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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I'd seen a made-for-TV adaptation for Gormenghast and picked up the books to see what they were like. They are really fun. Peake creates a small city-state that never changes, until Titus is born. So good.
This book is an odd one in that I loved it, and yet I struggle to justify recommending it. Not exactly a glowing opening sentence for a review, when I do mean that something in the atmosphere of this book is exactly what I have wanted aesthetically. I think it's that, not unlike other media I enjoy that tickles some deep feeling in me but I rarely talk about to others (Carnivale being one), the book revels in its setting and makes you feel it like a thick fog around you. Weighed down with such strong and evocative language, the pacing lumbers, feeling heavy and slow. Things happen, but not in any rip-roaring way, or even Poelike way given this series is generally identified as gothic. It says something that Lord of the Rings felt pretty fast-paced in its language after this, Dickens' David Copperfield on-par.
Titus Groan of the Gormenghast series is technically a fantasy as well, but will inevitably disappoint anyone picking it up for that reason. It lacks pretty much all of the usual genre trappings except for the weirdness of an eccentric alternate culture, designed to be a grotesque caricature at all times. Gormenghast castle is a sprawling, yawning, and ponderous thing of endless towers surrounded by a village that its inhabitants rarely interact with outside of ceremonial events. In true gothic form, the place has a gloomy, labyrinthine personality of its own. Its Earl of Groan, Lord Sepulchrave, has just had a son, dubbed Titus. His wife the Countess Gertrude is the original cat lady, also obsessed with birds, and actually quite intimidating and also sharply competent when not absorbed with her animals, which she is most of the time. Likewise, the eldest daughter Fuchsia lives in her own self-absorbed fantasy world of which she is protective, and so isn't exactly all there herself. None of the characters are particularly attractive, in personality or in looks. The doctor Prunesquallor seems the most grounded and moral of the lot, but even he is prone to sardonic speaking and a habitual irritating laugh that punctuates a lot of his dialog. If the name choices themselves are any indication, the cast might as well be DaVinci's studies of grotesques--sometimes literally, as Peake was also an illustrator, and my edition included the odd character sketch by him.
Then there's Steerpike. The infant Titus actually doesn't have much to in this book, but rather the whole plot is pedaled forward by Steerpike's Machiavellian rise to power. A former kitchen boy abused by the hulking, abhorrent Chef Swelter, he escapes by climbing onto the castle's roof(s) and stumbles into Fuchsia's secret room where she keeps her collection of various things conducive to her private sense of fantasy. She's the first person he truly shows his manipulative chops with, putting on a clown show that pinpoints her exact level of fancy, enchanting her in spite of her anger at his presence in her secret room. From there, she helps him become the apprentice of Prunesquallor, and the next thing you know Steerpike is pulling every string he can find to build his hold over the whole of Gormenghast--particularly in regards to the uncanny and dull-witted twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Clarice and Cora, who feel entitled to their thrones over Gertrude, who they seem to loathe in particular.
The book, in its way, feels a lot like a class commentary when I sit with it. Steerpike is by no means good, but all of the blue-bloods are so self-absorbed in their eccentric obsessions as to feel like parodies of plush aristocrats. The servant characters, while also alien in their own ways, feel more put-upon and half-mad as maybe a kind of vicarious stress from whom they serve. A major side story revolves around Keda, a woman from the surrounding villages who enters the castle briefly as a nurse to Titus. She leaves shortly after, but we continue to follow her and the tragedies of her life afterward, with both shows us glimpses of the world outside the castle but is also treated with the least amount of dark humor and grotesquery from Peake. The people outside the castle still feel otherworldly, but not nearly as alien as the people inside.
Gormenghast is also beholden to strange, elaborate rituals that must be done to the letter, and this makes the very culture of it stifling to everyone involved. I don't know enough about Peake to guess what he might be parodying here, but it's clearly a parody of something nonetheless. In a way, I wish even more classical fantasy novels would do some of the things this book does, between the genuinely weird characters and the fun being poked agonizingly esoteric ceremony, and then the odd fact that Peake feels both aware and also sincere in his portrayal of all these things and the dramas of their lives. But again, this book is nearly unrecognizable as a fantasy.
Mervyn Peake ultimately wants to wrap you in the atmosphere of this book like a thick shawl, and doesn't mind how much he has to layer on to do it. For example, this is from an early description of Swelter as he preaches drunkenly to his kitchen boys: "His voice came down from the shadows in huge wads of sound, or like the warm, sick notes of some prodigious moldering bell of felt." The whole book is written like this. Peake wants you to roll in what this place feels like, as if drenching you in tar. And, for better or for worse, it's one of the things I love about it, even as it sometimes felt like years before I finished a paragraph of text. Titus Groan is probably more for people who like A Series of Unfortunate Events or Dickens than fans of stuff like Name of the Wind or Wheel of Time.
Titus Groan of the Gormenghast series is technically a fantasy as well, but will inevitably disappoint anyone picking it up for that reason. It lacks pretty much all of the usual genre trappings except for the weirdness of an eccentric alternate culture, designed to be a grotesque caricature at all times. Gormenghast castle is a sprawling, yawning, and ponderous thing of endless towers surrounded by a village that its inhabitants rarely interact with outside of ceremonial events. In true gothic form, the place has a gloomy, labyrinthine personality of its own. Its Earl of Groan, Lord Sepulchrave, has just had a son, dubbed Titus. His wife the Countess Gertrude is the original cat lady, also obsessed with birds, and actually quite intimidating and also sharply competent when not absorbed with her animals, which she is most of the time. Likewise, the eldest daughter Fuchsia lives in her own self-absorbed fantasy world of which she is protective, and so isn't exactly all there herself. None of the characters are particularly attractive, in personality or in looks. The doctor Prunesquallor seems the most grounded and moral of the lot, but even he is prone to sardonic speaking and a habitual irritating laugh that punctuates a lot of his dialog. If the name choices themselves are any indication, the cast might as well be DaVinci's studies of grotesques--sometimes literally, as Peake was also an illustrator, and my edition included the odd character sketch by him.
Then there's Steerpike. The infant Titus actually doesn't have much to in this book, but rather the whole plot is pedaled forward by Steerpike's Machiavellian rise to power. A former kitchen boy abused by the hulking, abhorrent Chef Swelter, he escapes by climbing onto the castle's roof(s) and stumbles into Fuchsia's secret room where she keeps her collection of various things conducive to her private sense of fantasy. She's the first person he truly shows his manipulative chops with, putting on a clown show that pinpoints her exact level of fancy, enchanting her in spite of her anger at his presence in her secret room. From there, she helps him become the apprentice of Prunesquallor, and the next thing you know Steerpike is pulling every string he can find to build his hold over the whole of Gormenghast--particularly in regards to the uncanny and dull-witted twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Clarice and Cora, who feel entitled to their thrones over Gertrude, who they seem to loathe in particular.
The book, in its way, feels a lot like a class commentary when I sit with it. Steerpike is by no means good, but all of the blue-bloods are so self-absorbed in their eccentric obsessions as to feel like parodies of plush aristocrats. The servant characters, while also alien in their own ways, feel more put-upon and half-mad as maybe a kind of vicarious stress from whom they serve. A major side story revolves around Keda, a woman from the surrounding villages who enters the castle briefly as a nurse to Titus. She leaves shortly after, but we continue to follow her and the tragedies of her life afterward, with both shows us glimpses of the world outside the castle but is also treated with the least amount of dark humor and grotesquery from Peake. The people outside the castle still feel otherworldly, but not nearly as alien as the people inside.
Gormenghast is also beholden to strange, elaborate rituals that must be done to the letter, and this makes the very culture of it stifling to everyone involved. I don't know enough about Peake to guess what he might be parodying here, but it's clearly a parody of something nonetheless. In a way, I wish even more classical fantasy novels would do some of the things this book does, between the genuinely weird characters and the fun being poked agonizingly esoteric ceremony, and then the odd fact that Peake feels both aware and also sincere in his portrayal of all these things and the dramas of their lives. But again, this book is nearly unrecognizable as a fantasy.
Mervyn Peake ultimately wants to wrap you in the atmosphere of this book like a thick shawl, and doesn't mind how much he has to layer on to do it. For example, this is from an early description of Swelter as he preaches drunkenly to his kitchen boys: "His voice came down from the shadows in huge wads of sound, or like the warm, sick notes of some prodigious moldering bell of felt." The whole book is written like this. Peake wants you to roll in what this place feels like, as if drenching you in tar. And, for better or for worse, it's one of the things I love about it, even as it sometimes felt like years before I finished a paragraph of text. Titus Groan is probably more for people who like A Series of Unfortunate Events or Dickens than fans of stuff like Name of the Wind or Wheel of Time.
Some random thoughts in no order:
- Atmosphere, prose, and characterization are A+ in this book. The plot line feels just ok in comparison.
- I loved the sense of loneliness and unrequited love throughout the novel. There are so many different types of loneliness and missed connection throughout all of the characters
- I found it very interesting the change in tense about 2/3 through the book. I’m not sure if I’ve encountered something like that as a literary device and I did like it quite a lot
- You can tell Mervyn Peake is an artist by the way he describes things. Lady Irma being reference by her iliac crest was such a figure drawing thing to write. The way he describes lights and shadows and the objects changing in color with those things is clearly from the perspective of someone who knows color and lighting theory.
- I think its interesting that all of the female characters are almost all described as more emotional and less intellectual. If the book were published today I would be unhappy with this discrepancy, but given the time period I am mostly just happy with how fleshed out and unique all of the female characters are.
- Fuschia is maybe the only quibble I have with the characterization? At first I thought it was a brilliant description of a 7 or 8 year old girl. But she just doesn’t read as 15 to me.
- I think the intro 2 chapters are among the most memorable I have read in a long time. A+
A deft balance of contrast between ghastly, satirical caricatures and their exquisitely authentic setting. I found the puerile action of the plot a little arduous; but the metaphors were solemn, the imagery was lush and the language was precise.
actual rating: 4.5
I've been a huge fan of the BBC miniseries adaptation of this series for the past 15 or 16 years and had always wanted to read the book but was afraid that I wouldn't like it as much. Thankfully I was incredibly wrong about that! With very few exceptions [no matter how much I try I just can't bring myself to become invested in either Flay or Swelter] the characters are interesting and engaging and even though I more or less know what happens I still couldn't wait to read more.
I will say that Peake can be a bit too wordy for my personal taste at times but I found that listening to the audio really helped with that and I think he's created an absolutely fascinating world that more than makes up for it. It's so much fun to watch Steerpike think circles around everyone else because they are all too stuck in their ways and thinking about traditional and always doing things in the exact same way that they always have. Definitely can't wait to read the next book!
I've been a huge fan of the BBC miniseries adaptation of this series for the past 15 or 16 years and had always wanted to read the book but was afraid that I wouldn't like it as much. Thankfully I was incredibly wrong about that! With very few exceptions [no matter how much I try I just can't bring myself to become invested in either Flay or Swelter] the characters are interesting and engaging and even though I more or less know what happens I still couldn't wait to read more.
I will say that Peake can be a bit too wordy for my personal taste at times but I found that listening to the audio really helped with that and I think he's created an absolutely fascinating world that more than makes up for it. It's so much fun to watch Steerpike think circles around everyone else because they are all too stuck in their ways and thinking about traditional and always doing things in the exact same way that they always have. Definitely can't wait to read the next book!
I guess this is a fantasy? Very gothic, certainly.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things that were entertaining:
-Cast of characters. what a zany bunch!
-Gloomy foreboding atmosphere. Something ain't right in Gormenghast! Not sure yet what it is, but it sure ain't.
Things that didn't grab me:
-Very slow. This follows the first year of baby Titus' life, from the time his mother abandons him to the date his father abandons him, making him the new earl. As he is the principle character but also preverbal at this point, we spend a lot of time following the rest of the household in odd vignettes.
-Very odd. People are havin' duels, committing arson, luring birds and falling asleep mid-sentence every which way. I didn't understand what happened to his father, or with the wet nurse really either.
-Narration. The narrator here was talented, in that he could do many weird voices, but importantly, audiobooks must be understood to be appreciated. I definitely missed some things to whinnying and growling and whatever else was going on.
Fun to have read such a classic, glad to have it out of the way, no intention to continue.
CONTENT WARNING:
Spoiler
depression, child neglect, house fire, loss of a child, classism, violenceThings that were entertaining:
-Cast of characters. what a zany bunch!
-Gloomy foreboding atmosphere. Something ain't right in Gormenghast! Not sure yet what it is, but it sure ain't.
Things that didn't grab me:
-Very slow. This follows the first year of baby Titus' life, from the time his mother abandons him to the date his father abandons him, making him the new earl. As he is the principle character but also preverbal at this point, we spend a lot of time following the rest of the household in odd vignettes.
-Very odd. People are havin' duels, committing arson, luring birds and falling asleep mid-sentence every which way. I didn't understand what happened to his father, or with the wet nurse really either.
-Narration. The narrator here was talented, in that he could do many weird voices, but importantly, audiobooks must be understood to be appreciated. I definitely missed some things to whinnying and growling and whatever else was going on.
Fun to have read such a classic, glad to have it out of the way, no intention to continue.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes