Disagreeable Tales

Don't come around me with a silken beard, I have a box of matches

This was an interesting read. Reminded me of the blustering, exaggerated style of Victor Hugo combined with Stephen King. Bloy uses horror and just plain malfeasance to address the condition of fallen of mankind. There is a real spiritual, almost religious feeling about these tales. I would definitely recommend them.

An excellent way into the problems faced by the secular world. As the translator notes, a person stands before the judgments from eternity in each moment of his or her life. The secular world would make of life a perpetual vacation, taking time off from work, distraction from the core issue. The religious sees life as a mission, an ordeal, a test, and a victory.

It does not have "a plot" or rather it has thirty, since it's a collection of short stories. Tales of darkness, depravity and murder, corruption and decadence.- with a 19th century Catholic moralistic viewpoint. A most remnarkable volume and one I highly endorse.

mysterious

It's a gift to have these stories translated into English! Bloy was writing in the heat of the modern French literary movement, an oddball out in many ways: an erudite Catholic who felt deep disgust with the way humanity was going, a wicked sense of humor shaping his observations. For folks interested in Symbolism, early French modernism in literature, or who just like a twisted short story, I recommend this collection.

A+