I had read the Necklace by Guy De Maupassant years ago and I loved it! A couple of people had suggested to me long ago to read the rest of his stories, and I am glad I finally did.

I love short stories, and Guy De Maupassant is considered, and rightly so, I would now say, among the best. Although I would not just yet hurry to put him next to my most favorite short story writers, he certainly has earned a very favorable place in my reading heart.

I found his stories powerful, even shocking. If his stories were a picture, I think it would be a juxtaposition of light and dark shadows. His stories are dark and cynical, but with doses of light that shock you when you suddenly get to realize the darkness he held for the end before you even knew it.

Most (or all) Maupassant's characters are obnoxious and self-absorbed, shallow people. They repel you as much as they drawn you in.

What I found really interesting in reading Maupassant was that I felt in his writing the strong influences of other well known writers (whether were writers that might have been influenced by him or he by them). A couple stories, and in particular "A Peculiar Case," reminded me in a way Nabokov's cynicism in his novel Laughter in the Heart, albeit I find Nabokov darker and more extreme.

In other stories, such as "The Awakening," I was reminded strongly of its namesake story "Awakening" by the American author Kate Chopin. It would be interesting to make a comparison of how these two stories unfold and the  different ways they end.

In "Useless Beauty," I was reminded of Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary, which again develops, unfolds, and ends vastly different; nevertheless, the similar feelings and reminiscences that it evokes I don't believe that will be lost to the readers of both of these works.

Although I enjoyed all of them, most favorite stories of this collection for now are: Horla, Useless Beauty, The Necklace.