Saki Books

Saki's sardonic insight and exquisite sense of irony don't work quite as perfectly in a novel or play as when contained in a short story, but nonetheless this is a wonderful book and well worth reading.

Stories are typical of Saki. Extremely humourus with an underlying bite ridiculing prevalent pretensions and beliefs. Languages is long winded yet entertaining. A pleasure to read.

The Unbearable Bassington centers on Francesca Bassington, a woman obsessed with protecting her possessions, and her son Comus, a wise-cracking, irresponsible, and shallow young man who simultaneously charms and offends everyone with whom he comes in contact. Francesca has affection for her son, but wishes he could be remade as a responsible member of society, especially where such responsibility can lead to Francesca's continued well-being. Comus, however, manages both purposely and accidentally to thwart his mother's wishes, and in the end is sent into exile in Africa, where it is hoped he will make a career. Secondary characters abound, most notably Courtney Youghal, a mediocre but flashy politician with whom Comus has a shallow friendship, and who becomes Comus's rival for the hand of the wealthy Elaine de Frey. Francesca disapproves of Courtney, yet it is clear she wishes that her son were more like him. Ironically, although Comus's main shortcoming seems that he's an idler, he is no more so than his mother and her circle. It seems more to the point to say that Comus doesn't idle in the proper way.

Most of the book is a setup for the last few chapters, which deal with Comus's exile, and which are poignant in the best sense of the word. Essentially, Comus is doomed by his own nature, which will not allow him, as an adult, to fit into the society in which he was raised. I take strong issue with the idea, put forth by the previous reviewer, that Comus is Dorian Gray-like. The comparison is absurd. Comus is merely a puckish boy who doesn't fit, and so is sent away to be forgotten.

The book is a fairly complex study of human motivation, although it is somewhat undercut by Saki's need to clutter the text with political and cultural details that detract from its basic themes. Also present are Saki's ubiquitious bons mots which, while charming in his short stories, become tiresome as the book goes on. This carping aside, it is an insightful look at middle-class England in the waning days of the empire, just prior to the outbreak of World War I.

I think it's also something for us to read today, when perhaps our children aren't "achieving" as we think they should. That's why I reread it, and I'm glad I did.

Yes, Saki was one of the world's great short-story writers. Too bad so few know of this obscure full-length novel that displays every bit as much brilliance as the tales -- if not more. Concerns Comus Bassington, a worthless, Dorian Gray-like libertine living around the turn of the century, and the gradual dissolution of his life. Biting satire of materialism, written with vigor and beauty; a short of Bernard Shaw by way of Oscar Wilde (incidentally, the novel contains a mockery of Shaw, in the character of a playwright named Sherard Blaw!). Ardent readers are urged to find this gem and enjoy every minute of it.

This was a very good book. The stories were all eye catching and made your mind wonder. At first when I started to read the book, was was a little lost. The stories all have some kind of catch to them, and it takes a little while to figure out what Saki is trying to say. The way he embraces the plots of these stories makes you wonder where he is coming from. Personally, I started to wonder if Saki was trying to tell some of his life within these stories. To me, some of the stories resemble society and how people act towards each other. Saki makes fun of society and that really interested me. I liked how he used metaphores on the stories. These excititng twists made the stories even more enjoyable to read. Some of the stories made fun of the characters or at least one character, but it was not in a very subtle was, he made it kind of a secret. THe unique thing about these stories was the way that Saki put them together. He really made you look deeper into the stories to get the real meaning of them. I would definately suggest this book if you enjoy stories with twists and deep meanings.

This is a very good book. I enjoyed the way that Saki uses animals to deface the way he feels about society. In many cases the animals use trickery to fool the people around them. In my opinion this story is a parallel to Saki's life. The animals represent how he felt and what he wanted to do in some instances, but society would not allow it. From a ferret god to a talking cat this book will make you think of how you feel about society and what you could do if society allowed it. The stories are exciting and I would recommend this book to anyone who is frustrated with the way society is.

This is a book that you will love or hate. Saki writes with a sadistic flair that both enthralls you and horrifies you. This book is not one story but many written about the so called rich upper class who went around England during the time Saki lived. Saki seems to take pleasure in putting the prideful and boastful rich in their places and making them squirm a little. There are other stories that show Saki's dark and sinister side. As an example I will give you a short run down of Srendi Vashtar. A sickly boy is living with his cousin and she is extremely cruel to him. She takes pleasure in depriving him of even the slightest happiness. The boy hides the few things that bring him happiness away from his cousin. These things consist of a chicken and a ferret in a cage. The boy hates his cousin so much that he even rejects her religion and makes up one of his own basing it on the ferret. He prays to the ferret for deliverance from his cousin, which he finally gets. I will not ruin the ending for you, but I will tell you it has a bloody and shocking ending. Saki also has stories with a twisted humor that is actually funny and pleasing to read. Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it

I enjoyed the majority of Saki's stories. My favorite tales were The Unrest Cure and The She-Wolf. I laughed and laughed at the jokes played by the character, Clovis. His characterization in such a limited number of words in each story was brilliant. However, I did not like The Easter Egg in the least. This is probably because it involved the injury of an innocent child. Sredni Vashtar also involved a child, but Saki narrated that story from the child's perspective in such a manner as to make you feel as the boy did. I almost rejoiced in the conclusion. Saki has an incredibly clever way of describing the outrageous, snobbish acts of his main characters. He fills his stories with such a subtle humor that I missed it at first glance. The tales reminded me of things I would never do in reality but have often wanted to do when frustrated with some government agency. He employs a child-like imagination of a fairy-tale world not all that different from reality. However, his world has a Edgar Allan Poe feel to it, and the simpleton or evil spinster always gets his or her just desserts in the end. He crafts these unwitting or evil creatures so well that I cheered or laughed at the final situations he came up with for them. Saki accentuates the stories by using a large vocabulary with only a few well placed, unfamiliar words, making himself as snobbish as his characters. When I took the time to learn the definition of these words, I was amazed at the clever symbolism he employed. He seemed to hide many secret messages and made that which was socially taboo into something resembling acceptable. As a whole, these stories are imaginative satires of the Edwardian society.

For those of you who love animals with strong, individual personalities and characters who are seen as either eccentric or plain crazy, depending on their socio/economic heritage, this is the collection of short stories for you.

From Sredni Vashtar, "the great ferret", to naughty Nicholas in The Lumber Room, each of the well developed short story texts is a minimalists masterpiece, and in each of the individual short stories the reader is given more than an ample serving of Saki's skill of simultaneous character and plot development that invariably lead to absurdly histerical, yet wildly believable conclusions.

The only negative critisism that I would make of this group of short stories is that; although most of the stories are incredibly entertaining and some of them either leave you laughing so hard, or weeping so pathetically, that you are forced to stop reading for a few moments; the formaltion of somewhat stock English characters Saki employs to construct the majority of the stories, combined with the kinds of social and linguistic ambiguities that he exploits to obtain his goals, do become somewhat predictable after a while.

I've always enjoyed a little spooky stuff just before heading off to bed.
Leave the light on, and try not to think about that strange looking paw-like shadow over by the closet door.

Previously: After a battle between the vampires and police ends bloodily, the vampire Kazuma has his eye not only on Hikage's sister, Hiiragi, but the Lady Kikuri as well.

Officer Yaegashi can take a beating and does so willingly with the intention of keeping his cover as he has infiltrated the Church of the Magoraka to learn more about what's going on. However there's not much time with his 'prey-du-jour' in tow, the vampire Kazuma arrives at the church, knocks out the power, and commences to slaughter all on site. In shock at what he sees, Yaegashi takes cover.

Meanwhile outside the church, the team of assassins, Yusuke and Hikage, turn up with the intention of liberating the captured Hiiragi. While waiting for her to recuperate from her ordeal, they notice it is quiet--too quiet--and Yusuke decides to investigate while leaving the siblings alone to await her recovery.

Yusuke enters the church to find the bloody slaughter, explores a bit, then finds Yaegashi and another refugee hiding out in the kitchen. It's then he learns the reason why Kazuma has come: to acquire the Lady Kikuri.

As Kazuma is being waylaid in his progress of finding Kikuri by a man intent on his demise, Yusuke finds the Lady in the temple and insists on her telling him what he'll need to do to kill Kazuma. However, he discovers she wants him to kill her instead but before he can, Kazuma enters the temple. Chaos ensues and as Kazuma and Yusuke battle, Hikage soon joins the fray--an act that leaves his sister outside unprotected.

But the confrontation proves to be only the beginning and as the swords are drawn, the questions remain: What exactly is Yusuke? Why exactly did Hiirage disappear? And more importantly, when his friendship with Hikage is tested, will Yusuke have the strength he needs to protect the girl?

The opening jumps about a bit but once through the first few pages, the plot begins to come together. It helps that there are a couple pages in the beginning designed to introduce the characters and story up to this point. Otherwise this is a fairly straightforward work, easy to follow once into it, and nicely broken up into logical acts within the chapter itself. It was plain who was speaking and the text was clear.

The characters at this point are fairly typical but some of the spelling and similarity of the names make it difficult to keep up with who's who at times (if one is not already familiar with the tale). The artwork, done by Aki Shimizu (probably better known for the Suikoden III [manga] series), provides a full spectrum of linework--from the classic line-and-frames style to the more free-flowing sketches that resemble charcoal and watercolor.

In essence, this is not a bad work and shows promise for future development. Being a more mature product with obvious adult themes and situations, getting a copy for the younger kiddies wouldn't be a prudent first choice but for older teens (17+) and adults, it can provide a fairly entertaining read.

Good job!

(Org.Pub: SFRevu.com)

Dover's collections of ghost, horror, and mystery stories are among the best deals in the paperback book world. I read this volume around Halloween, and it made what little hair I have left curl and vanish. The quality of the individual stories varies greatly, with the best being "Wandering Willie's Tale" by Sir Walter Scott, "Doctor Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the much-anthologized "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant. Also included is the classic "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs and "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker. In all, there are eighteen different stories by sixteen authors.

My copy of the book was purchased some many years ago and still looks great for a paperback, so you don't have to feel any compunctions buying a used copy in good condition.

This book will give you many hours of scary enjoyment. What more can I say?

Good book. Fast read. Had quite a few surprises. Would definitely recommend reading.

Saki's style is Roald Dahl by way of P.G. Wodehouse, which sounds great, but he comes up far short on both counts, in my opinion. I did end up only skimming this book because nothing was grabbing me. The pervasive animal imagery is also not my thing. In "Unbearable Bassington," I didn't get past the first couple of pages as the title character was already living up to his adjective too thoroughly. A pity, as I'd expected much, having recently come across a wonderfully glib Saki quote somewhere: "A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation." (A quick Googling finds that seems to be his best line; a couple of other good ones are "He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death" and ""Think how many blameless lives are brightened by the blazing indiscretions of other people.")

It was great. My Favorite was the story titled the Interlopers? Wolves.. That was a good ending.

This is a fine collection of literature to introduce students, and adults, to genres and methods of literary analysis. Highly recommended for an easily accessible overview.

We ordered the book Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes :Gold Level, instead we received Literature: Timeless Voices, Times Themes: The British Tradition.

We would to return the book and recieve a refund.

Thank you,

...other than that, it's a great bargain.

The research into the lives of each mobster is shallow and secondary at best. The writing is British style book which, considering the subject matter, seems contradictory. Finally, you read a chapter purporting to be biographical and finish realizing that you don't really have a sense of the person at all.

If you've never read anything about historical American organized crime figures, and plan never to read anything about them again, this might be just the book for you. After finishing it, you'll have little to no desire to do so.