Gormenghast

[Alatar]

I know this book has as nearly many fans as Tolkien so I'm curious to know what people think of it. I was introduced to it by the excellent BBC Miniseries with Jonathan Rhys Meyer and a cast of Britains finest, and I enjoyed it thoroughly in all its wierdness.

As a result I picked up a single volume "Gormenghast Trilogy" and to my shame, I abandoned it halfway through the second volume. I find myself thinking about it again recently, after spotting a BBC Radio adaptation starring Sting as Steerpike, and I intend to listen to the Radio play, follow up with the DVD and then attempt another reading.

Any advice? Suggestions? Fans? Haters?

[Primula Baggins]

I saw the miniseries, too, but I've never picked up the book. Too many people I know have found themselves unable to get into it or through it. And my stack of books yet to be read is three feet high and climbing.

I also know people who love the books. But not nearly as many as love Tolkien's.

[Crucifer]

This is my favourite Trilogy in the whole world ever...

I've only read it once, but I think I need to psyche myself up before I can even pick it up.

[Primula Baggins]

You must be the one I'm thinking of, Crucifer.

What makes it your favorite?

[Alatar]

And did you enjoy the BBC adaptations? Radio and TV?

[Impenitent]

I've not yet read it, but have flirted with a curiosity to do so. I saw snippets of that BBC series perhaps 10 years ago and that was the first time I heard of it. I've hung back from picking up the book because the BBC series struck me at the time as being very dark.

I don't object to 'very dark' on principle, but for the last few years I've grappled with my very own 'dark' and I think I'll need to have a good dose of joy and resilience syrup before I can take on any more.

I'm still very curious to do so, though.

[Teremia]

I love these books, but they're perhaps a bit in the category of "things one reads/sees once but is oddly reluctant to read/see again."

I think they're brilliant, dark & Gothic, Dickens plus Joan Aiken plus -- but now I'm crediting a Descendant for the work of the Ancestor -- China Miéville.

(Has anyone here read China Miéville? Perdido Street Station and The Scar are just brilliant beyond compare, I think.)

It is good sometimes to read things written by the Slightly Unhinged. Counteracts the glossy formulae to which we've all become numb.

[Aravar]

I enjoyed the first two: they're very atmospheric and come to a conclusion: IIRC the BBC series covers those two. I started the third but never finished it.

[Griffon64]

I have read two and a fraction books of it, too . I struggled to get started but after 100 or so pages, I found it readable ( always meant to read it again ) but I found the last volume was so awful that I just gave up after a bit, and never felt like going back - knowing that awful third volume was lurking there.

[Primula Baggins]

Teremia, I've been halfway through Perdido Street Station for a few years now It's wonderfully written and evocative, but grim—and I've been off grim in recent years. But I still have it and consider it well worth finishing, as soon as my skin is a bit thicker.

[Crucifer]

Peake uses about 7 million words where he could use one.
I speak like he writes.
I love the world he created, the unending, pointless ceremonies that no one actually knows the real reason for.
I could go on for several days about what I love in this book.
While I was reading it, I chose one word that I read each day, and used it in conversation liberally...

In fact, the only problem was that I couldn't sleep at night while I was reading it, because I was kept awake by the richness and quality of the imagery.

[scirocco]

I love these books, but they're perhaps a bit in the category of "things one reads/sees once but is oddly reluctant to read/see again."

It is good sometimes to read things written by the Slightly Unhinged. Counteracts the glossy formulae to which we've all become numb.

Quite agree. I read them all many years ago before the BBC series came out (which I haven't watched yet), and have re-read a couple of times, but I'm not super-keen to do so again.

I believe that Peake did suffer from dementia and you can't help wondering if that affected what he wrote. Gormenghast has that slightly dream-like, tipping into nightmare, quality that surely must have reflected his mental state.

[narya]

Peake uses about 7 million words where he could use one.
I speak like he writes.
I love the world he created, the unending, pointless ceremonies that no one actually knows the real reason for.
I could go on for several days about what I love in this book.
While I was reading it, I chose one word that I read each day, and used it in conversation liberally...

In fact, the only problem was that I couldn't sleep at night while I was reading it, because I was kept awake by the richness and quality of the imagery.

Sounds like my kind of book! I added the audio books to my wish list though it is increasingly improbably that I will get to all the books already on it.