Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Classic Southern Gothic Tales of Pandemic, War, and Memory (H B J MODERN CLASSIC)

I bought this because I had read that Porter's 'Pale Horse, Pale Rider" was a short story (but actually an autobiography) of her near-death to the Spanish Flu. I was writing an article on how my father died of the S.F. and it became part of my research.Now that the president caught himself Covid19, PH,PR is a must-read.She was a young woman dating a young army officer doing the night life (without social distancing) and suddenly she found herself in a terrifyingly, slow-motion nightmare. Then she realized when the nightmare would end, she would be dead. Then she realized-- no that would be giving away too much of the story.I'd never read Porter but her book has two other short stories I will be able to read when my covid-19 article is done.PH,PR gave me great insight and it helped me pin down the month/year my dad probably died, July 1920. You'll see that the date is odd but just like Porter, he came back from the dead, too.I don't normally read fiction but Porter could change my mind.

Three short novels collected in one volume. I thought the first - Old Mortality - brought a time and place to life vividly and created an almost voyeuristic feeling - not unlike those opening scenes of Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful. I felt like one of the characters, present though unacknowledged by the narrator. So perfectly realized were these characters that I recognized cousin Eva Parrington pages before Miranda did. She was a tart middle-aged lady that I'd have loved to have spent more time with. The second short novel is the very famous Noon Wine - a tragic family saga that plays out in roughly sixty pages. It had a bit of a Steinbeck feeling to it - farm life, drudgery, menace and a final brutal ending. The titular story is the last in this collection. It is a love story, and again a tragic tale about the capricious nature of love and life and death. This is another of Miss. Porter's 'Miranda' stories. Set at the close of WWI the drama involves the great influenza epidemic and the horrific toll in human suffering. Does it sound like bleak material? The writing is so rich and evocative that ones remains enthralled from beginning to end. Great artists render sorrow and tragedy palatable, even beautiful.

Having never read anything by Katherine Anne Porter before, this book of short novels is a fine introduction. All three stories are good. But my favorite was Noon Wine. The notes on the life of Porter at the end of the book reveal that she lived a long and interesting life.

As a student majoring in American and English literature I never read much Katherine Anne Porter, or other southern female writers. I have since found them to be an expression of language that seems to come from nowhere else - there is a magic to it. The south is another world (one I discovered in 1961 in Natchez, MS) This Yankee Ivy League girl found a home in the south and it has been my home and fascinated me ever since. Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Conner, Carson Mc Cullers, then Gail Gilchrist, Gail Godwin are all authors worth reading - there are more, too. Something I read recently prompted me to look back at the great books by southern women. Carson McCullers' "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is a real tear jerker to me today! Try it.

First story was mildly depressing, second story much more depressing, last story actually uplifting. Biographical notes at end displays her ups, downs, and spiritual detours of a life spent looking for answers and accepting temporary “solutions” to her search.A well written collection to be honest, just not my cup of tea. Her third story about her brush with Spanish Flu fit quite nicely between my reading Karen Spinney’s Pale Rider and Pandemic 1918 by Catherine Arnold. Worth reading but not a highly recommended collection.

The three novellas were amazing but the story Pale Horse, Pale Rider completely grabbed me. The topical currency and feel of the story was enhanced by incredibly writing. This is a must read as we're experiencing the pandemic - know that this has been experienced before and impacted lives. Porter's descriptive writing and talent proves that less really can be more.

I may have read one of her short stories in college but had never read these three short novels. How could I have missed one of the seminal writers of the 20th Century? Her writing is sublime! Her endings make you think. She is wonderful!

I learned about this short novel while watching a documentary about the influenza epidemic of 1918. Some parts of it were quoted which made me want to read it. Basically a young woman who was a newspaper feature writer loves a young man who is an army lieutenant who loves her. She becomes ill with influenza and he cares for her until she is admitted to a hospital. Against all odds she survives and awakens to world where she had lived, but the man she loved had died of the same illness. She stated that she felt her life was divided from that moment on. I've heard about this story for years and I am glad I read it. Of course the pale rider on the pale horse was death.

I managed to read one novella in this collection PALE HORSE PALE RIDER and it is romantic, artistically ambitious, and gives a powerful portrait of life in 1918, how people spoke back then, how independent women lived and above all else an impactful depiction of what it was like to nearly die from Spanish flu. The e format froze completely on my iPhone Kindle reader. Indeed it froze the entire Kindle reader at times sticking me on the front cover of the print edition and unable even to navigate the app. When I relaunch the app, I can read other books. There's something odd about the e format of this edition.. There seems to be no way to tell Amazon about this kind of issue. If I delete the book, it will disappear from all devices and I need to finish it for my reading group. If I delete it, the money I spent on it would be lost. I ain't that rich. Plainly this could not happen with a printed book. I may re-order a print copy but I promise it will not be through Amazon.

This collection surprised me in the variety it possesses. The first story, 'Noon Wine', is like a darker version of a Jane Austen coming of age tale, rife with family complexity. 'Old Mortality' is a tense story about a mysterious visitor, which has a tragic conclusion. The final story, which lends its name as the title of this collection is like a fever dream.An engrossing and well written book which prompted me to find out more about the author.

At first I wasn’t sure about this book, but it was well written and the storyline was very different, but nonetheless gave you a feeling for what life was like for ordinary people in this period of American history.

A good book! Three short novels. Her concern is evil, death and in one of the tales pale horse pale rider probably referring to one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse and the influenza pandemic 1918. Buy it.

If you've never read this book, it's worth the effort! Porter is a master story-teller, with three gripping tales. It was a different time and a different style of writing, but haunting and memorable.