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Book Review of The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost
The Canterville Ghost
Author: Oscar Wilde
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback


An overly confident and not easily scared American family moves into a haunted British castle. The British caretakers know to fear the ghost that has caused as much chaos in life as he does death. The American children do not fear the nasty spirit that is running out of scare tactics to frighten the family. The American's daughter finds a connection to the ghost that may bring him peace.

I read this after I read The Picture Of Dorian Grey and I have never seen the movies based on this short story so my mind had no real thoughts on the story except that I knew it was supposed to be humorous. Again the author, Oscar Wilde, bring description like an artist brings paint to a canvas. The details are lovely and even in slow parts there is beauty in them

Something is missing in this compared to TPODG. I knew this was supposed to be funny and thought there would be some laugh out loud moments. For me there wasn't I could not fully connect maybe because this story was a commentary on British nobility. I just felt more a disconnect reading TCG then I did TPODG.

There are very few classic authors I like. Even though I thought The Canterville Ghost was okay a not great I will still try to read more Oscar Wilde at this point. His writing is a treasure.