Rating: 
Summary: amusing, in a strangely British manner.
Review: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." This quote sounds like British humour to me --- however these are the words of the American author Edward Gorey. This entertaining tale of a creature that arrives at a family's home one day is very amusing because of its strangeness. Each little episode is a description of a strange little event precipitated by the "Doubtful Guest" done in rhyme. It begs comparisons with Dr. Seuss, but it is a more sophisticated, darker humour, that is more suitable for adults. Accompanied by Gorey's own ink drawings, this book is a classic. Although it will only take a few minutes to read it, you will enjoy re-reading it many times.
Rating:
Summary: amusing, in a strangely British manner.
Review: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." This quote sounds like British humour to me --- however these are the words of the American author Edward Gorey. This entertaining tale of a creature that arrives at a family's home one day is very amusing because of its strangeness. Each little episode is a description of a strange little event precipitated by the "Doubtful Guest" done in rhyme. It begs comparisons with Dr. Seuss, but it is a more sophisticated, darker humour, that is more suitable for adults. Accompanied by Gorey's own ink drawings, this book is a classic. Although it will only take a few minutes to read it, you will enjoy re-reading it many times.
Rating:
Summary: amusing, in a strangely British manner.
Review: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." This quote sounds like British humour to me --- however these are the words of the American author Edward Gorey. This entertaining tale of a creature that arrives at a family's home one day is very amusing because of its strangeness. Each little episode is a description of a strange little event precipitated by the "Doubtful Guest" done in rhyme. It begs comparisons with Dr. Seuss, but it is a more sophisticated, darker humour, that is more suitable for adults. Accompanied by Gorey's own ink drawings, this book is a classic. Although it will only take a few minutes to read it, you will enjoy re-reading it many times.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite Gorey tales....
Review: A delightful classic with quirkiness that warms my heart.
Rating:
Summary: A Gothic Delight
Review: Edward Gorey uses gothic illustrations to tell the tale of a strange creature who appears one day in a family's home. The prose is an amusing rhyme which describes the family's confusion and frustration at dealing with this unwanted guest. Although the illustrations are gothic and dark, the reader is still amused by the creature and the family who must deal with it.
Rating:
Summary: A Gothic Delight
Review: Edward Gorey uses gothic illustrations to tell the tale of a strange creature who appears one day in a family's home. The prose is an amusing rhyme which describes the family's confusion and frustration at dealing with this unwanted guest. Although the illustrations are gothic and dark, the reader is still amused by the creature and the family who must deal with it.
Rating:
Summary: Odd greatness
Review: Gorey is brilliant as usual with this absurd tale of a creature who inexplicably shows up on a family's doorstep and moves in, only to spend most of his time licking the walls. Classic stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: An admiring reprisal
Review: I found this book to be a stark parady on common family relation. It speaks of a person or creature that just appeared one day and would not leave, rather like a sibling. Though the family which it plagued first hated it, by the end of the book it was considered to be a valued family member. When this short story ends, you are left with a feeling that the family would not function without this adopted, albeit strange member
Rating:
Summary: This was a simple but still comical story.
Review: I have been a long time admirer of Goreys' artwork, but when I recieved this book I became a fan of his literature too. The drawings can only add to the mystery surrounding this strange guest, and although the plotline isn't very complex, I thought that this was the most enjoyable story I had read in years. I hope to have all of his books someday.
Rating:
Summary: American strangeness
Review: I used to pick up my dad's Edward Gorey books when I was a wee boy, read them in half an hour and put them back on the shelves, quivering with fear. Admittedly I was also scared of Doctor Who, old people and "Strawberry Fields Forever". But Gorey has definitely tapped into a seam of subterranean panic; his hollow-eyed pseudo-Edwardian families have a look about them as though some sort of hideously deformed ancestor has been chained up in the attic for centuries. The Doubtful Guest is ostensibly for kids, telling the story of a strange, aardvarkesque creature in tennis shoes (typical Gorey touch, the tennis shoes) that comes to stay one "wild winter night", but maybe you have to be an adult to find it truly unnerving. The creature slopes about the house, eating plates, lying in doorways and hiding towels, and the hapless family can't bring itself to dispose of the thing. At the end of the book it's been there for seventeen years and is sitting in the drawing room with the same look of wide-eyed expectancy, while the enervated family stands about aimlessly with as little of a clue as ever. This isn't quite my favourite Gorey. Other contenders would be the almost absurdly depressing The Hapless Child (small girl is born, parents die, is sent to workhouse, winds up perishing in the street, is found by its actually-not-dead-but-until-recently-in-Africa father who, typically, fails to recognise his daughter) and the surreal The Object Lesson (classic Gorey opening line: "It was already Thursday, but his Lordship's artificial limb could not be found..."). Or else there's the sexy but menacing The Curious Sofa... He's still a master and a true original. Check out the way that the house in The Doubtful Guest seems to have been invaded by a black fog; Henry James took over a hundred pages to write The Turn of the Screw, but Gorey can squeeze comparably effects into 26 pages. Not many "children's" books of 43 years ago still have this power to charm and alarm.
|
