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The Abradizil
It all happened a very long time ago, in a very strange city, in a very distant land. You wouldn't have wanted to live in this city. But Franz lived there.
One day, Franz goes on an errand to the magician Grinwiss. Before long, he has made some very odd friends and joined in an attempt to overthrow the city's ruler, Horg. Horg is a fearsome enemy, but Franz's band must also deal with the sinister Count Ferencz... Of course, it should all be easy enough, because Grinwiss makes an Abradizil, as other magicians made Abradizils, to be a very great hero. Unfortunately, this Abradizil doesn't quite turn out as expected.
One day, Franz goes on an errand to the magician Grinwiss. Before long, he has made some very odd friends and joined in an attempt to overthrow the city's ruler, Horg. Horg is a fearsome enemy, but Franz's band must also deal with the sinister Count Ferencz... Of course, it should all be easy enough, because Grinwiss makes an Abradizil, as other magicians made Abradizils, to be a very great hero. Unfortunately, this Abradizil doesn't quite turn out as expected.
150 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1990
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November 15, 2022I read The Abradizil electronically, as a fourteen day checkout by way of the Internet Archive. I had tried requesting it through Interlibrary Loan, but this is an obscure book in the United States; the lender fees would have been prohibitive, and it is pricey purchasing online as well. That said, I’ve been curious about it for a while now, and since it is a comparatively short read, The Internet Archive was not a bad way to go.
Why did I want to read this book? When I was 12 or 13 a girl in my class was in a play called The Abradizil, and I had memories of her in the lead role as Franz, of the Abradizil itself (a padded-out adult actor who basically looked like a ball on legs) and the fact that it could bounce, and of Franz’s dance with these people in mirror costumes. They were weird memories, and the title was unforgettable, so I went Googling The Abradizil a few years ago and found, not the play I had seen, but the book that it was evidently based on. It sat on my to-read shelf for a few years until I finally decided to check it out the other day.
This starts out as a mostly innocuous children’s book that becomes more interesting as it goes on: I’d say it really started keeping my attention around the midpoint, with the developing characterization of the Abradizil. The Abradizil seems to be the result of a spell gone wrong: supposedly wizards in times past created Abradizils to serve as heroes, but this Abradizil came out differently and much more whimsically than expected:
It was an odd little creature – very odd indeed. It wasn’t any bigger than Franz. Its hair was like Franz’s, too, but shaggy and long. It was round and fat, but its legs were very thin. It had a funny, ugly face, all wrinkled like a new-born baby’s, but with merry, twinkling eyes and a sort of puffball nose. Its skin was all rubbery and crumpled and coarse, and it was wearing a bit of blanket around its waist. (44)
It talks in a mainly nonsensical vein (‘HARRUMP HARROOOOO!!!!’ ‘Hip hop aheave,’ ‘I’se abubble dance,’ etc.), while intermittently breaking the zany with lines like, 'It would seem that I am always going to be something of an unpredictable quantity,' or, 'Far be it from me to claim anything as personal property. But my mind misgives me, and I mistrust the outcome.'
There are other characters: there’s a tyrant named Horg, an irritable gnome (or possibly just a short man) named Dworkin, a sarcastic parrot named Esculapius (who I would probably have enjoyed more if I’d read this as a kid, but who mostly annoyed me instead), and several wizards. There’s a sinister nobleman, Count Ferencz. There’s Franz the ticket boy, of course, who is the POV for this little adventure, and there is a girl named Roberta who is his age and who functions as the voice of common sense in the narrative. Franz starts out as largely a cipher who becomes more interesting in his interactions with Roberta and the Abradizil, although by the end of the story he starts to feel like a cipher again. You sort of wonder why Roberta didn’t have the Franz role from the get-go, or why Andrew Gibson didn’t transplant her personality into Franz. I suspect that the chief reason for having both children is to appeal to young readers of either gender, although the two also become friends to each other and loyal defenders of the Abradizil in the face of disappointing behavior from the grownups in their party.
There is some critique of human behavior in this story: the (mis)behavior of crowds, and the deforming effects of solitude in extremis, the latter primarily manifested in Count Ferencz, who has obviously spent way too much time by himself. And there is existential angst from the Abradizil, who starts asking questions about his origin and giving me some unexpected feels in the process.
The poignancy of these exchanges got my attention in a way that what had led up to it did not, and it kept me invested in the characters through the latter half of their adventures, as they assail the forbidding castle of Count Ferencz, and during what comes afterward.
I don’t want to talk about this story too much longer: I’ll just end up quoting chunks of it if I do. It’s a mainly humorous story and the illustrations, by a 28-year-old Chris Riddell, are entertaining. I sometimes wanted more from it, or at least from Franz, but it is ultimately a cute story that might be interesting to those who like English children’s literature or low-commitment fantasy adventure that is short and a little bit offbeat.
ETA:
Hey, I wonder if Andrew Gibson is a James Thurber fan. There's a hint of The 13 Clocks about this. Nothing bad, but I could see the Golux and the Abradizil getting along well with each other. Count Ferencz is more likeable than Thurber's cold Duke, but I can't say I ever actually disliked Ferencz in the first place.
Why did I want to read this book? When I was 12 or 13 a girl in my class was in a play called The Abradizil, and I had memories of her in the lead role as Franz, of the Abradizil itself (a padded-out adult actor who basically looked like a ball on legs) and the fact that it could bounce, and of Franz’s dance with these people in mirror costumes. They were weird memories, and the title was unforgettable, so I went Googling The Abradizil a few years ago and found, not the play I had seen, but the book that it was evidently based on. It sat on my to-read shelf for a few years until I finally decided to check it out the other day.
This starts out as a mostly innocuous children’s book that becomes more interesting as it goes on: I’d say it really started keeping my attention around the midpoint, with the developing characterization of the Abradizil. The Abradizil seems to be the result of a spell gone wrong: supposedly wizards in times past created Abradizils to serve as heroes, but this Abradizil came out differently and much more whimsically than expected:
It was an odd little creature – very odd indeed. It wasn’t any bigger than Franz. Its hair was like Franz’s, too, but shaggy and long. It was round and fat, but its legs were very thin. It had a funny, ugly face, all wrinkled like a new-born baby’s, but with merry, twinkling eyes and a sort of puffball nose. Its skin was all rubbery and crumpled and coarse, and it was wearing a bit of blanket around its waist. (44)
It talks in a mainly nonsensical vein (‘HARRUMP HARROOOOO!!!!’ ‘Hip hop aheave,’ ‘I’se abubble dance,’ etc.), while intermittently breaking the zany with lines like, 'It would seem that I am always going to be something of an unpredictable quantity,' or, 'Far be it from me to claim anything as personal property. But my mind misgives me, and I mistrust the outcome.'
There are other characters: there’s a tyrant named Horg, an irritable gnome (or possibly just a short man) named Dworkin, a sarcastic parrot named Esculapius (who I would probably have enjoyed more if I’d read this as a kid, but who mostly annoyed me instead), and several wizards. There’s a sinister nobleman, Count Ferencz. There’s Franz the ticket boy, of course, who is the POV for this little adventure, and there is a girl named Roberta who is his age and who functions as the voice of common sense in the narrative. Franz starts out as largely a cipher who becomes more interesting in his interactions with Roberta and the Abradizil, although by the end of the story he starts to feel like a cipher again. You sort of wonder why Roberta didn’t have the Franz role from the get-go, or why Andrew Gibson didn’t transplant her personality into Franz. I suspect that the chief reason for having both children is to appeal to young readers of either gender, although the two also become friends to each other and loyal defenders of the Abradizil in the face of disappointing behavior from the grownups in their party.
There is some critique of human behavior in this story: the (mis)behavior of crowds, and the deforming effects of solitude in extremis, the latter primarily manifested in Count Ferencz, who has obviously spent way too much time by himself. And there is existential angst from the Abradizil, who starts asking questions about his origin and giving me some unexpected feels in the process.
The poignancy of these exchanges got my attention in a way that what had led up to it did not, and it kept me invested in the characters through the latter half of their adventures, as they assail the forbidding castle of Count Ferencz, and during what comes afterward.
I don’t want to talk about this story too much longer: I’ll just end up quoting chunks of it if I do. It’s a mainly humorous story and the illustrations, by a 28-year-old Chris Riddell, are entertaining. I sometimes wanted more from it, or at least from Franz, but it is ultimately a cute story that might be interesting to those who like English children’s literature or low-commitment fantasy adventure that is short and a little bit offbeat.
ETA:
Hey, I wonder if Andrew Gibson is a James Thurber fan. There's a hint of The 13 Clocks about this. Nothing bad, but I could see the Golux and the Abradizil getting along well with each other. Count Ferencz is more likeable than Thurber's cold Duke, but I can't say I ever actually disliked Ferencz in the first place.
July 23, 2011
A great children's book. Funny and original, it's a brilliant, memorable read. It's such a shame that it's out of print now as it should be a classic for many generations to enjoy!
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