he should not be confused with the truly great masters of the short story; Chekhov, Gogol, Mansfield, he isn't the just a bit better than a hack writer I set him down as in my youth. I don't think he has the depth of understanding, or doesn't display it, as those before mentioned writers, plus there is a lack of sympathy for the human condition that great literature requires. Though falling somewhere between entertainments and great books, the stories are worthy of attention for their craft and humor.
review 2: A friend recommended this pleasant book of 26 whimsical stories, this edition circa 1964 illustrated by Edward Gorey. It makes for subtle humorous reading, at least from time to time. I found "The Boar "Pig" and "The Open Window" charming. However if one of this generation had little sense of British upper-class attitudes and foibles it would probably seem very flat as it did to me. Then there was the marvelous story "The Hounds of Fate" which is a gem, at least up until the blunt unsatisfying abrupt ending - for why could not this talented author of Edwardian times work out one or two far more satisfying conclusions! And then one reads the story of the volume's title and is not bemused by involving Boy Scouts in the massacre of all Jews who can be found in the village. No thanks. I'd file the volume under old period pieces which are not worth paying much attention to these days. less

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