An Uncomfortable Bed by Guy de Maupassant

An Uncomfortable Bed by Guy de Maupassant

3 pages, eBook

Where I Got It: EastoftheWeb.com

Story Rating: 4 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Paranoid - Humorous - Intriguing

Summary:

A man is so certain that his friends intend to play a practical joke on him that he can’t sleep.

My Thoughts:

Cute story of a man spending all day in expectation of something, at first with pleasure, but as time goes on with increasing nervousness. It’s odd how having to wait extraordinarily long for something can make you less eager to receive it.

Quotes:

“My friends were fond of practical joking, as all my friends are. I do not care to know any other sort of people.” -Guy de Maupassant, An Uncomfortable Bed

“During the entire evening, everyone laughed in an exaggerated fashion. I smelled a practical joke in the air, as a dog smells game.” -Guy de Maupassant, An Uncomfortable Bed

“I searched in my memory for all the practical jokes of which I ever had experience. And I did not want to be caught.” -Guy de Maupassant, An Uncomfortable Bed

A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant

A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant

aka The Spectre, The Apparition, The Story of the Law Suit

7 pages, eBook

Where I Got It: EastoftheWeb.com

Story Rating: 3 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Curious - Ornate - Charming

Summary:

An old man recounts his frightening run-in with a ghost that occurred many years ago while trying to do a service for an old friend.

My Thoughts:

Pretty much your run of the mill ghost story, told with Victorian extravagance. Entertaining enough, though I wouldn’t say it was particularly scary, nor did I find the ending surprising, but it is beautifully told, and that if nothing else held my attention and made it enjoyable.

Quotes:

“—for ten minutes I was prey to terror, in such a way that ever since a constant dread has remained in my soul.” -Guy de Maupassant, A Ghost

“Unexpected sounds chill me to the heart; objects which I can ill distinguish in the evening shadows make me long to flee. I am afraid at night.” -Guy de Maupassant, A Ghost 

“He had fallen madly in love with a young girl and married her in a kind of dreamlike ecstasy. After a year of unalloyed bliss and unexhausted passion, she had died suddenly of heart disease, no doubt killed by love itself.” -Guy de Maupassant, A Ghost

“Branches of the trees softly caressed my face, and now and then I would catch a leaf between my teeth and bit it with avidity, full of the joy of life, such as fills you without reason, with a tumultuous happiness almost indefinable, a kind of magical strength.” -Guy de Maupassant, A Ghost