The Pit and the Pendulum

 By Solana Cortez


 In honour of Halloween I was planning on treating you with a review of Frankenstein . Unfortunately, my copy has gone missing.

So instead I have decided to treat you with a little Edgar Allan Poe. Specifically, The Pit and the Pendulum. I know it's a short story, but short stories need love too. 

 

 

Summary:

The narrator has been convicted of a crime. What crime, the reader is never told. The story goes on to tell how the narrator manages to escape his punishment (shear luck, shear genius, and shear luck again). Each time he manages to avoid death, it comes at him again in a new form.

Highlights:

The detail is great. Poe engages all your senses. The reader can feel the slime on the prison walls, and smell the rotting fungus.

Recommendations:

Definitely mature junior high and beyond level. Not a story I'd read to a five year old unless I wanted to explain to his parents why he's having nightmares about demon eyes.

It's great for reading around a camp fire, or a Halloween read. I'm not telling you that these are the only times this sort of story is to be read. If you are in the mood for some dark reading that engages your senses then this is a good pick. I personally enjoy Edgar Allan Poe on a dreary day with some candle light to get into the mood.

Rating:

This is a classic, so you will probably be forced to read it for some class in your future. However, if you have managed to get through school without reading The Pit and the Pendulum you have been deprived of a very good read. If your children have not read this by the time they are through high school, you should question the quality of education they are receiving.

And to top it off, it is a few pages long. That means you can read it while in the doctor's waiting room, riding the bus, etc... So no excuses.

This story rates a MUST READ.

Until next time.  Happy Reading.  And Happy Halloween!