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bgudmundr 's review for:
Titus Groan
by Mervyn Peake
Where to begin? The writing is beautiful and lush, everything is described in minute detail, and you are never left wondering how something, or someone looks. It contains a very consistent setting, tone, and overall mood. Dreary. Oppressive. Melancholic. I have never read something that quite so readily transported me into the mind of one of its characters...because surely the experience of reading this book is the experience as living as Lord Sepulchrave. Dreary. Oppressive. Melancholic.
I'm no stranger to bouncing off a book and having to put it down. Reading Titus Groan was similar, yet so damned different. A book I'm loving I will speed through in a couple days. Whether it's 200 pages or 400 pages. This book I would dare say came close to defeating me. I found I was unable to read more than 10 pages at a time, needing a mental break. Reading before bedtime is one of my favorite times to get pages in. I would read 10 pages, put it down, scroll my phone a little, pick it back up, read 10 more pages, put it down, repeat. Never before would I think to put my book down to look at my phone. Usually, I read until it's time to turn the lights out for the night.
My biggest problem was that I -wanted- to keep reading but the dense descriptions and very little action was turning my brain to sludge. After recovering for a few minutes, I could continue more. I loved Titus Groan and yet hated it viscerally.
From what I understand, Peake had an unfortunate life, and it is on full display here. Gormenghast Castle is not simply a structure with uncountable towers and grotesque denizens...it was the world the author himself lived in. A world not suited for most readers and since I won't be continuing the "trilogy", I seem to be one of them.
I'm no stranger to bouncing off a book and having to put it down. Reading Titus Groan was similar, yet so damned different. A book I'm loving I will speed through in a couple days. Whether it's 200 pages or 400 pages. This book I would dare say came close to defeating me. I found I was unable to read more than 10 pages at a time, needing a mental break. Reading before bedtime is one of my favorite times to get pages in. I would read 10 pages, put it down, scroll my phone a little, pick it back up, read 10 more pages, put it down, repeat. Never before would I think to put my book down to look at my phone. Usually, I read until it's time to turn the lights out for the night.
My biggest problem was that I -wanted- to keep reading but the dense descriptions and very little action was turning my brain to sludge. After recovering for a few minutes, I could continue more. I loved Titus Groan and yet hated it viscerally.
From what I understand, Peake had an unfortunate life, and it is on full display here. Gormenghast Castle is not simply a structure with uncountable towers and grotesque denizens...it was the world the author himself lived in. A world not suited for most readers and since I won't be continuing the "trilogy", I seem to be one of them.