I purchased this book nine years ago and have read it several times. I did this current re-read after finishing the latest autobiography on Gorey: Born to be Posthumous. I didn’t care for the biography, but on a positive note it made me want to revisit Amphigorey. Having more knowledge about the author/illustrator did enhance my reading and enjoyment of this book.
Edward Gorey is quirky to say the least and this is reflected in his work. His drawings are works of art and patient attention to detail. I love the complexity of the backgrounds and his odd looking characters. It is a bit like Dr. Seuss for those with a weird and morbid sense of humor. Amphigorey contains 15 books, including my favorites The Doubtful Guest, The Unstrung Harp, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, and of course The Gashlycrumb Tinies. This book is part nonesense rhymes, part macabre morality tales, and part astute life observations. If you consider yourself to have a twisted sense of humor, this will be a great book for you. For those who are not familiar with Gorey, The Gashlycrumb Tinies is a great introduction. It is book that teaches the alphabet and each letter is represented by a child and how that child dies. Hilarious, right? In fact, throughout Gorey’s work children are often victims of tragic-comic endings. If you don’t appreciate that type of humor, this is not the book for you.
The rhymes, stories, and word play are genius. The Edwardian illustrations are amazing. What I really love about Edward Gorey’s work is the multiple layers. You can breeze through this book and read it for fun. You can laugh at all the character and place names (ie; C. F Earbrass an author who lives in a home called Hobbies Odd in the town of Mortshire). So clever! You can analyze the content and pour over the drawings. No matter how you approach it, Amphigorey is a book that you can read over and over and you will gain something new each time. I read portions of this book to my husband, who was not familiar with Edward Gorey. The experience seemed to cement his impression that his wife is a weirdo, but he did laugh at the text and illustrations!
A note on my copy of this book. Others have complained about light text and drawings. That was not the case with my edition, first published in 1980. However, the last four books in the compilation are a bit mixed up. The West Wing is interrupted by The Sinking Spell and the beginning of The Remembered Visit. Then the remainder of The West Wing appears, The Wuggly Ump is next, and then The Remembered Visit finishes. At first I was not sure if this was some purposeful Gorey humor. Who knows, maybe my book will be a rare edition some day.
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Reviews with images
Creative Edwardian-Themed Ink Stories
First of all, I love how the art of Edward Gorey was one of the things that influenced the design for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. I give a fair warning: a lot of these stories are more like children's books themed for adults and therefore some of them aren't made to make sense. Other than that, Edward Gorey captures disorder (or just inconvenience) shown in the elegance of Edwardian-themed pen and ink drawings.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2019
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Top reviews from other countries
Diego Laurentino de Carvalho
Para encantar (e aterrorizar) crianças e adultos
Reviewed in Brazil on January 24, 2019
SB
Nice compilation of 15 Gorey books, disappointing seller
Reviewed in India on April 20, 2019
SB
Reviewed in India on April 20, 2019
Also, disappointed to see that the price tag on the back was Rs. 999 but the seller (uRead) charged Rs. 1384.12 (photo attached).
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