Rating: 
Summary: The Greatest Fantasy Book Ever
Review: This book is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. The setting is "Gormenghast", a huge crumbling castle ruled by an Earl who must spend all of his time performing boring and obscure sacred rituals that no one understands. The protagonist is Titus, the 77th Earl of Gormenghast who longs to break free of the oppressing enviroment of the castle. This brilliant book is filled with some of the most vivid images ever, like the fight in the Hall of Spiders and the huge flood in the second book. If you read this book, it will stay with you for the rest of you life
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever Written?
Review: For sheer, sustained, imaginative power; an unfailing attention to character detail (Dickens' caricatures had none of this realism); a brooding, dark humour that goes deeper
than any other work I can think of against a backdrop of unimaginably stifling rigidity and routine, Gormenghast has not been bettered by anyone in any genre. Full-stop.
Titus Groan acts almost as an appetizer for the grandeur of the second in the trilogy. The immensity of the crumbling castle, it's labyrinthine corridors, rooms and even roofs is conveyed by Mervyn Peake with such believability that it's image never leaves you,
even years after it's read. Yet it is the goings-on within it's grey walls that leave the greatest impression. I can still see the scheming Steerpike, the sour Fuschia, Swelter the cook, the Prunesquallors and Titus 77th Earl of Groan as clearly as if I'd just met them. One can almost feel the stifling grip the castle holds over Titus as he struggles to break free of the asphyxiating tradition of his home. To even try to convey what this trilogy is about would be
trite and pointless. The odd world of Gormenghast has to be experienced. Read them and be changed.
Rating:
Summary: When this page is but ion dust Gormenghast will remain.
Review: Few books have challenged the headspace like the Gormenghast Trilogy.
From it's incredible detailing of the environemnt into which young Titus emerges, to the minutae of each personality developed in the books, (and make no mistake, Mervyn Peake bestows each of his characters with more personality in one page than most authors could hope to generate in a lifetime of writing), Peake's unerring ability to bring every aspect of Gormenghast's tradition and inhabitants to life is unique.
Where Tolkien has created a world we might dream of being part of, Peake creates a world where so much is recognisable in real life despite it's trappings of mythology. We all know our own Steerpikes, they inhhabit the
real world but could we say the same of Strider, Boromir or Gollum, except
in metaphor. In this context the castle itself is irrelevent. The action is all too recognisably human. Only a few bring that element
to literature, let alone the fantasy genre, with as much conviction. And Gormenghast is a fantasy but not as one might think.
The fantasy element in Peake's work is not so much in the story as in the character's stoic belief in immutable structure of their world. There is much in Gormenghast that
reflects on the old world order crumbling amongst the debris of WWII and Titus' struggle is is the struggle to see beyond the old order that Steerpike has ruthlessly exposed even as he defends it.
Gormenghast is grey, but it is the grey lustre of a pearl from which sparks
of beauty emerge to pierce the reader. Compare one's feelings for Flay as he speaks to Rottcod about the birth of an heir with those one feels for him after the confrontation in the Twin's tomb. The tragedy of Gormenghast is not in the story but in the way that it seems to have been pushed from full appreciation. In this country (Australia) his work
seems to have been somewhat marginalised but an awareness is certainly there. When this home page is but ion dust Gormenghast will remain and, one hopes, in fuller recognition of Peake's unique contribution to literature.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic blend of Kafka and Dickens...a superb fantasy.
Review: A trilogy placed in a gigantic, moldering, decaying castle, which is ALL its inhabitants know of the world---they know of no world beyond Gormenghast...this is the tale of Titus, heir to the throne and hater of authority, even though he is the very symbol of it...and his rebellion against the entire world he knows. This Kafkaesque setting is accentuated by the Dickensian grotesques who inhabit it....the insanely loyal Flay, the blasphenous Barquentine, and the greatest villain in all literature, the consummate schemer, Steerpike. Once read, never to be forgotten. The third book is much less than the first two, where Titus encounters the outside world...but I understand that Peake at that time was in the throes of an illness that later killed him so was not at his (forgive the inevitable pun) peak. But recommended in the strongest possible terms. Right up there with Lord of the Rings or The Worm Ouroborus, and totally different from either
Rating: 
Summary: A wonder ful fantasy
Review: It took me quite a while to get through this, but it was worth it.Some of the reviewer's talk about all the symbolism, but I'd recommend reading the book just for the fantasy of it and the wonderful prose of Mr. Peake. Some reviewer's talked about how it was slow moving and boring. At times the pace of the book did slow, but in those times read for the beauty of the words and the vivid picture that is painted by those words. This is a collection of three books, Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. I will admit that I enjoyed the 1st two books much more than the last, Titus Alone. Titus Alone seemed to take such a departure from the first two that I had a hard time relating it back to the first two. I'd recommend these for someone who wants to get lost in another world.
Rating:
Summary: The Lure of Gormenghast
Review: "Titus Groan" by Mervyn Peake is among the greatest works rendered in the English language. It is a work of fantasy, yet resembles nothing that came before it or since. Although this masterpiece is acknowledged by critics and a coterie of obsessed readers (such as myself), it is, sadly, almost unknown in the United States. It is,perhaps, too British or too eccentric. Gormenghast is an ancient castle, about the size of a city, which, as far as we know, is the only thing on the planet. Having no known point of reference to the world we know gives the novel its characteristic unreality-- its surreal atmosphere. The characters are uniformly grotesque: the taciturn, cadaver-like Mr. Flay, the vulgar and grossly obese Swelter, the slightly deformed yet brilliant villain Steerpike. Titus is the heir to Gormenghast-- the seventy-seventh earl of Groan-- and this is his story (although the first book of three ends with the hero only two years old). The focus is on the visual descriptions, and the world of Gormenghast is vividly shown through Peake's breathtaking command of the language. Peake was a graphic artist by profession and his skill with paint and pencil somehow translates into images that resonate in the reader's mind long after he or she has finished reading. Ultimately, it is impossible to shake the experience of visiting Peake's imaginary world. I read this book for the first time at age 17 (I'm now 42) and have been haunted by it since. Gormenghast is like a nightmare world and no sane person would ever want to live there; yet, how strangely beautiful and compelling it is! Gormenghast draws one back to it time and time again. It is what I call "the lure of Gormenghast." "Titus Groan" and its sequels "Gormenghast" and "Titus Alone" comprise the Gormenghast Trilogy. These books will most likely have to be ordered through Amazon.com or some other service, but the trouble is well worth it. For anyone who loves the English language and its endless possibilities, the Gormenghast Trilogy is exquisitely essential.
Rating:
Summary: Fortunately, I don't listen to my friends
Review: Whoa, now that was a plunge. Almost two months to get through all of that and it was well worth any second. People who are looking for other fine examples of epic fantasy are steered toward these books by well meaning people, without realizing what they are getting into. Instead of the sprawling expanse of that other place, populated with all manner of creatures that you could relate to, instead what you get is a cold, compressed place inhabited by weird people who don't seem normal at all, no matter how human they seem. Several years ago I was at a friend's house and I saw he had this book sitting on his table partially read. The book was buried in my pile and I wouldn't get to it for some time so I never asked him about it. Recently, just before I started reading this book, we were discussing how I can't stand Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and he thinks it's a brilliant work of literature and he asked what I was reading next. So I told him and his response was "Don't bother, they're boring, after a hundred pages I had to stop because nothing was happening." I didn't listen, of course, because I never do and as we saw he was wrong once. The main reason to read this novels is not for the plot, not for slambang action, not for quick pacing. Gormenghhast is about a castle and a large, brooding, doom laden castle and thus the plot suits the setting. And Peake brings the place to life like nothing else in fantastic literature, painting the castle with words that depict every last shadow, every quirk, every rusted bit of decaying ritual that makes up the crumbling place. The pace is glacial but the book sustains itself on pure atmosphere, as the characters go through their motions in the wake of this cold monstrous thing they inhabit. Peake was able to finish three novels in the series before he died (it's called a trilogy because it's all we have but really he meant for more books to come), with the first two really focusing on the castle. The first introduces everyone, including Titus himself, who remains a baby for most of the first book, as well as his parents and sister and the rest of the staff and folk that make up the castle. It's been said that all the characters are unlikeable and that's not exactly true. Titus' mother is cold but possesses a weird allure, his father a detached nobility even in light of his chronic melancholy and the doctor is loads of fun, the only real light in the dark place. And then there's Steerpike, one of the greatest villains of fantastic literature. Starting out as a kitchen boy, over the course of the first book he enacts a plan that he hopes will take him to the top and he remains simultaneously sympathetic and vile, manipulating everyone, trying to kill them all without them realizing it. He enlivens any scene he's in and Peake has a ball with his machinations. The stage is all set up in the first book and so by the time the second book (titled Gormenghast) rolls around, the plot is in full swing and Peake reaches his dizzying, descriptive peak, as the atmosphere grows even darker, the plot grows sharper, the tension more palpable (the scenes where the doctor and the Countness start to figure out what's going on are brilliant) and it all tumbles into a grand, epic climax, as Titus claims what is rightfully his (even as he has a surprise in store). Those two books alone make for one of the finest, most compressed saga in all of fantastic literature, dripping with style, but not the flashy, empty kind that authors try to foist on the readers these days, there's a weight here that keeps you reading, a magnetic quality to the fungus ridden hallways, the crumbling towers and grand rooms. You could stop at the first two and walk away utterly satisified. But there is a third book, Titus Alone and this is where opinions start to differ. Titus leaves the confines of the castle and without its marvelous atmosphere to sustain everything, the novel loses some of its character, the mood evaporates when taken into the world itself, especially since Titus finds himself in some weird SFesque landscape (it doesn't help that Peake was ill with Parkinson's and that this probably doesn't reflect his final draft, if he had lived long enough to write it). There are pleasures to be found but it's nothing like the heady highs of the initial novels and he probably would have never achieved those lofty heights again, even as later books probably would have been of high quality (again, shackled by illness, we can never be truly sure of what he would have done). The omnibus has a fragment of the fourth book and notes that his widow continued work on it but died before she finished it and so all of Titus' future adventures are lost to time forever, which is a little depressing when you think about it. The omnibus is the best way to get acquainted with the work, not only do you get the three novels but a bunch of a critical essays and some introductions, as well as drawings and other material (though it would have been nice to include the novella "Boy in Darkness" which has a nameless Titus before he leaves the castle and is of high quality . . . maybe it'll appear in a later edition). If you have any interest in fantasy you owe it to yourself to at least give these novels a look and get a glimpse into a world that this man was able to take whole from his head and transfer onto the printed page, with an eye only an artist could have. And remember to always treasure the opinions of your friends, but don't always take them at face value either. You never know what you could be missing.
Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: These books are beyond anything else I've read, not just for Peake's absolute mastery of the language, but for his artistic vision. Utterly absurd, dark and nonsensical ideas are delivered with a melancholy straight face, balanced beautifully with vivacious humour, best found in the professors and in Dr. Prunesquallor's hillarious outbursts.
Of all the strengths of these books, the characters shine brightest. How can so many unique, bizarre, warped, evil and brilliant characters exist and interact so seamlessly? Every nuance of human behaviour is blended into these wonderful characters (including some nuances we probably haven't met before reading these books.) Steerpike is magnificent as a cold, unbelievably cunning psychopath. The depressed Earl Sepulchrave's madness is so tragically sinister and absurd it will disturb you in a way no tale of the supernatural could. What's more, the setting itself, the withering castle Gormenghast, is almost a character in its own right; you can feel the place's pulse, breath, creaks and groans, its moods and its sicknesses.
There's not a lot to tell the unconverted other than: read these books. Once you've wandered through the great dying castle, you will return again and again.
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Edition of a Flawed Masterpiece
Review: The back cover of this book misleadingly quotes C.S. Lewis. If you read the essay "On Science Fiction" from Lewis' On Stories, you will see that he was not referring specifically to Peake. Notice that [Peake's books] is in brackets. Watch out for editors who use brackets and elipses to sell their products.
The deceptive citation from Lewis seems to be part of a marketing plan to link Peake with the Inklings (Lewis, Tolkien, and others), which does a disservice to Peake. Admirers of Tolkien in particular will not necessarily admire Peake, though a great many Tolkien fans go off on epic quests for other works of fantasy to recreate the experience of reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. I am sorry, but the best substitute for one's first reading of Tolkien's masterpiece is a second reading of Tolkien's masterpiece. Plenty of people, particularly in the UK, admire both writers, but for very different reasons. Peake and Tolkien are nothing alike, and I have read too many comparisons either by salesmen trying to hook Peake onto Tolkien's coattails or by hipper-than-thou types who want you to know that, if you prefer Tolkien, you're just not cool enough. The two men's talents are completely different. Tolkien was a master of narrative pacing, but the details of his visual imagery are vague and sometimes contradictory. Peake, in contrast, was unparalleled in his ability to create vivid imagery that forms an accurate picture in the reader's mind. Peake's real greatness was as a painter and illustrator. If you want to see the genius of Mervyn Peake, check out his visual artwork. It is no surprise that imagery was one of the strong points of his books.
Peake's painterly eye is matched by his beautifully-crafted prose, keen insight, and OED-exhausting vocabulary; but he lacked the narrative talent one needs to write a truly great novel. If you, like me, are one of the old-fashioned readers who think plot is an essential element of fiction, you will probably have a tough time getting through Titus Groan. I get it that "the formless monstrosity of the narrative mirrors the formless monstrosity of Gormenghast Castle, indeed of life itself, etc.," but that excuse can only go so far. I ended up with the impression that Peake hid a weak narrative behind a sound and light show that is, admittedly, dazzling.
In spite of the long hours I spent cursing the novels' dullness, I am grateful to Peake for a few gems that linger in my mind. When he says that the earl never thought to ask whether he liked his ancestral castle any more than whether he liked his wrist or his throat, and when he says of his own female character that her manner was so unfeminine "no man could have invented it," I cannot deny that Peake's observation and wit have earned him his place in English letters.
This volume contains the two complete Gormenghast novels: Titus Groan and Gormengast, as well as the unfinished Titus Alone. To round things out, there is even a little snippet in the back from something called Titus Awakes that apparently never got off the ground. The appendix contains 140 pages of commentary by 12 critics, scholars and authors discussing a variety of biographical and theoretical topics. This ultra-comprehensive tome has not one but two introductions. First there is a singularly uninsightful one by Quentin Crisp that begins, "Style is a terrible thing to happen to anybody." I cannot imagine a more inappropriate comment to make about Peake, who relied on style perhaps more than any other English writer in the last century. (If Crisp was being tongue-in-cheek, that is a different story). The second introduction, by Anthony Burgess, is helpful in explaining Peake as a novelist of post-World War II Britain. Sketches by Peake provide a nice visual complement. Fans of Peake and anyone just wanting to learn more about him should find all these extras informative.
Rating:
Summary: A vivid world brought to life through poetic prose
Review: It is simply impossible to compare the Gormenghast novels to any other books, fantasy or otherwise. They defy description.
When reading Peake's masterpiece you may find yourself asking, "How did he do this?", as I often did. His descriptions are lush and vibrant, even when the objects of his description are not. You have never yet, nor will you ever again meet such an eccentric cast of characters as those who populate these books. Even their names: Prunesquallor, Steerpike, Flay and Swelter, are vivid and descriptive.
The world of Gormenghast is vast and epic at the same time that it is claustrophobic and cloying. If that sounds nonsensical, than it's due to my inability to properly describe Peake's world.
In Gormenghast, the writing is just as fantastic and magical as the world it describes. Mervyn Peake gave us a story for the ages, and you should not miss it.
|
