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.
Rating: 
Summary: lovely
Review: such a facsinating way of telling a story. the first and last author of his kind. fun stuff. the drawings are not to be ignored. some of the most 'colourful' works i have ever seen. definately for child, teen or adult-lovely.
Rating: 
Summary: A nameless creature arrives at a Victorian household.
Review: This book is very light compared to most Edward Goreys. The creature is so funny, especialy when he puts on that innocent look that my dog puts on when she's down something bad. The family pretends to want to get rid of this animal while they really probally like the change from their boring, Victorian lives. I treasure this book as much as a picture I have of Edward Gorey with a Doubtful Guest stuffed animal.
Rating:
Summary: CREATIVE AND ARTISTIC
Review: This book tells a simple and easy story with rhyming couplets. It is a sort and fun book that, unlike some of his other books, is completely appropriate. It is drawn in a complex, dark, crosshatching technique. The characters are beautiful, with their flowing robes and melancholy expressions. The background is just as detailed, and appears have as much effort put into them as the characters, so as a result, the illustrations fit and are nicely proportioned. Over all, this book is one of Gorey's best works, along with After the Outing. It is a macabre, enjoyably fantasy that anyone should have on his or her bookshelf or coffee table.
Rating:
Summary: Gorey should not be downsized
Review: This glorious book by Edward Gorey has always been a favorite and a favorite gift. However, this edition earns only 3 stars--5 for Gorey and 1 for the publisher. This edition has been reduced to an unfortunate size, and loses much of its charm and wonderful, absorbing detail.
Rating:
Summary: "It Betrayed A Great Liking For Peering Up Flues..."
Review: This is my single favorite Edward Gorey book, partially because of the amusing couplets it is written in, but mostly because of the appearance of the guest himself, which never ceases to amuse me. The concept of a strange creature who mysteriously visits and decides to stay (seventeen years) while exercising odd whims (like fits in which he removes all towels from the bath or hiding inside a soup tureen) is particularly suited to Gorey's odd brand of humor (although it is not one of his more unusual books, by any stretch of the imagination.)
I have liked Edward Gorey since I was in my teens, and still find him as unique and entertaining as ever. This is my very favorite Gorey book, and would make an excellent introduction to one of the oddest cartoonists of the twentieth century.
Rating:
Summary: Gorey should not be downsized
Review: This is the second book of Gorey's that I've gotten, the first was The Gashlycrumb Tinies. I think I like Doubtful Guest even better than that volume. The wonderful illustrations of the prim and proper residents of the house, as they put up with the antics of the Doubtful Guest tickle me to no end. The rhyming verse that Gorey uses to tell this tale is whimsical and bizarre. It brings a smile to my face every time I think of this book, if you like Gorey, you've got to have this one. My only gripe is that the book is a little short. I can easily tolerate it, however, as it's just so much macabre fun...
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully creepy.
Review: This is the second book of Gorey's that I've gotten, the first was The Gashlycrumb Tinies. I think I like Doubtful Guest even better than that volume. The wonderful illustrations of the prim and proper residents of the house, as they put up with the antics of the Doubtful Guest tickle me to no end. The rhyming verse that Gorey uses to tell this tale is whimsical and bizarre. It brings a smile to my face every time I think of this book, if you like Gorey, you've got to have this one. My only gripe is that the book is a little short. I can easily tolerate it, however, as it's just so much macabre fun...
Rating:
Summary: Grab your galoshes
Review: You will not be doubting this book as a guest on your shelf. The Doubtful Guest is a Gorey masterpiece in all its pawky nature. If you find that you are fond of it, you might drop it in the pond, as the doubtful guest does to things it's fond of: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." You'll surely be all wet if you do, because you'll want to fetch it out for a read quite often.
Rating:
Summary: Grab your galoshes
Review: You will not be doubting this book as a guest on your shelf. The Doubtful Guest is a Gorey masterpiece in all its pawky nature. If you find that you are fond of it, you might drop it in the pond, as the doubtful guest does to things it's fond of: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." You'll surely be all wet if you do, because you'll want to fetch it out for a read quite often.
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