Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1) in The Great Gormenghast Read

May 28, 2009 J.G. Keely rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, novel, reviewed, urban-fantasy, humor, uk-and-ireland, favorites

I know of no author in all of the English language who is like Peake, or who could aspire to be like him. His voice is as unique as that of Milton, Bierce, Conrad, Blake, Donne, or Eliot, and as fully-realized. I am a hard and critical man, cynical and not easily moved, but there are passages in the Gormenghast series which so shocked me by the force of their beauty that I would close my eyes and snap the book shut, overwhelmed with wonderment, and take a moment to catch my breath.

I would drop m ...more

386 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magical-realism, classics, favourites, series-and-sequels, gormenghast-peake

How to review this weird and wonderful book? The setting, characters and plot etc are extraordinary, but it is the language that is utterly bewitching. The fact Peake was also an artist is evident in the special care with which he describes light (or absence of), skin and textures. Anthony Burgess wrote that it “has the kind of three dimensional solidity which we often find in pictorial artists who take to words… illustrations would have been supererogatory” – even though Peake sketched in the m ...more

227 likes · Like · see review

May 19, 2013 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews-4-stars, read-2013, re-read, peake

The World of Gormenghast

"Titus Groan" is a work of fantasy constructed in a painterly manner without much obvious concern for narrative dynamism.

First, Mervyn Peake builds the static grey stone world of Gormenghast Castle, then he populates it with Lord Sepulchrave (the Earl of Groan) and a few key members and servants of his family, and finally bit by bit he permits them to interact.

The world of Gormenghast has a Gothic solidity about it. It has been built from the hallowed ground up out of bot ...more

50 likes · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 Brian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It is difficult to believe that this book was written by a human. It reads like an unearthed mythology, discovered on a far away planet in a cave filled with treasure.

Derivating from the Tolkien model for fantasy, Peake's genius is certainly the progenitor for all non horses-and-swords books of the genre. And his ability to create an ensemble book without a strong lead character is simply amazing. There should be a graduate class taught on his methods of characterization and the importance of co ...more

44 likes · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2012 Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi-challenge, quirky, humorous, classic-literature, fantasy, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, classic-challenge, personal-favourites

Titus Groan is a novel that defies classification yet it is one hundred percent powerfully written and one hundred percent a classic. It is however not for those who don't like to patiently sit through a long, description driven narrative. But for those who appreciate those elements in a work of fiction or perhaps those who found the unique ideas of The Trial interesting I strongly recommend this novel.

The best genre that I could possibly associate this with is fantasy. However it is also a nove ...more

31 likes · Like · see review

Mar 28, 2012 Mosca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Wow! Wow!

This is some of the most impressive prose I've experienced in a while. And the book itself is unlike any other I've read. The use of the language kept me hooked throughout. The plot is enigmatic and entangling. The characters are numerous and, frequently, described in hilarious detail.

The language consistently moves the reader along with a poetic rhythm that is often humorous, satiric, loving, mystical, evocative, lyrical, terrifying, seductive and always intoxicating.

There is no other ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Nov 05, 2016 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: boxalls-1001-books-before-death, 2016

Dark, peculiar, vengeful characters set in a crumbling, old castle where the duty of maintaining the Groan family blood line and the "who knows what the heck that ritual is for, but we perform it anyway" rituals of the Gormenghast castle are the chief objective to carrying forth in life.

The action scenes were page turners, the scenes where characters were reminiscent were mournful, and the descriptive writing exquisitely held the novel together in a completely satisfying work that I look forwar ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 31, 2010 Chas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fiction, 1001-books-you-must-read, 2010, epic-fantasy

I've championed Mervyn Peake for a long time, but really, if you've not read him, you should. This, the first of three novels set around the massive, rotting castle Gormenghast focuses on the events surrounding the birth of the 77th earl of said castle, Titus. It's equal parts Poe, Dickens, and Shakespeare. For some reason, it's often compared to Tolkien, if only because it was published around the same time (eight years before, actually) and was probably incredibly hard to classify at the time. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Alex rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

"Wagner has some wonderful moments . . . and some perfectly dreadful quarters of an hour!" - Rossini

Rossini, one of the greatest of all Opera composers was not too appreciative of that other acknowledged Opera genius, Wagner. I really love Wagner, but having sat through Tristan und Isolde with a wretched cold or Meistersinger von Nurnberg when I was painfully tired, I've often appreciated Rossini's sentiment.

The link is, perhaps, that I was equally desperate to turn the last page on this wretch "Wagner has some wonderful moments . . . and some perfectly dreadful quarters of an hour!" - Rossini

Rossini, one of the greatest of all Opera composers was not too appreciative of that other acknowledged Opera genius, Wagner. I really love Wagner, but having sat through Tristan und Isolde with a wretched cold or Meistersinger von Nurnberg when I was painfully tired, I've often appreciated Rossini's sentiment.

The link is, perhaps, that I was equally desperate to turn the last page on this wretched book, Titus Groan, whose writing for me, is equally well summed up as having “beautifully written pages, but perfectly dreadful 30 page stretches”. If one, as a music connoisseur, can appreciate the lyrical beauty of many of Wagner's orchestral passages it's still perfectly possible to nod off during the recititave, or drama. If one can appreciate those moments when Peake really hits the nail on the head with his writing, coming up with the perfect phrasing and conjunction of words to convey beauty in meaning, equally one has to work through page after page of his painfully affected and weighty prose, the forefather of some kind of creative writing class that suggests that for every short word in the English language there's an awkward long one that would better serve the purpose. Which isn't to say that Peake's prose isn't fine, it's just that it doesn't serve Peake's story very well at all, and what looks unique and clever for the first 30 pages starts to become tiresome and aggravating after 500.

But that wasn't really the link. Really the link was a connection with Wagner's opus, The Ring Cycle that 20th Century fantasy literature seems to thread back to and be obsessed with, and it's a link that really connects the Tolkien fantasy tradition to Peake's novel in a cute little way. Tolkien, of course, mined Wagner's fantasy epic for its themes of power and domination and ripped the symbol of the ring from its heart as well as the mythic fantasy realm of dwarves and dragons and magic. But Wagner isn't just about lusty dwarves seizing power and liberated heroes taking it back again - actually that's the just the surface idea. At the heart of Wagner's Ring Cycle are themes of change, decay and the passing of one old, outmoded ruling world order into the hands of the next. The titular “Twilight of the Gods” sees Valhalla catching fire from the suicidal funeral pyre of Brunhillde, a complex chain of events involving many economic and power related factors, all a result of Wotan's greedy desire to build Valhalla, via striking an illegal deal with the giants to exploit their manual labour.

Wagner's epic is far too complicated and nuanced to get into but the influence on Peake seems clear. The old order of the Groans is brought down because unforseen and unprepared for changes, involving economics and class warfare, are brought into Gormenghast which cannot protect itself despite years of tradition and oppression of other orders (the symbolic carvings at the beginning of Titus Groan could equally be Wotan's spear on which he carves out the treaties that he makes). If lust for power is one of the factor's that brings down the Gods in Wagner, and is one of the factors that creates and sustains the conflict in Middle-Earth, then equally, through the agency of the Machiavellian Steerpike, it's the main factor that brings about change in Gormenghast. It's also interesting to note that Steerpike has Lord Sepulchrave's library burned which is essentially the seat of his power (and his sanity)

Sadly, Peake's opus is neither as good as Wagner or Tolkien, but that's not too much to its detriment. Peake is no storyteller and his book remains without heart, passion or any real coherent philosophy. We're introduced to a bunch of events and characters within Gormenghast and we're told of the changes that take place, but we're never truly connected with them. Neither are they all that complex when one sits them alongside its Wagnerian inspiration. Steerpike, the only semi-realised character within the book doesn't have a lot to do or any real motivation to do it. He's introduced as part of the working class and clearly has single-minded ambition to better himself, but this simply amounts to sweet-talking a couple of idiots and burning a library. Other characters are introduced with a wealth of detail and overburdened prose but few come to life as anything other than side-pieces and fluffed up ornamentation for the work, and as the book notes the passing of time we also note the passing of any attempt at a narrative to hook the albeit beautifully realised events together. Swelter vs Flay, the fire in the Library, Titus' Breakfast etc. are all vividly described and brought to life in perfect tableaux, but each and every event rings hollow within the grand schema.

This is a sometimes great book but it's never a great novel. In the wake of late 20th C Tolkien backlash a lot of fantasy fanatics were determined to find an alternative to give their genre respectability and, passing up Eddison's Worm Oroborous they settled on Peake for his “Dickensian” stylings and obvious metaphors (Gormenghast, it's like … a castle. Represents stability and tradition). It's a great book and a good choice but its unfortunately not the completely satisfying master-work it's frequently billed as. Why Eddison can't have the trophy now I don't know. Or maybe we should just give it to Wagner instead? ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2013 Lauren rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1305

This review has been a long time coming and I apologize (I'm looking at you Jonathan) for the delay. I had a plan to sit down and write this review and then disaster struck, my nook went beserk and I had to wipe the whole thing and start again. The big problem with that was that all of my lovely notes and highlighted passages were wiped. I am the most disappointed by the loss of those highlighted passages because I was so looking forward to proving throughout my review that Mervyn Peake is the m This review has been a long time coming and I apologize (I'm looking at you Jonathan) for the delay. I had a plan to sit down and write this review and then disaster struck, my nook went beserk and I had to wipe the whole thing and start again. The big problem with that was that all of my lovely notes and highlighted passages were wiped. I am the most disappointed by the loss of those highlighted passages because I was so looking forward to proving throughout my review that Mervyn Peake is the most brilliant author in terms of use of the English language. Now you will only get the highlighted passages from the end of the novel, which I read on my Nook color (much more reliable despite being a pain to use). At some point I plan on re-reading this excellent novel and I will fill in this review with some of my thoughts at that stage.

And on to the actual review:

I am relatively sure that my friends wanted to murder me while I was reading this novel. I was either unwilling to be sociable or I spent the whole time we were hanging out with my nose in this book, stopping conversation simply to read a beautiful passage to them. "The moon behind the miasmic wreaths swam and bulged as though in a distorting mirror. 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." Most of my friends looked at me with eyes that said WTF... Thankfully my closest friend of the group is also a bookworm so they were relatively tolerant. My advice: take time off of work and escape from your social life into Peake's magnificent prose.

The power of this work is not in the plot, which trickles along slowly. An anxious reader could quickly find his or herself bored, the plot is interesting when things happen but they can be slow to develop. Instead the reader is left with mind-numbing descriptions and excellent character development. The most important character in the novel isn't a person at all but instead the castle Gormenghast. With the other characters you are transported into understanding their loneliness, their grief, their insanity and even their cunning malice. " "Glorious," said Steerpike, "is a dictionary word. 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, new enfranchised noises which would produce a new effect. In dead and shackled language, my dears, you are glorious, but oh to give vent to a brand new sound that might convince you of what I really think of you, as you sit there in your purple splendor, side by side! But no that is impossible. Life is too fleet for onomatpoeia. Dead words defy me. I can make no sound, dear ladies that is apt."

I am so thrilled to be starting Gormenghast in the next few days.

...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2008 Tom rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Splendid, mad and entertaining and genuinely moving, a strange rare bird of a novel. Like Dickens got really high and was possessed by the soul of Kafka -- the mad characters and settings are all here, along with the strange Kafka feeling of time and life passing passing passing, and somehow it never gets boring, and when it goes too far it always knows it has gone there and there's always a reason.

I dug it as much on a second read as on the first. This deserves to be better known. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review