I admit to not liking Poe very much for his maddening, overly pompous writing style, full of quips written in other languages and the overuse of flowery language which is more befitting of poetry than prose. But here we find a story that has none of that. "The Gold-Bug" is actually written like a normal person. It is very easy to read and understand from beginning to end, and when I realized this, I began to enjoy the story. Keep that in mind for later please.
The story is less of a detective story and more of an unusual treasure hunt. I say this because it was included in the "Tales of Detection" section of my Poe collection. I think they did this because it has a mystery aspect to it which is expounded upon towards the end. I'm not going to spoil anything here because the fact this story exists in the way that it does is more interesting that what the story contains. If you are interested in treasure hunting stories or ones about cryptography, they are your only plot incentive to read this.
But was it good? Was it bad? What's going on with this one? And more importantly, do I recommend it? Listen... I really had to think about this one. Where it is true that I did enjoy it, it was in contrast to all Poe stories I hated. I liked it purely because it was more accessible to me. There were no quotes in other languages. The English language was simplified. The characters were simple to understand, although there was a small bit of dialect used. All in all, this was an easy read. Was it good though?
I was just coming out of his Dupin mystery series, and I expected this one to be just as bad... but it wasn't. It was a good read. I breathed a sigh of relief and did my best to enjoy it... and I did enjoy it... but not because it was a particularly good story. I was just happy that I wasn't frustrated by the writing.
The story of "The Gold-Bug"... is kind of... meh. It's... only mildly interesting. I'm not saying it's bad... but it didn't really thrill me by the time it was all said and done. And I think perhaps it may be a subjective point of view. I can see how someone can read this and think it was very good. It did not, however, speak to me very well. It only exists to me as a curiosity of a Poe story not written in the Poe style. It is essentially a Poe novelty.
"The Gold-Bug" is an "okay" story, but I don't really think it's good enough to recommend unless you are just curious to read a Poe story that is different than his usual fair. Since this is the last Poe story I will probably ever read, I should say that my favorite ones were "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and "Hop-Frog." Those two are wonderful and I consider them to be his best works. I hear a lot of people saying that "The Tell-Tale Heart" was good too, and it is, but it isn't a favorite of mine. Either way, that gets a recommendation too. That's it. I'm moving on.
This blog was written on March 22, 2023.
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Hilarious that Poe tried to amaze everyone with his intellect only to provoke you to roll your eyes instead. All he had to do is be sincere, and true to an actual thing he imagined to make his stories... good. Stories like Hop Frog were excellent because he channeled his passion into them.
ReplyDeleteAnd the one time he actually writes like a normal person, I just couldn't be bothered to care.
DeleteI read this one but barely remember it. I do remember that it was not his normal style. Least it wasn't bogged down with multilingual BS.
ReplyDeleteIt's good only because it was better than his other stuff... but there wasn't much more interesting than that.
DeleteIt is good when surprises are pleasant ones. That which is disappointing can lower your expectations. However a surprise, no matter how small, can lift one's spirits.
ReplyDeleteYeah a surprise is only a surprise.
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