Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most pleasure I ever had from a book, 15 Jan 2008
I first read this when I was 14 whilst recovering from a chill, and I devoured it in a couple of days. I have read it, and its companions, 'Gormenghast' and 'Titus Alone', five or six times since, and hope and expect to read them a few more times yet.
You read these books for their extraordinary prose, which has a flavour somewhere in the region between Dickens and Dali. While the plot is huge, intricate and subtle, plot remains secondary. The reader must allow the dense, intricate prose to paint its vivid pictures in the mind, as strange and idiosyncratic as the illustrations and paintings for which Peake is also famous. As a celebration of the English language he is there alongside the best of writers. Those in search of a good yarn may find such writing tedious, but for those who like to savour language this is a feast.
The books are frequently described as fantasy, but they are fantasy in a sense entirely distinct from the heroic fantasy tradition resurrected from the Norse, by Tolkien, Lewis and their like. In the world of Gormenghast what heroism there is, is bent and twisted and always ultimately futile. There is little space for moral manoeuvre where the roles of most characters are prescribed to a minute degree by an immutable ancient tradition. The world of Gormenghast is a vast crumbling castle, that has stood for time immemorial, isolated from the world outside. It could be anywhere or anytime. It is populated by a cast of characters made exquisitely eccentric by the castle and the entrenched, stifling tradition it represents. The wonderful characters whom we come to love and loathe include;
Dr Prunesquallor, obliged by his position to behave as a buffoon, but the one source of sanity throughout the insane unfolding of events. He is endlessly patient with his hugely neurotic sister, Irma.
Countess Gertrude, formidable mistress of a thousand snow white cats, who has more regard for her birds than for people.
Earl Sepulchrave, 76th Earl of Groan and father of Titus. He will go very mad.
Lady Fuschia. The sweet, innocent, vain, dear Fuschia whom we want so badly to protect from the cloying menace that surrounds her.
The mad aunts, Cora and Clarice, who take tea each afternoon in the boughs of a tree that grows horizontally from the side of the castle walls.
The fanatically loyal manservant to the Earl, Mr Flay, whose knees crack like pistols, and the despicable chef, Abiatha Swelter.
And then there is the wicked, wicked boy, Steerpike, who pulls the wings off flies and seeks to control them all.
These and numerous other more or less strange characters comprise the world of Gormenghast, into which is born Titus, destined to be the 77th Earl.
Whilst a whole industry has grown up around the emulation of Tolkien, the same cannot be said for Peake's Gormenghast, the other key 'fantasy' work of the mid-20th Century. This is because Peake was touched with a unique and original vision in the way that Kafka and Sartre were. Such writers were able to see through the contingencies of our world into other worlds so close to our own in form, yet utterly different in light and atmosphere, allowing them to create a backdrop for a strange and subtly distorted form of human experience. As events unfold we watch as the characters are deformed, each in there own bizarre way.
Having read a lot of fine literature I would say that these are among the world's great books and would be worthy of a posthumous Nobel. Everybody I know who has read them has had their imagination uniquely affected by the experience.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Utterly Wonderful -- you must read this book, 26 Feb 2002
By A Customer
I have just finished Titus and am now (sadly) coming to the end of Gormenghast. In both books it is not so much the story that is the main focus (although it is brillient) but the actual storytelling itself. Peake has an incredible gift with words, and you find youself mouthing passages out loud because they are so lyrical - in many ways this is more like a poetry than a novel. When I bought this my only concern was that it might be a bit too Tolkien-ish; ie.good bits are few and far between - this absolutely ISN'T. Every word is brillient and paints a perfect picture of life in the other worldly Gormenghast.The characters are described and developed by every action as well as their appearence and behavior so they too come vividly to life - more so than any other books I can think of. In parts they are quite Terry Pratchet-ish (like the doctor) whereas Clarice and Cora remind me of Lewis Carroll.
I am 15 and though I tend to be a bit of a bookworm I would recommend this to anyone my age (especially those who liked the Harry Potters but are now outgrowing them)as you do not need to be a fan of Lord of the Rings-like drivel to love this. I had never really thought such thing as a book that 'stays with you for the rest of your life' actually existed but Gormenghast has proved me wrong. It is one of those wonderfully escapist books where you can completely lose yourself in a different world. Highly recommended.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enormous pleasure to read., 26 April 2004
This is the first book of the Gormenghast trilogy (before Gormenghast andTitus Alone).
The castle of Gormenghast is a huge, maze-like fortress built on the sideof a mountain. It's surrounded by a tall wall, that helps keep the noble"Castle" people and their menials inside, and the "Bright Carvers", atribal people who live in mud dwellings, outside on the arid plain.
In this first volume, we're introduced to the castle's inhabitants, amidstthe bustle of Titus the seventy-seventh Earl's birth, and a few dayslater, of his christening. There's the melancholic Lord Sepulchrave, theseventy-sixth and current Earl of Groan, his enormous wife Gertrude andher white cats, and their teenage daughter Fuchsia. And there is Mrs.Slagg, the frail old Nanny who's always complaning about her poor heart,and Mr. Flay, the Earl's tall first servant with the clicking knees. Andalso Mr. Rottcodd, curator of the Hall of Bright Carvings, and Sourdustthe Librarian, guardian of the Protocol. Doctor Prunesquallor with hisnervous laughter, and his spinsterly sister Irma, as well as Swelter thetyrannic cook and his kitchen boys, among which the young Steerpike. Thencome Cora and Clarice, the Earl's asinine twin sisters, envious of his andGertrude's power... and a few others.
As the story flows, we watch these numerous protagonists interact, asSteerpike slowly works his way up the ranks of the castle. Charminghigh-born ladies, plotting arson, nothing daunts him. And what was a sowell-greased, fine-tuned machine of minutiae and protocol, the veryessence of Gormenghast, is starting to crumble slowly and inexorably.
It's very hard to summarize Titus Groan in a couple of paragraphs. It's sobrimming with court intrigue and mischief, interspaced with lushdescriptions of this amazingly intricate fortress where I wanted to escapeto, or play hide and seek in. As a whole, all I can say it that it was anenormous pleasure to read and that I can't wait to read the next book.
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