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undeadcleo's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
bunnieslikediamonds's review
2.0
I appreciated the dark humor of this Gothic tale, but found it ultimately disappointing. The unreliable narrator, Sir Hugo, is a nasty piece of work, and while his ravings are entertaining they become tiresome after a while. I kept thinking this would have worked better as a novella.
trudilibrarian's review
1.0
This is a weird one. It had enough in it to keep me reading, but I think I only stuck with it because it was on the short side. Lots of people have commended McGrath for his writing style, but I found it a bit over done and taxing. I appreciate what he is trying to accomplish here, but it just didn't work for me. No one is sympathetic, let alone the narrator, and the ending bit the big one. Witty? Insightful? Clever? No. No. No. Great idea, poorly executed.
thestephgray's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jinjer's review against another edition
5.0
Well, this is annoying. The cover in this review matches the cover of my book, but if I plug in the ISBN from my book, a completely different cover image pops up. I don't like that! Who is in charge of data entry / scanning / cover image matching around here and may I please have their job?
Anyway, this is my second McGrath novel and I enjoyed it way more than [b:Dr. Haggard's Disease|23020|Dr. Haggard's Disease|Patrick McGrath|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347758109l/23020._SY75_.jpg|3180595].
The Grotesque was a real page turner and also reads a bit like a 1930s screwball comedy. Sir Hugo has had a stroke or something so he's telling us his story while locked inside his own body, unable to move or speak. Everyone but his daughter thinks he's a vegetable. Even his doctors. The man he suspects of murder keeps turning Sir Hugo's wheelchair so that he's facing the wall.
This book is only 178 pages and could easily be read in one sitting but I wanted to take my time with it so I kept forcing myself to do other things, like laundry, dishes, meal planning, etc.
Unfortunately, the movie with Mr. Bates from Downton Abbey, Queen Cersei from GOT, Sting and wife Trudie Styler, is bloody awful. Don't waste your time.
Anyway, this is my second McGrath novel and I enjoyed it way more than [b:Dr. Haggard's Disease|23020|Dr. Haggard's Disease|Patrick McGrath|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347758109l/23020._SY75_.jpg|3180595].
The Grotesque was a real page turner and also reads a bit like a 1930s screwball comedy. Sir Hugo has had a stroke or something so he's telling us his story while locked inside his own body, unable to move or speak. Everyone but his daughter thinks he's a vegetable. Even his doctors. The man he suspects of murder keeps turning Sir Hugo's wheelchair so that he's facing the wall.
This book is only 178 pages and could easily be read in one sitting but I wanted to take my time with it so I kept forcing myself to do other things, like laundry, dishes, meal planning, etc.
Unfortunately, the movie with Mr. Bates from Downton Abbey, Queen Cersei from GOT, Sting and wife Trudie Styler, is bloody awful. Don't waste your time.
damitajo's review
4.0
Ok but I’m kind of upset that we’ll never know what happened really between Sidney and the butler.
The writing was brilliant but at times it felt like the author dwelled too much on an instance or a subject. To the point that it became frustrating. I don’t mind the unreliable narrator but surely there could have been other ways to move the plot along.
The writing was brilliant but at times it felt like the author dwelled too much on an instance or a subject. To the point that it became frustrating. I don’t mind the unreliable narrator but surely there could have been other ways to move the plot along.
smcscot's review
4.0
A modern disciple of Shirley Jackson, McGrath unfolds the gothic tale with grace and alacrity. His characters are well founded, even if they just have short appearances in his stories, and his plots are devious and unique. Even in this story, a veiled mystery, that weaves and rocks and takes the reader to expected places in an unexpected way. Yet in the end there is no true revelation, as is usual in mysteries.
Unabashedly literary, fantastically horrific, and wonderfully gothic, McGrath hits it on the nose again with this one.
Unabashedly literary, fantastically horrific, and wonderfully gothic, McGrath hits it on the nose again with this one.
wynne_ronareads's review
5.0
What great fun! Patrick McGrath's gothic mystery novel, "The Grotesque," was my Halloween book this year. I've ready McGrath's work before, but I was pleasantly surprised that this particular novel has not only the dark-twisty-turnys that McGrath is known for, but also moments of laugh out loud dark humor.
The story opens on Sir Hugo, who is confined to his wheelchair within his stately manor home. Sir Hugo is physically incapacitated, but he is mentally all there. He cannot move or speak, and is instead forced to witness his former butler, Fledge, romance his wife and forgo the care-taking of his home and years of archaeological work, which have fallen into disrepair.
But how did this happen? How did Sir Hugo end up a vegetable, forced to watch his wife philandering under his own nose? The story is full of suspense, a mysterious crime and even more grim characters who skulk around Sir Hugo's dark and dreary manor. That Sir Hugo is prone to coughing fits that require hefty slaps on the back and that he's one of the most crotchety characters to appear in fiction in several decades is only half the fun. This is a quick read, one that delivers on both mood and mystery, but will leave you with questions of the character's sanity. Humorous material indeed!
The story opens on Sir Hugo, who is confined to his wheelchair within his stately manor home. Sir Hugo is physically incapacitated, but he is mentally all there. He cannot move or speak, and is instead forced to witness his former butler, Fledge, romance his wife and forgo the care-taking of his home and years of archaeological work, which have fallen into disrepair.
But how did this happen? How did Sir Hugo end up a vegetable, forced to watch his wife philandering under his own nose? The story is full of suspense, a mysterious crime and even more grim characters who skulk around Sir Hugo's dark and dreary manor. That Sir Hugo is prone to coughing fits that require hefty slaps on the back and that he's one of the most crotchety characters to appear in fiction in several decades is only half the fun. This is a quick read, one that delivers on both mood and mystery, but will leave you with questions of the character's sanity. Humorous material indeed!
spygrl1's review against another edition
3.0
The strange story of Hugo Coal, country gentleman. Hugo's still active mind narrates from the shell of his body, now paralyzed and mute after a "cerebral incident." Hugo seeks to explain how both his body and his wife betrayed him, how his butler usurped him, how his daughter lost her mind, and how her fiance's bones came to be pig-gnawed and buried in the local marsh. He lays out his view of events, and then toward the end of his narration he presents and dismissed the counterargument of his friend and servant George Lecky, destined to hang for the murder and dismemberment of the hapless fiance.
So, who is to be believed? From the clues Hugo drops, it seems likely that George is telling the truth: Hugo killed the fiance, probably his clandestine lover, in a drunken rage when the young man tried to blackmail him.
It's a clever ending, cleverly hinted at throughout the book, but ... I think it would have been more fun if everything were truly the fault of the malevolent butler. Because if Hugo is guilty, then the whole novel feels a bit like laughing at the deluded, repressed wreck of a man.
So, who is to be believed? From the clues Hugo drops, it seems likely that George is telling the truth: Hugo killed the fiance, probably his clandestine lover, in a drunken rage when the young man tried to blackmail him.
It's a clever ending, cleverly hinted at throughout the book, but ... I think it would have been more fun if everything were truly the fault of the malevolent butler. Because if Hugo is guilty, then the whole novel feels a bit like laughing at the deluded, repressed wreck of a man.
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