User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
It's hard to convey the joy I get from looking at almost all of Edward Gorey's work; I love it so. Whether you adore "The Unstrung Harp" or detest "The Gashleycrumb Tinies," If you're famliar with his work and love, like, dislike or hate it, you can skip this review. It won't hurt my feelings, and anyway I wouldn't know. But there are laughs to be had here and if you're new to him or adore him or want a refresher, there is thoughtful amusement, silliness and so much more in the four anthologies of which Amphigorey is first.
Gorey was a writer and illustrator who mainly created short works full of dark humor, deftly drawn in black-and-white panels, occasionally color. Words are perfectly married to the panels. In each panel something is off, sometimes a few things. A character has feet that are backward or looks like no creature we've seen before. A house, like that in "The West Wing," has panel after panel of rooms that are increasingly bizarre. He disliked the term "gothic" applied to his work but it is, and often with a Victorian sensibility. His sense of humor was wry and droll and generally dark. His graphic short novels are not all simplistic and sometimes the reader has to work things out.
He also did drawings for others' work, including illustrating John Updike's "Twelve Terrors of Christmas." He published some things under anagrams of his name. I mention this because like his body of work, this fun fact entertains my Nabokov-loving heart. Pen names included Dogear Wryde and Ms. Regera Dowdy. The guy was weird and I love weird.
Amphigorey is a gem for fans of Gorey. One sheltered-in-place day I ordered all four anthologies at once to cheer myself up (morbid, yes, and so cheering). I do wish I'd read them last to first because Amphigorey is his Best Of and it's like starting with dessert.
Here's a taste of his prose from "The Unstrung Harp," one of my favorite of his books, which opens Amphigorey. It's the tale of novelist C(lavius) F(rederick) Earbrass, whose prior work includes the successful "The Truffle Plantation" and "More Chains Than Clank," and who is now struggling to finish the novel "The Unstrung Harp" or TUH, as he refers to it, pondering, pondering, wherever he is.
From a panel in which he's in the bath:
"Several weeks later, the loofah trickling on his knees, Mr. Earbrass mulls over an awkward retrospective bit that ought to go in Chapter II. But where? Even the voice of the omniscient author can hardly afford to interject a seemingly pointless anecdote concerning Ladderback in Tibet when the other characters are feverishly engaged in wondering whether to have the pond at Disshiver Cottage dragged."
Part of another panel:
"Mr. Earbrass has finished Chapter VII, and it is obvious that before plunging ahead himself he has got to decide where the plot has to go and what will happen to it on arrival. He is engaged in making diagrams of possible routes and destinations, and wishing he had not dealt so summarily with Lirp, who would have been useful for taking retributive measures at the end of Part Three..."
Throughout Gorey's works children appear, generally in dire circumstances. He claimed not to like children and that's fairly obvious. These are with few exceptions not for kids and those ought to be purchased separately. His most famous book is "The Gashleycrumb Tinies," a satire of alphabet primers using children's names and...it's easily searchable on the web. I don't dislike it, I don't adore it but there are those for whom it may be a bridge too far.
Gorey insisted he was asexual and there's no evidence to the contrary. Another of my favorite books included here is "The Curious Sofa: a pornographic work by Ogdred Weary" (the pen name another anagram of Edward Gorey). It's not overtly racy but it's bizarre and hilarious. An increasingly large group of people gather for entertainments which are described and hinted at in PG-rated language and drawings.
But in one panel he writes:
"That evening in the library, Scylla, one of the guests who had certain anatomical peculiarities, demonstrated 'The Lithuanian Typewriter, assisted by Ronald and Robert..."
That's a brainworm for me, The LIthuanian Typewriter, silly as it is.
I take such delight in Gorey, I know I will read this again and again. The other three anthologies will be savored on days when I most need a lift. And if a day comes when the EMTs must take me to the ICU with covid-19, I will grab my Goreys and demand they go with. Possibly in the back of the ambulance I'll still be laughing at The Lithuanian Typewriter...It's all nonsense. Which is how Edward Gorey usually described his work: "Nonsense." Marvelous, internally coherent and FUN -- and if it's nonsense, it's nonsense that delights, stimulates and tickles. I never want to be so serious that there's no place for that on my shelves and in my brain.
Rating: really liked it
A Collection of Edward Gorey’s 1st 15 tales that are mostly out of print. This is the best way to be able to read Edward Gorey now. His first story was 1953 and the last in the collection was 1965. The artwork holds this collection together, but for the most part there is nothing that pulls them together accept Edward’s dark sense of humor. I can only imagine that during the 50s this would have been a fresh air of variety and something a bit different. I have no idea how this man got published in the 50s accept he was so good.
This is a fantastic collection of stories, probably more for the mature reader. The artwork is stunning. The story was a surprise and a delight if you can be delighted by a dark twist. There are 4 of these collections. Eventually, I will read them all.
Rating: really liked it
Filled with even more violent child deaths than its successor, Amphigorey Too, this collection of fifteen of Gorey’s earliest works is a catafalque of morbid delights. Beginning with Gorey’s debut, the metafictional masterpiece,
The Unstrung Harp, the reader is lead down a surreal path of the playfully grotesque. Insects make sacrifices to their vicious gods, an anthropomorphic houseguest makes a nuance of itself, guests at an orgy bear witness to the horrors of a sofa modified into an infernal device, a threesome of fops make a doomed expedition on a handcar, the alphabet is learned at the expense of twenty-six children and, in general, the many eccentrically named characters that populate Gorey’s world are fated with brief lives that only in end in uncertainty and terror. Gorey’s gothic sensibilities, Victorian settings, and art deco caricatures are already realized here at the start of his career. Nothing but a pleasure to read, I am sad there are only two other collections left for me to pour over and that Gorey never wrote in a lengthier prose format. His knack for rhythm and diction is to be admired and should be studied by anyone who wants to learn a thing or three about how to craft a sentence with gusto and panache.
Rating: really liked it
This volume contains The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Perhaps the best way for children to learn the alphabet and of the horrors of life.
Rating: really liked it
I loved this book! This is a collection of fifteen stories and drawings. Gorey's artwork is stunning. And his twisted, creepy sense of humor is just my cup of tea (not everyone's cup, I know). It can be dark but funny at the same time. It's not about some silly, creepy stories, there's a dark reality here that can be found outside this book. So, if this is too twisted and horrifying for you, can you survive watching the late night news?
My first Gorey was
The Gashlycrumb Tinies (review here). And I just immediately connected with this weird little man. Most of the times, there's a lesson to be learned in these stories. So, it's weird but also hmm... educational.
Nov 30, 13
* Also on my blog.
Rating: really liked it
I really enjoyed "Amphigorey", which is a collection of 15 books first published between 1953-1965. "Gashlycrumb Tinies", "The Listing Attic" and "Wuggly Ump" are a few of my favorites titles in this unique and sometimes bizarre book.
Rating: really liked it
If Shel Silverstein witnessed one too many crimes going unpunished and took a dark turn, this is what he would sound like. Or perhaps Dr Seuss injected himself with Science Juice, things went wrong as they are wont to do, and Edward Gorey emerged as his Mr. Hyde. In any case, these rhymes are insanely charming and bleak.
An incautious young woman named Venn
Was seen with the wrong sort of men;
She vanished one day,
But the following May
Her legs were retrieved from a fen.
There was a young woman whose stammer
Was atrocious, and so was her grammar;
But they were not improved
When her husband was moved
To knock out her teeth with a hammer.
The Suicide, as she is falling,
Illuminated by the moon,
Regrets her act, and finds appalling
The thought she will be dead so soon.
The Proctor buys a pupil ices,
And hopes the boy will not resist
When he attempts to practise vices
Few people even know exists.And of course the Gashlycrumb Tinies:
A is for AMY who fell down the stairs
B is for BASIL assaulted by bears...
Q is for QUENTIN who sank in a mire
R is for RHODA consumed by a fire...Just, like.....DAMN, dude.
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SECOND READ
The Unstrung HarpA meta-story about a writer writing a story. Beautiful and boring, like reading the world's best written grocery list.
The Listing AtticMorbid, intermittently French limericks.
A nurse motivated by spite
Tied her infantine charge to a kite;
She launched it with ease
On the afternoon breeze,
And watched till it flew out of sight.
The Doubtful GuestAn anteater (in scarf and tennis shoes) arrives at a house and silently makes itself at home. In rhyming couplets.
The Object LessonPresented in story form but every sentence is an absurd non-sequitur. My kind of thing.
The Bug BookSeven happy bugs are interfered with by a giant belligerent beetle so (view spoiler)
[they squash it with a big rock then throw a party. (hide spoiler)]The Fatal Lozenge26 alphabetic ABAB narrative poems.
The Orphan whom there's none to cherish
Strays through the gloom on naked feet;
She presently will fall, and perish
Unnoticed in some squalid street.
The Hapless ChildA devastating tragedy about a happy girl who becomes orphaned, gets turned out on the street, and then things get even worse.
The Curious SofaA cheeky tale filled with double entendres, scandalous innuendo, ribald suggestions and implications. But it never once outright states what is happening.
The Willowdale HandcarThree people ride a handcar down the railroad tracks and see lots of people as months go by.
The Gashlycrumb TiniesClassic.
E is for Ernest who choked on a peach
F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech
The Insect GodOne long narrative poem composed of ABAB stanzas. A little girl is kidnapped; her family waits in anguish and the police investigate in vain. (view spoiler)
[The kidnappers eventually sacrifice her to the Insect God. (hide spoiler)]The West WingNo words, just pictures of rooms. I can't make narrative sense out of it but it does showcase Gorey's wonderful textured ink illustrations.
The Wuggly UmpA very Seussian story, until it isn't. In rhyming couplets, three children play games while the Wuggly Ump gets closer and closer. In the end: (view spoiler)
[come on, this is Gorey. It eats them. (hide spoiler)]The Sinking SpellRhyming couplets again. Something is spotted sinking through the sky. It passes through the roof and every level of the house on the way down. It's never drawn, only observed by the characters.
The Remembered VisitA little girl visits an old man, then forgets the promise she makes him until it is too late.
Rating: really liked it
A is for Amy who fell down the stairs
B is for Basil devoured by bears
C is for Catherine smothered under a rug
D is for David done in by a thug
E is for Emily who slipped down the drain
F is for Fanny squashed under a train
G is for George stabbed with a safety pin
H is for Harold who drank too much gin
I is for Ida who drowned in a lake
J is for John who burnt at the stake
K is for Kelly who was smashed with a safe
L is for Lina blinded by mace
M is for Mary abandoned on the road
N is for Neville who licked a poisonous toad
O is for Ona stuck under a tree
P is for Polly who died of ennui
Q is for Quina who was already dead
R is for Rhonda who took poison instead
S is for Sally, she choked on a peach
T is for Timmy sucked dry by a leech
U is for Uma struck by an axe
V is for Velma shot in the back
W is for Wally who is no longer sane
X is for Xida who crashed in a plane
Y is for Yona squeezed to death by a vice
Z is for Zack eaten by mice.
Children meeting gruesome deaths while rhyming? Sign me up!
Rating: really liked it
I'm naturally wired to love Edward Gorey, his elegant and twisted pen-and-ink drawings, and his morbid tales and verses of death, tragedy, and general mishap. His adeptness at poking fun at Victorian tropes and the matter-of-fact, even lighthearted way with which he describes inexplicable mystery, terrible peril, and fatal accidents make him a delight for anyone who loves the Gothic tradition.
This collection gathers together fifteen of his illustrated books, including stories, verses, and picture books. It's outstanding for anyone who appreciates (or wants to appreciate) Gorey.
The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel catalogues the many woes of the literary life.
The Listing Attic is a series of stand-alone dark limericks, mostly in English (though a few are in French). As always, Gorey's drawings work hand in hand with his words. Here's an example of the limericks:
Each night Father fills me with dread
When he sits on the foot of my bed;
I'd not mind that he speaks
In gibbers and squeaks,
But for seventeen years he's been dead.The Doubtful Guest, told in rhyming couplets, tells the story of an unidentifiable and vaguely sinister guest who descends upon a family, wrecks their home in a mild kind of way, and refuses to leave for seventeen years.
"It was seemingly deaf to whatever they said,/ So at last they stopped screaming, and went off to bed." The Object Lesson is a thoroughly moody (and hilarious) prose tale of twisted Victoriana with such memorable ingredients as the Throbblefoot Spectre and the statue of Corrupted Endeavor. This is a favorite line of mine:
"On the shore a bat, or possibly an umbrella, disengaged itself from the shrubbery, causing those nearby to recollect the miseries of childhood."The Bug Book tells the story of how a happy community of bugs is waylaid by an interloper bent on breaking up their parties, and how the bugs work together to squash him "quite flat."
The Fatal Lozenge, one of my favorites, is another series of stand-alone verses, each playing with a Gothic "type." The illustrations are priceless.
The sight of Uncle gives no pleasure,
But rather causes much alarm:
The children know that at his leisure
He plans to have them come to harm.The Hapless Child is a tragic story of the Victorian "poor orphan" variety that culminates in the most melodramatic and fatal of ways, a dark revisiting of "A Little Princess" by Francis Hodgson Burnett.
The Curious Sofa, A Pornographic Work is a laugh-out-loud story of the delightful fall of Alice, who is innocently eating grapes in the park when she is invited to join what becomes an increasingly improbable debauch, escalating into a full-scale orgy holiday. The descriptions and illustrations rely wholly on inference and imagination, and thus are all the funnier.
The Willowdale Handcar, or The Return of the Black Doll is a delightfully creepy prose story about the ill-fated trip of Edna, Harry, and Sam, who simply wish to escape the monotony of quiet Willowdale.
"Afterwards, a gold ring embellished with leaves, grapes, etc. was found; inside were engraved IRON HILLS and the letters D.M.G., which last stood for the words 'Don't move, Gertrude.'"The Gashlycrumb Tinies (another personal favorite),
The Insect God, and
The West Wing comprise
The Vinegar Works: Three Volumes of Moral Instruction.
The Gashlycrumb Tinies offers an alphabet of rhymes depicting the myriad ways in which small children could meet ghastly ends. (I remain delighted that it begins with
"A is for Amy who fell down the stairs." Go me!)
The Insect God tells the horrific secret behind a little girl's kidnapping. (Human sacrifice, anyone?)
The West Wing relates its macabre tale through illustrations alone.
The Wuggly Ump seems like a cute nursery rhyme; it's all fun and games until someone gets eaten!
The Sinking Spell makes me laugh out loud with its depiction of
something -- we never see what exactly -- that a family witnesses descending from the sky, falling through the house, and ultimately descending into the cellar.
The collection ends with the truly poignant
The Remembered Visit, a story about memory, missed opportunity, and the finiteness of life.
Not everyone appreciates or enjoys the macabre, even cynical flavor of Gorey and his gorgeous art, but if you have a taste for the Gothic and a love of the morbid and bleak, as I do, then you need more Gorey in your life. This collection is a perfect place to start.
Rating: really liked it
And this, again, gifted from Dad in the 70's at which point I didn't appreciate it at all.
In the 80's, in college, were often around people who thought it was Incredibly funny and good and artistic and creative and whole shows put on with/of/about it all and so on. I was unmoved.
Unlike 'wild-and-crazy-guys' (different story), in this case, even when I was the right age it just wasn't my cup of tea. I get why it's great and all, but like Coen Bros' films, my reaction is not something I can control, it's just adjacent to (not within) that set of things that I, in fact, like. But I'm happy it's out there and others do enjoy it and life is good in that way.
Rating: really liked it
Absolutely delightful.
Rating: really liked it
Amphigorey, or amphigouri, meaning a nonse verse or composition. That is totally this book and the 15 stories included in it. Strange, dark, creepy....I love it. I'm certainly a fan of Gorey and can't wait to read the other 'Amphigorey' books.
Each story is told with various black and white drawings. I have to say, this book is *not* for children. Some of the stories are just ghastly, such as The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Learn your ABC's along with rhyming verse telling how small children die. I'm sure Gorey is not for everyone. But those looking for strange and unusual and macabre, this is for you.
Rating: really liked it
Edward Gorey's books are problematic for me. We go into the book store. I find one we haven't seen before and call the Office Kat over. We start thumbing through it, and pretty soon we are snorting with laughter, the tears are running down our cheeks and we are creating a disturbance in the store without intending to.
For Chrismas, the Office Kat received a deck of cards by Gorey that are similar to Tarot Cards. They have completely and accurately predicted her day every time she has used them. :)
Rating: really liked it
Not great literature, but there's more than one way to earn five stars. This guy's artwork is just delightful, and his twisted imagination and black humor are superb.
This is a collection of fifteen of his short books in one volume. If the people at my library knew what was in this book, they might rethink their placement of it in the young adult section. Some of it is quite grisly, and some of it is downright bawdy.
Rating: really liked it
I’ve been (forcing) Kai and I to read these every night. Well, most nights. Yesterday we got into a tussle over the limericks. We are both sick as a dog w covid. I complained that she wasn’t sounding jolly or bouncy enough and as a former slam poetry performer she should know about performing meter correctly!! Smh. My favorite story was “The Hapless Child”. It is so cruel and sad that it becomes comical. When the brute got the horrors I about lost it. Kai liked the insect god for its lovecraftian horror, she liked the other bug one because the ending was so abrupt and subverted her expectations, and also liked the hapless child. I loved the first story about the process of writing a novel. Sometimes reading them all together has a negative effect, because the constant child abuse and tragedy gets to be a little repetitive when it’s all at once like this. I get that it’s intentionally over the top so that it crosses the line into being almost funny/ridiculous, but sometimes it’s like jeez!! We are all really here for the illustrations and the beautiful lettering. I got the other 2 amphigoreys so I can’t wait to read more. It’s interesting to compare my reaction to The Hapless Child with my negative reaction to the graphic novel Megahex. Both are full of over the top violence, literally nothing good happens at all. Yet the Hapless Child made me laugh and was my favorite out of the whole collection while megahex repulsed me. Megahex was just bleak and nihilistic while this retains a certain charm. I am always bringing up a series of unfortunate events, but it is plain to see Gorey’s influence on Lemony Snicket. The sense of humor is the same, and Gorey’s illustrations remind me of Brett Helquist’s. Tim Burton as well. I just googled it and found this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8iA... wow!
