Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Mr Pye
by
Mervyn Peake
Equipped with love, Mr Harold Pye lands on the island of Sark, his mission to convert the islanders into a crusading force for the undiluted goodness that he feels within. The extraordinary inhabitants of the island range fromthe formidable Miss George in her purple busby to the wanton, raven-haired Tintagieu, 'five foot three inches of sex'. Mr Pye, however, is prone to e...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
February 1st 2000
by Vintage
(first published 1953)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
511)
I can't very well list Peake as my favorite author on the Titus books alone. Though those books may provide a frantically laborious definition of 'idiomatic' (if not merely 'eccentric'), Peake is more than simply Gormenghast.
There is his art, his (somewhat abortive) poetic career, and his minimal forays into drama, adventure, war reporting, and here, light farce. Published the same year as 'Lucky Jim', Peake provides us with another English vision of strange and liminal folk, except his island i...more
There is his art, his (somewhat abortive) poetic career, and his minimal forays into drama, adventure, war reporting, and here, light farce. Published the same year as 'Lucky Jim', Peake provides us with another English vision of strange and liminal folk, except his island i...more
Originally published on my blog here in February 2001.
Peake's most famous work, the Gormenghast trilogy, has autobiographical connections with his childhood in China. Mr Pye, his only other completed novel, is also related to his life. This is more obvious, because the location of the novel is not a fictional place but the Channel Island of Sark. This is where Peake worked as a young artist. (Some of the geography of Gormenghast Castle is also derived from that of the island.)
Mr Pye, which also...more
Peake's most famous work, the Gormenghast trilogy, has autobiographical connections with his childhood in China. Mr Pye, his only other completed novel, is also related to his life. This is more obvious, because the location of the novel is not a fictional place but the Channel Island of Sark. This is where Peake worked as a young artist. (Some of the geography of Gormenghast Castle is also derived from that of the island.)
Mr Pye, which also...more
"'It is all interwoven', said Mr Pye. 'One cannot segregate things in an arbitrary way - words and illnesses, tadpoles and tears, volcanoes and dominoes, are all interwoven. What affects one thing affects all the rest.'"
p.127
p.127
Just too odd. What Peake was driving at with this number, I cannot fathom. And perhaps that's it, perhaps I'm just too dumb and impatient to appreciate Mr. Pye.
Not.for.me.
Not.for.me.
A remarkably well constructed parable, which deserves to be better known. The moral is, roughly: don't be ashamed of being a good person, even if it makes you feel ridiculous. Peake finds a clever and original way to say it.
Mr Pye - Mervyn Peake
Curious sort of book, and quite good if this is your taste. Peake is able to imagine personality types and human interaction, that can't quite be, but what if they were?
The tale seems 'old', like something by Washington Irving perhaps. I guess it could be classed as allegory. You can make comparison to his Gormenghast books too, it is in the same dimension. But there's an enigma here, although this book has some elements of the fantastic it lays somewhere a little closer to...more
Curious sort of book, and quite good if this is your taste. Peake is able to imagine personality types and human interaction, that can't quite be, but what if they were?
The tale seems 'old', like something by Washington Irving perhaps. I guess it could be classed as allegory. You can make comparison to his Gormenghast books too, it is in the same dimension. But there's an enigma here, although this book has some elements of the fantastic it lays somewhere a little closer to...more
I read this after having gained a fascination for the island of Sark through a university project I had been working on. I probably would not have picked it up had it not been for that, which would have been a great pity. However, having done so, I was really pleased I had as it was a delicious little book. How do you balance a personality? - are you too good or too evil? - do you want wings or horns? Now that's a dilemma!
If you get the chance, give this a go. You shouldn't be disappointed. A ye...more
If you get the chance, give this a go. You shouldn't be disappointed. A ye...more
It was a strange little book! Definitely didn't go in the direction I expected. The chapter illustrations really added something, and I was most amused to learn that not only were they done by the author himself, but that they looked so familiar because he also illustrated Alice in Wonderland, among other things.
Would like a peek at this island through MP's wild and extravagant eyes. He spent some time painting and drawing here.
The only other dramatic affiliation related to this island I have come across is The Dame of Sark
The only other dramatic affiliation related to this island I have come across is The Dame of Sark
It grows on you this novel. I do not want to spoil it, but you will see what I mean. I like the illustrations done by Peake they help to keep Mr. Pye in the mind - like Josef Lada and Schweik.
I want to write more about this book soon, but suffice it right now to say that it is a true delight. Peake has a gift for turning caricature into character through how much he really cares about the eccentrics he creates. It would have been so easy to mock Pye and his desire to evangelize for the Great Pal non-stop, but he sees Pye through a number of dark, funny, grim conversions that make you wince, shift in your chair, and care all at once. He does caricature-character evolution masterfully...more
This was a very strange little book about a man who goes to the island of Sark to do good. He grows wings, then horns and flys off into the distance.
10/10. This book was a great find. I'm suprised it is not better known. Very highly recommended.
Jul 01, 2009
Erin
marked it as to-read
I think I'd give any book that happens on Sark a try. Sounds interesting.
It makes you think about what is really right and what is really wrong.
May 26, 2012
Katrina
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
quirky-fiction
After Gormenghast, I was hungry for more work by this superb author and happily, I came by this. Mr. Pye started off rather slowly, but by the third chapter I was utterly hooked by this simple, yet powerful fable of morality. It doesn't hit the heights of the Gormenghast Trilogy by a long shot but it is a very different creature all together. Most certainly worth a look.
"A murmuration of Stalins"....tee hee.
Sep 08, 2008
Squanchers
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Amanda
Recommended to Squanchers by:
myself
Shelves:
mervyn-peake,
favorites
Wow!!! This book is....weird. Well, what can you expect from Mervyn Peake????????? I honestly had no idea of what was going to happen until the last 20 pages. Really Good. A great book for those who are ready for an adventure. Who thought that she was going to be the hero???????(Im not going to say who because I dont want to ruin it. Its just another genius piece of work from Mervyn Peake!!! YAAAAAAY!!!!!
A clever book.
A light but still penetrating satire, with characters that you can't help be both fond of and amused by (as the author obviously is too). Contains much of the trademark wit and wryness and sheer *oddness* of his Gormenghast books, although on a much smaller scale, and peppered with his delightfully quirky illustrations to great effect.
The literal symptoms of moral dilemmas, Peake carves his way around the island of Sark and jaunts Mr Pye through his maze of brambled descriptive writing. Mervyn at his subtle comic best, a pleasant read and Mr Pye himself could have been a character easily plucked from a Brecht or Dickens novel, so well tailored is he.
Quirky and lovely.
Oct 19, 2010
Ian Russell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
d-gooders, ne'er do wells, and critical life balancers
A curious tale about a funny little do-gooder on a mission to a very small island in the English Channel. It's a bit of light entertainment, and Peake tells it extremely well. Is there a moral? Yes. Possibly.
Long while since I read this but what a great little fable it is. Not in the same league as the Gormenghast books of course but perhaps a gentler introduction to Peake's unique imagination.
Jan 16, 2008
Vanessa
added it
I have yet to make it the whole way through this book. Something creepy is coming and I am not ready to see it through.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books, though the Titus books would be more accurate: the three works that exist were the beginning of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, following his protagonist Titus Groan from cradle to grave, but Peake's untimely death prevented compl...more
More about Mervyn Peake...
Share This Book
3 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“It is my cape of good hope, and if it isn't I will probably bite your nose off”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
Dec 01, 2009 05:37pm
Dec 01, 2009 11:47pm