Customer Reviews

The Gormenghast Trilogy

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I won't go into detail about the stories themselves except to say that I think that the 1st 2 books of the trilogy are in my top 3 fictional books in modern English.

The 2011 hardback Vintage Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy is an improvement over Vintage's previous edition (which was Meridian's beforehand) in that they've got rid of some of the flagrant typos that were such a blight. Unfortunately, a lot still remain. They seem to be the result of bad optical character recognition (and inadequate proof-reading), e.g. "torn cat" instead of "tom cat", "day" instead of "clay", "splinteririg" instead of "splintering"! That doesn't explain "corosive", though. Don't these people have a spelling checker? I'm sure the edition I gave to a friend in 2001 didn't have nearly as many typos; alas, I can't remember the publisher.

Those who've seen previous editions will be familiar with many of Peake's illustrations. This edition has more of the same (though, for some reason, the picture of the starving girl, whom Titus takes home to Juno, has gone).

I have never read anything like this before. I am a huge fan of fantasy, but Mervyn Peake's style is truly unique. The trilogy is epic in proportion even though the first two books are set almost exclusively within the confines of Ghormenghast Castle. The characters are fascinating, complex and mad as badgers, every one. I loved these people. Peake writes with such descriptive love that you care about the characters and what happens to them. He creates such sympathy between you and the characters that you care despite their many flaws. My favourite character was Steerpike, and in anyone elses hands this character would have been odious, but I found myself on his side! The last book is perhaps the weakest, mainly because it is the claustrophobic atmosphere of the Castle that creates alot of the tension and atmosphere in the book, and having moved to pastures new in the last the tension is somewhat lacking. That said still a great read.
A deep, dark enthralling story which will keep you turning pages, and leave you with a slight aching sadness when you finish it.

I had pre-ordered this and having recently seen a stunning exhibition of Peake's drawings, was eagerly looking forward to its publication. I have to say that I am sadly disappointed though. The paper quality feels cheap and horrible and does not do the illustrations justice. I was also expecting the pictures to be more central to the volume but I do not feel they have been made the focus as I would expect in an "Illustrated" version. The prints seem pale against the page. Many are quite small and even the full page plates lack any impact at all. Such a shame.

Reading this book is like being fully immersed in an utterly fantastic world. The way of life is described in microscopic detail until the existance of a world outside gormenghast becomes unreal. When Titus ventures out of the castle, the world (and indeed our world) by comparison is a pale, washed out image of reality. This is a book with which I have become far more emotionally involved than anything I have read before or since. Every reading feels like a homecoming. Peake's imagery is beautifully, indulgently rich, and the prose has been written with constant precision I defy you to find one single line which does not read like poetry.

A disappointing production of what could have been a lovely book. The book is badly designed, with the illustrations (ab)used in a very poor way and badly printed on cheap paper.
What a shame.

I first read The Gormenghast Trilogy ("Titus Groan", "Gormenghast" and "Titus Alone") nearly 20 years ago as a teenager, after it was recommended to me by a friend. Having tried unsuccessfully to penetrate the posthumous Tolkein novel "The Silmarillion", I had almost given up on the fantasy genre. Thank God for Mervyn Peake. As I fell deeper and deeper into the trilogy it became my favorite work of literature, and a far, far supierior work to "Lord of the Rings". I have since read it 3 or 4 times and have not changed my mind. The first novel, Titus Groan, introduces the reader to a world that is at once mesmerizing and horrible. Very few of the characters are even remotely likable, but the reader is drawn to them nonetheless. It is Peake's triumph, then, to bring the reader to tears when these characters eventually meet their inevitable fates (all save the villainous Steerpike). The burning of the Library and it's consequences in "Titus Groan"is as violent as a rape. Titus' loss of the Thing in "Gormenghast" is more tragic than "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello" and "Oedipus" put together. Even the Countess commands total respect by the end of the second novel. The unspeakable blasphemy committed by young Titus leading into "Titus Alone" leaves us hollow with the loss of the monstrous castle, but it takes Titus into a world so far removed from his own that we hardly have time to notice. This is the story of Titus as an adult, in exile from all he has ever known, trying to come to terms with his irreversible actions. He enters a world that has more malevolence than Steerpike ever dreamed of, but also more real emotion, a first for Titus. His final (near) return to his birthplace triumphantly puts him on a new path, much the same way Britain and the world changed direction forever following World War II, and the way English literature changed forever following the publication of The Gormenghast Trilogy. It is one the finest peice of fiction ever written, and worthy of much more popular exposure than it has received in the 50 years since it was first published. I am proud to own a boxed (!) set of the Penguin paperback editions, complete with all of Peake's original illustrations.

There is no other book that I can think of that transported me so completely into its world as The Gormenghast Trilogy. Never before have I been so utterly absorbed by a book (and I've read a lot of books). When I finished it and was singing its praises to my friends, a few people said 'What happens in it then?' to which I found myself replying, 'Well, that doesn't really matter'. Because the thing that makes the Gormenghast books enchanting is the detail, the description, the characters. One of the things that I most loved was that initially, none of the characters seemed to have any redeeming features at all, but as the trilogy progressed, they became more and more complex and started to surprise me. Peake's characters are often compared to those of Dickens, but despite the fantastic setting, they will seem more real and vivid to you than anything Dickens ever wrote.

By the way, the accident in the schoolroom in Vol 2 is one of the funniest things I have ever read, although like everything in the Gormenghast trilogy, it's very, very dark. I can't say that Gormenghast was the most cheerful thing I've ever read, but as soon as I'd finished it, I started straight again.

A wonderfully written fantasy story, full of poetic imagery and the occassional epic similie long enough to make Homer or Virgil blush.

However this is a terrible edition, riddled with spelling mistakes and poor grammar. Whilst this may not sound like a huge issue, it quickly become frustrating when you are left questioning how a sentence works before realising that there are either no commas or they're in the wrong place. Also words such as 'a long' often become 'along' and other similar mistakes.

Buy the Gormenghast Trilogy, just don't buy this copy.

The book itself is excellent, great atmosphere etc. as everyone else has already said...however I give it 4 stars and am writing on here due to the fact that it's absolutely full of printing errors and has a habit of turning phrases like 'a long finger' into 'along finger'.

So if that kind of thing annoys you...just a warning.

Gormenghast, if it wasn't so long, should be studied at school, because it contains everything a classic text needs. an Intriguing plot, deep and interesting characters, detailed and vivid descriptions, and a style of narrative which really gives an epic feel to all the events. What a book! Steerpike is alone is a masterpiece, with reflections of the villain Iago from Shakespeares Othello shining through, he is the perfect anti-Hero, whom you will love even as he murders the innocent. His struggle against the Dynasty which had condemned him to a life in the Kitchens is nothing short of epic, as you see him destroy the system from the inside. brilliant.

I gave the book 4 stars however as i feel the final installment, Titus Alone, really lets the first two books down. The book is eratic, non-descript, and in many areas very difficult to follow plot wise. the characters also seem to act very oddly at various points, seemingly following no set character-development or characteristics. This can probably be put down to the fact that Peake was insane when he wrote it, and died before he finished it,leaving it to others to be finished. Overall though a stunning triology.