A Ghost Story by Mark Twain
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical
Length: Short Story (30 pages)
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe“A Ghost Story” is one of the best-known humorous stories by Mark Twain (pen-name of Samuel Clemens, 1865-1936). First published in 1870, it is set in Nineteenth-Century New York City.
Some ghosts are easier to please than others are.
The world-building was phenomenal, and it happened for a character who spent the entire plot in an old, dusty bedroom of a house whose upper floors hadn’t been used in years! All of the descriptions of the home and the things that happened in were so vivid, though, that I could picture exactly what it would be like to stay there. I was pretty impressed by how the author was able to do this given the fact that there was only one setting for the entire storyline.
There aren’t a lot of characters out there who react sensibly when they realize that a ghost is haunting them. Luckily, one of these such individuals was the narrator of this tale. While he was definitely concerned about all of the scary noises he was hearing, he didn’t overreact. I liked reading about his thought processes as he attempted to figure out how to respond to his late-night visitor. He stayed as calm and logical as anyone could reasonably expect to under those circumstances, and that was refreshing.
Not only did the ending fit the tone of this book perfectly, it also made me laugh. I appreciated the narrator’s sense of humor even more once he realized what was actually making all of the frightening noises outside, and later inside, of his bedroom. Honestly, I didn’t want to stop reading his descriptions of what was going on. While I was satisfied with how everything was resolved in the end, I was also left yearning to know what happened next in a very positive sense.
I’d heartily recommend A Ghost Story to anyone who loves the paranormal genre.
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