The Gormenghast Novels Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone: Amazon.ca: Books

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85 Reviews

5 star:		(67)
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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (85 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surreal greatness, May 3 2004

By

Megan Lambert (Pittsboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) (Paperback)

There are many books that I might as well not have read for all that I can remember of them, but Gormenghast remains vividly alive for me years later. The castle is more real in my mind than many places I've visited in reality. The settings and chatacters are so well realized that my imagination hardly had to fill in any blanks.

Grotesquery pervades nearly every passage, but not always of a revolting kind. Moments of great humor, suspense, dread, and outrage drive the story, with an engaging plot threading through the first two installments. The third breaks abruptly from the rest of the trilogy, and I don't pretend to understand why Peake chose to go in the direction he did. This is not to say that the third part is bad - it is quite good - but the continuity with the previous parts is nearly entirely cut. There remain strong thematic connections, and I do perceive an overall relationship and point, but I remain confused by the shift nonetheless. Perhaps you won't be.

I do not recommend this book for anyone looking for a page turner or who is put off by an unconventional style. Gormenghast is like a huge panoramic painting in words. Don't look for a linear, action-driven structure. Just dive in and let Peake's unparalleled prose transport you to one of the most complex and bizarre psychological landscapes around.

This edition also includes some critical essays by prominent writers. I have not finished reading these, but they appear very worthwhile.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A wonder ful fantasy, Jun 1 2004

By

Jackie M. Bachenberg "theoriginaljfmmb" (Canton, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) (Paperback)

It took me quite a while to get through this, but it was worth it.

Some of the reviewer's talk about all the symbolism, but I'd recommend reading the book just for the fantasy of it and the wonderful prose of Mr. Peake. Some reviewer's talked about how it was slow moving and boring. At times the pace of the book did slow, but in those times read for the beauty of the words and the vivid picture that is painted by those words.

This is a collection of three books, Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. I will admit that I enjoyed the 1st two books much more than the last, Titus Alone. Titus Alone seemed to take such a departure from the first two that I had a hard time relating it back to the first two.

I'd recommend these for someone who wants to get lost in another world.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A piece of literary genius, April 27 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) (Paperback)

As an avid reader and devourer of English literature, I was prepared to be disappointed in this "classic". I read the reviews, and I thought the story line sounded a bit preposterous, but I was intrigued enough that I thought I'd give Mervyn Peake a try.
I have never been so enthralled by a book before (and for me, that's saying something). I found myself racing through it so I could start reading it all over again. And I didn't just reread this trilogy, I lovingly dissected it.
Mervyn Peake was a genius with language-he painted pictures with his words. His command of the English language was masterful-I had to keep Webster's dictionary next to me as I read his works-he used words I didn't know existed.
The Gormenghast trilogy defies classification. Mere summaries cannot do it justice. This is, by far, the most profound book I have ever read.
Why couldn't I have found this book twenty years ago?

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Needed editing
A good story but needed some editing...has long dry passages that don't seem to add much to the story. Overall a very gothic feeling to the book... Read more

Published on Feb 10 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, Beautiful, Complex and Unforgettable
This book is almost impossible to describe. The Author, Mervyn Peake, is the same man who drew the 'Alice in Wonderland' illustrations that we all grew up with. Read more

Published on Feb 1 2004 by Scott A. Davis