The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the GrotesqueIn these twenty-five gothic horror tales from the master of the short story, Joyce Carol Oates explores the waking nightmares of life with eyes wide-open, facing what the bravest of us fear the most. From the Kafka-esque "Scars" to a ballad like tale of erotic obsession in "The Crossing, " to the mother-daughter bond given a fatal twist in "Death Mother" the stories in The Collector of Hearts illuminate the mysteries of the human experience -- both intellectual and visceral. It is a stunning and richly diverse anthology of mood and menace -- haunting, elegiac, and compulsively readable. |
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Page 17
... smell as of something brackish wafted against Jean- nette's nostrils amid the warm yeasty smell of baked goods . Her mother's body . Her mother's hair , clothes . Recalling the odor of her mother's body in the days of her mother's ...
... smell as of something brackish wafted against Jean- nette's nostrils amid the warm yeasty smell of baked goods . Her mother's body . Her mother's hair , clothes . Recalling the odor of her mother's body in the days of her mother's ...
Page 23
... smell was brackish - sour . In the back , what appeared at first glance to be random debris was in fact Mrs. Harth's personal possessions : untidy piles of clothes , shoes , a pil- low with a stained embroidered pillowcase , cardboard ...
... smell was brackish - sour . In the back , what appeared at first glance to be random debris was in fact Mrs. Harth's personal possessions : untidy piles of clothes , shoes , a pil- low with a stained embroidered pillowcase , cardboard ...
Page 24
... smell of Mrs. Harth's hair and clothes was a sharper lemony smell , all but indistinguishable . Her skin , maybe . That heat that used to rise from her skin . As Jeannette was about to open the front door , a Negro girl came out , one ...
... smell of Mrs. Harth's hair and clothes was a sharper lemony smell , all but indistinguishable . Her skin , maybe . That heat that used to rise from her skin . As Jeannette was about to open the front door , a Negro girl came out , one ...
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Atlantic Ocean Audrey Aunt Alma Aunt Elinor Aunt Erica aunt's beautiful beneath breath called Celeste Charter Street Chautauqua Falls child church course creature dalena dark Delancey Street door dream dream-catcher Edmundston Eunice Eunice's eyes face father felt filmy fingers floor girl glass Grosse Pointe Shores hair Hamtramck hand Harth head hear heard heart Helge Hispanic house on Charter hurry Jack Schroeder Jeannette Jeannette's John Schroeder Joyce Carol Oates Kistenmacher knew Lacey laughing light lips lived look Magdalena Martha Meredith Merrimack River Miss morning mother mouth murmured never night is drawing Paradisio saying Schön seemed she'd side singing skate skin skull and bones smell smile sound speak staring strangers Strykersville things thought Tippi turned Uncle Rebhorn Virginia voice walk wall wanted wind window woman words young