- Hardcover: 128 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (7 Dec 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571195121
- ISBN-13: 978-0571195121
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.4 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
319,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #90 in Books > Fiction > Horror > Parodies & Satires
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Occupying a similarly sinister and macabre world to the American artist Edward Gorey Tim Burton's work is similarly difficult to place. This is a beautifully produced book filled with fine line drawings--many in colour--illustrating 23 small verse stories which all centre on a surreal deformity--the eponymous Oyster Boy, Stain Boy, The Boy with Nails in his Eyes, Junk Girl, The Pin Cushion Queen...The tales are all quietly disturbing. As with Burton's cinematic work (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and Mars Attacks) the book seems aimed at children but the subtexts feel too disquieting. This however is where Burton's genius lies. Children are outcasts in the adult world and their own notion of what is important, grave, frightening and odd is different to ours. We each remember the child inside of us and so are each compelled to recognise the otherness within ourselves: the outcasts that Burton paints are somehow strangely well known to us. As dark and disturbing as the best fairy tales Burton shares a space with the Brothers Grimm--a place that all children know exists when the lights go out and the adults leave the room. --Mark Thwaite
Entertainment Weekly
'Burton's creepy stories conjure up the fantastical, even the slightly demented.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unusually enchanting and cherished read,
This review is from: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy (Hardcover)
This collection of poems are essentially short stories about misunderstood children, outcast from society and mentally tortured by their abnormalities. Such characters include “The Boy with Nails in His Eyes”, “The Pin Cushion Queen” and “Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy”. Each short story portrays the loneliness and sadness, which consume these characters as they struggle to find compassion, love and acceptance in their lives.Each story is simply, yet beautifully illustrated by Burton who designs the sets, costumes and mise-en-scene for his films in the same intricate manner. The illustrations are almost childish but provoke a feeling of deep sorrow in the reader. Each illustration is roughly coloured with faint watercolours enhancing the fragility and innocence of youth in these individuals. . In contrast to the saddening drawings, the poems are surprisingly funny in a twisted, typically Burton-esque way. The stories are a complex combination of humour and tragedy, disguising deep and serious subtexts with a light hearted mask. Although this book has the appearance of an illustrated storybook for children, the macabre subjects of the stories and satirical humour can only be fully appreciated by adults. But it is the childlike and innocent nature of the book which makes it such an unusually enchanting and cherished read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Quirky & Strange !,
By
This review is from: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: And Other Stories (Paperback)
"The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories" is a collection of 23 poems written and superbly illustrated by Tim Burton - the director of, amongst other things - "Sleepy Hollow", "Beetlejuice" and "The Corpse Bride". It features a number of characters such as Oyster Boy (obviously, I guess), The Girl With Many Eyes, Stain Boy and Anchor Baby. For the most part, the poems are very short - many are only a few lines long, while "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" is pretty much the longest in the collection. There are a few others - like "Robot Boy", "Anchor Baby" and (my favourite) "Mummy Boy" - that make it past a couple of pages.
There's a pretty gruesome thread running though the book, plenty of strangeness and a smattering of sad and / or lonely characters. While I wouldn't describe it as scary, I wouldn't neceaasrily recommend reading it while eating cheese just before going to bed ! Fans of Burtom's films - especially "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - should enjoy this.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Morbidity at its best,
This review is from: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy (Hardcover)
If you're like me and have a morbid sense of humour then 'The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy' is something you really should have bought already. If not, and you don't share my passion for the wierd and darkly comic then you should still buy it!Tim Burton is one of my favourite directors and this book shows a side that just concludes the theory of what a creative genius he is. The drawings are delicate and beautifully grusome and the stories/poems are funny and touching. It's just something you really cannot put into words. You have to see it for yourself. I love this book enormously. It's like a little piece of treasure to me! If you are a fan of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' then you will love this book and you will be able to see some likenesses between the characters in this book and that film. I love it also because you feel like you're getting a look into the imagination of Tim Burton himself and how the hell he comes up with his ideas!
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