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review 2018-08-23 19:23
Painting in Text: "The Gormenghast Trilogy" by Marvin Peake
The Gormenghast Novels - Quentin Crisp,Anthony Burgess,Mervyn Peake


I consider it pointless to compare Tolkien and Peake; you might as well argue whether Raymond Chandler is better than Ivy Compton-Burnett. I would only point out, since I believe no one has so far, that in Gormenghast, unlike Middle Earth, Sex exists. I also think Peake fits into the Gothic tradition in literature – it is surprising that a book containing no magic or mythological creatures or supernatural events is so reflexively categorized as “fantasy”, but perhaps, without that classification, one would have to consider it “sui generis”. I agree too with the comment about Peake’s writing being pictorial; at times when reading Titus Groan or Gormenghast, it is like allowing ones eye to wander into a large detailed canvas by Bosch or Breughel, filled with grotesque and amusing details scattered throughout a fantastic landscape.

 

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

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review 2014-10-07 00:00
The Gormenghast Trilogy
The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake --Titus Groan
--Gormenghast
--Titus Alone
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review 2014-06-03 00:00
Gormenghast
Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake,Tad Williams Despite the length of this book, it didn't seem as hard to read as the first.Yes, it still had tortuously long sentences and words that were not in the Kindle dictionary. It also required several readings of some passages to get the general idea.
This time, however, the main characters were known (and, SPOILER, killed off! )

It appears to be several books in one, again. First we have Titus at school, and a blossoming romance as a side line.
We have the reappearance of an old character, followed by the rapid demise of two others.
Then we get the natural disaster that unfolds.
A few more deaths and Titus becomes a rebel in the eyes of Gormenghast.

A good read, but I need something light before finishing the series.
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review 2014-02-06 00:00
Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy)
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake Few books leave a lasting impact on me. But this one, Titus Groan will stay with me for a long time. Mervyn Peake's writing style blew me away. Once I put the book down I could not stop thinking about it. If I had indeed some aspiration to become an author, Peake's writing style would be the one I would like to emulate. Peake's style is magical.

What marked me the most is Peake's technique to write about events that happen simultaneously. I read other authors trying to handle those parts in their stories and every time I'm left confused and only later grasp what the author initially meant to do. Here it's the complete opposite. I savoured 'the reveries' chapters. Also Titus Groan is downright hilarious. she's so slow compared with me she looks so silly with her mouth open not like me my mouth isn't open yes it is I've left it open but now I've shut it and it's closed up and my face must be perfect like I'll be when I get my power [...]

This was not an easy read. At the beginning I struggled but I'm glad I persevered.
At first glance the personages seemed bizarre, unreal yet as the story progressed I got more insight in the characters' feelings and desires. The thing is, Peake expresses and analyses their behaviour in such a way that it still feels odd. The author profoundly confronts the familiar to the point it becomes unfamiliar.

I could quote 'some' passages that left me awestruck to show the creativity and ingenuity of Peake's style but since I highlighted about 50% of the book that would rather be a difficult task.

Titus Groan is definitely five star material. This one is a keeper.

Marvellous prose, memorable characters, unique and again beautiful writing style. I'm impressed. Chapeau Peake.

Because I can't let it go:


* [Fuchsia] find herself standing with the great stage below her as empty as an unremembered heart.
* [...] his eyes, having cleared themselves of the haze, encountered no ceremonial curve of the select, but a room of scattered individuals.
* He had heard the key turn. He did not disobey the simple logic of his mind.
* There is a great yearning one for the other. A fissure of impalpable night divides them,[...] there is a lacuna.
* Dived through the keyhole, I do believe.
* They had waited there until the storm had tired of its own anger and a slow rain descended like remorse from the sky.
* We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast paper-walled prison our convicts, the little black printed words, when in truth we need fresh sounds to utter [...]
* That dreadful, palpable closeness that can only be felt when there is mutual hatred.
* The air was sickly with an aftermath of the day's heat, as lifeless as though it had been breathed before, thrice exhaled and stale.
* All was altered, stealth was no longer enough. Cunning was paramount and their wits were under test. Both had felt that theirs was the initiative and the power to surprise - but now, for a few moments at least, they were equated.


This is only a small selection.
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text 2014-02-01 00:12
January, 2014
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
The Whole Death Catalog: A Lively Guide to the Bitter End - Harold Schechter
Zelda: A Biography - Nancy Milford
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

16 books read

 

best first-read fiction:

tie between Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)--Christmas gift from my husband, and The Golden Compass (Hs Dark Materials #1)

 

best nonfiction:

tie between The Whole Death Catalog--Christmas gift from my husband, and Zelda

 

comfort rereads of favorites:

The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The Exorcist (40th anniversary edition)

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