Though the collection features seven apparently separate stories, they each repeat motifs from each other, so I think it would detract from them to read them separately. Moving from story to story was like waking up from a complicated dream; I found I couldn't recount exactly what I'd just read, but as I read on something occurred to remind me of the previous tale. The stories are equally beautiful and grotesque (which is capture brilliantly in the illustrations of this edition). At no point did they aim to be realistic, but that never made them less absorbing, and they felt true in all the ways that matter (the characters felt real, though they moved through an unreal world).

Edit: I forgot to mention that this book contains one of my favourite conceptions of the Christian afterlife & the meaning of life. The idea is presented in one of the earlier stories, and alluded to again later. Heaven. Hell and Purgatory will not be populated by real people, but by the fictional characters they create. Humans were created, therefore, for the purpose of imagining and thereby creating these citizens of the afterlife.

Impressive collection for her first published book. Not so much Gothic Horror as in the Romantic vein. I particularly liked the stories that were set in Denmark, "Supper at Elsinore" and "The Poet." So many stories within stories. She loves her frame tales.

4,5/5 - Når det er godt, er det noget af det bedste, jeg nogensinde har læst, men der er passager, hvor der simpelthen intet sker, og nogle af disse bliver ved alt for længe. Det er også godt, at Blixen er så god til at skabe situationer, figurer og stemninger - og samtidigt har så vidunderligt et sprog - for i forhold til plot eller nogen reel 'mening', sidder jeg ofte tilbage, når en fortælling er forbi, uden rigtig at vide, hvad jeg skal gøre af migselv eller stille op med det, som jeg lige havde læst. Bogen er også for tung i røven, der er knald på de første historier, og de sidste kan ikke helt holde dampen oppe igennem bogens næsten 450 sider. Der lyder måske ikke af meget, men når Blixen stopfodrer hver eneste side med så eventyrligt og 'quirky' (i ordets sjældent brugte men bedste forstand), så er 450 ikke bare meget men helt mastodontisk. Det tager 5 minnutter at læse en side, fordi en mand aldrig bare er en mand, en mand er altid en berømt ballonskipper, der ligner et renaissance-maleri, spiller bach på fløjte og har memoreret Flora Danica. Med andre ord; den er tætskrevet og skal nydes i bidder - men sikke nogle bidder. For det er godt, og det skal ikke lyde som andet, helt eminent faktisk, og havde det ikke været for den fortælling, der hedder 'drømmerne', havde den formentlig fået 5 stjerner. Det er en skam at afslutning har fået mig i det her humør omkring den, for efter de første 3 fortællinger tænkte jeg, at det her måske godt kunne blive min nye yndlingsbog, men ligesom du ikke kan leve af hummer tre gange om dagen en hel uge i træk blev det simpelthen bare for meget, og selvom det var med et smil, at jeg blev færdig med den sidste fortælling, var det også med et lettelsens suk.

Blah blah blah oh that's gruesome! Blah blah blah

Though the collection features seven apparently separate stories, they each repeat motifs from each other, so I think it would detract from them to read them separately. Moving from story to story was like waking up from a complicated dream; I found I couldn't recount exactly what I'd just read, but as I read on something occurred to remind me of the previous tale. The stories are equally beautiful and grotesque (which is capture brilliantly in the illustrations of this edition). At no point did they aim to be realistic, but that never made them less absorbing, and they felt true in all the ways that matter (the characters felt real, though they moved through an unreal world).

Edit: I forgot to mention that this book contains one of my favourite conceptions of the Christian afterlife & the meaning of life. The idea is presented in one of the earlier stories, and alluded to again later. Heaven. Hell and Purgatory will not be populated by real people, but by the fictional characters they create. Humans were created, therefore, for the purpose of imagining and thereby creating these citizens of the afterlife.