Rate this book

True Irish Ghost Stories (2000)

by St. John D. Seymour(Favorite Author)

3.27 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

review 1: I suppose the "True" in the title and the publishing year should have given me better hints as to what I was getting myself into when I picked this up on my Kindle, but it didn't, so I was unfortunately disappointed with this read. While the very historical aspect of this book is educational and, at times, very humorous, I could not bring myself to enjoy most of this book. Some of the stories were a little eerie and decently elaborate, but most of the time my response was "meh." Here's why. First of, the only use of transitions in this book comes from the stories being split into different categories, i.e. Haunted Houses or Poltergeists. However, within these categories, there were plenty of times when I didn't realize I was reading about a different haunting until the new... more ghosts or new hauntees were being introduced. There just simply weren't enough well-developed transitions between the stories to give it a good flow. Another frustrating but laughable element was the authorss need to justify every single story, but the justifications we're ridiculously flawed. "This story was related to us by a well-respected and sober man, so there's no room to doubt the authenticity of this story." They also kept using the sciences of the time, or lack thereof, as an excuse for not having the answers for what causes hauntings. I was frustrated by the multiple assurances of, "Science will soon be able to explain this phenomenon soon." Basically, it all just sounded like a load of crap. (Please note that none of these quotations are exact. I don't feel like digging through the book again to find legitimate quotations.)Finally, I was very disappointed at how the stories were related. I understand feeling the need to quote each individual's story exactly how it was relayed to the authors, but this could have been a lot more engaging and much creepier if that stories had been told as narratives instead of factual accounts. I understand after reading the book that this was never the aim of the authors, but I was still disappointed because the reality of the book did not match the expectations I had built for it before beginning to read.All I'd like to say is, if you're looking for a creepy ghost story to read, look elsewhere, because this book reads more like a textbook.Happy reading!
review 2: Last line of the book: "Truth will emerge and lift the human race to a purer and loftier conception of God and His universe." I'm not sure the book can really support that grand of a conclusion, but I liked the idea."True Irish Ghost Stories" was quaint and earnest, and quite (probably unitentionally) funny. Maybe two of the ghost stories gave me genuine shivers, but the rest were standard, familiar, Disney-haunted-house fare. Where it does become creepy is when you consider that potentially most of the stories were related by average, honest folk who were perplexed or downright terrified by their brush with the supernatural. I liked how the author would say things like, "This was related by a very sober and intelligent man. Therefore, it must be true." Flawed logic, but as I said, quaint. Given that I definitely can't handle scary movies (just thinking about "Paranormal Activity" sends me into jumpy freaked-outness), this was probably about as spooky a book as I can handle. less

Download links for: True Irish Ghost Stories

Advertising