Customer Reviews

Amphigorey Too (Perigee)

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4 star:		(4)
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This wonderful second collection contains 20 highly enjoyable stories:

THE BEASTLY BABY (a definite Gorey favorite!) about an absolutely abominable baby, you'll be glad to see the end of!
THE NURSERY FRIEZE: Features odd strips of rhino-like animals saying words like "Archipelago" & "Quodlibet" which could very well be used as a frieze for a very unique nursery :-)
THE PIOUS INFANT: About little Henry Clump, who is completely unselfish and charitable, and always concerned about the salvation of everyone elses soul!
THE EVIL GARDEN: About a families visit to an ominous garden, where there is no way out!
THE INANIMATE TRAGEDY: A dramatic tale featuring inanimate objects as the characters, such as pins & needles (who appear to represent the chorus) a penpoint, glass marble, two-holed button, thumbtack, & a piece of knotted string (as the villain)
THE GILDED BAT: About a little girl who grows up to be a very distinguished prima ballerina.
THE IRON TONIC: or "A Winter Afternoon"- "The people at the grey hotel, Are either aged or unwell" "The guests who chose to stay aloof, Lie wrapped in carpets on the roof".
THE OSBICK BIRD: About Emblus Fingby and the osbick bird that chooses one day to live with him, as his loyal friend.
Two versions of THE CHINESE OBELISKS, one version that looks like a sketch or rough draft, and then the better known one in typical Gorey style- All about an author who goes for a walk, and the many things he encounters.
THE DERANGED COUSINS (one of my favorites!): About Rose Marshmary, Mary Rosemarsh & Marsh Maryrose, three cousins who all live together in a rose covered house at the edge of a marsh. "Since they were orphans and there was no one to stop them, they were often merry far into the night"!
THE ELEVENTH EPISODE: Starts when a woman hears a scream apparently coming from a well, when she goes to investigate she falls in and enters a world that changes her life.
[THE UNTITLED BOOK]: Charming piece, that features a little child looking out the window as strange creatures come to play in the garden. Hippity Wippity!
THE LAVENDAR LEOTARD: An early Gorey tale, in which the author introduces two small, distant, ageless, and wholly imaginary relatives to fifty seasons of the New York City Ballet!
THE DISREPECTFUL SUMMONS: A tale of the occult!
THE ABANDONED SOCK: All about the saga of a sock that decides it's life is tedious and unpleasant, and goes for an adventure.
THE LOST LIONS: About a handsome man named Hamish, whose life is suddenly changed when he one day opens the wrong envelope!
STORY FOR SARA: A cute story about a slightly wicked little girl, who captures two little birds in her small bag, and her meeting with a very large prowling cat!
THE SALT HERRING: An odd tale written to make all serious men mad, mad, mad!
LEAVES FROM A MISLAID ALBUM: A wordless collection of interesting pictures.
A LIMERICK: Absolutely cute, very SHORT limerick about poor little Zooks, of whom no one was fond.

Edward Gorey one of my favorites, whose darkly whimsical and macabre tales (that he sometimes writes under pseudonyms) are sure to offend the overly-prudish, luckily I'm not one of them. Should Gorey be classfied as a writer or Illustrator? He so obviously possessed talent in both fields, I cannot imagine his fantastic drawings without the odd amusing little quips. The people in his illustrations usually resemble silent movie stars, the women always look elegant and mysterious, the men dashing and stately. His stories also include lots of fanciful creatures and adorable (but usually hapless) children.
Gorey is strange and wonderful, and I am VERY proud and absolutely happy to be fan!
Get all three collections!

Though not quite so wonderful as "Amphigorey" (q.v.) (if nothing else, there is nothing to equal the brillint "Gashleycrumb Tinies" nor "The Unstrung Harp"), the first Gorey omnibus volume, if only because the very best was skimmed off for that volume, this is still very high class whimsey indeed.

Like Gahan Wilson (q.v), Gorey looks at the world in a slightly skewed manner; much of his work consists of showing or telling us something that sounds perfectly rational but does not, in fact, quite compute, leaving our own minds to struggle with the cognitive dissonance he creates.

Probably my favourite bit in this collection is "The Gilded Bat", which is a sadly perceptive story of perception and reality in the life of a prima ballerina -- even after litle Maudy Splaytoe has progressed to being enigmatic star Miriella Splatova, her life is still pretty much the same as it always was, a round of rehearsal, performance and boredom. (In a wonderful example of something or other, there was a ballet based on this work; i have never seen it, but heard an interview on PBS with the choreographer, who had had to create excerpts from three OTHER, fictitious, ballets referred to in the text...)

The two versions of "The Chinese Obelisks" present us with an opportunity to see the author's mind at work, comparing sketch and draft of text to the finished work.

The only reason not to immediately purchase this work would be if you could only afford one of them and hadn't already got the previous volume. If you DO already have "Amphigorey", then you absolutely must have this collection to go with it.

Edward Gorey is the type of artist who produces very specific reactions from anyone studying his work: one will either love or hate his artwork and/or stories. For those of us who are a little off center ourselves, this book is delightful. His unique drawings remain unmatched to this day, and his tales--well, they are not ordinary by any stretch of the imagination. Even though I am a staunch Gorey fan, I must admit that there are times when some of the endings leave me quite sad but, just as in life, not every tale has a happy ending. The book itself is huge, very heavy and filled to the brim with as much Gorey drawings as any fan can desire. Mr. Gorey deserves more recognition for his unusual but strange depictions of characters whom we don't really know whether to love or hate--a sort of bizarre Alice In Wonderland world of people who run the gamut from the familiar to the insane, and a bestiary of creatures born from the depths of an uncommon imagination. One has to wonder what a cartoon series based on his drawings and story lines would be like--certainly not Saturday morning fodder. At any rate, the book is well worth every penny whether you are a fan of Edward Gorey or have just discovered his works and find yourself fascinated by his bizarre view of a world which existed in his extraordinary imagination.

The contents of Gorey's collections with personal rates for each work:

AMPHIGOREY:
The Unstrung Harp (1953) ========================= ****1/2
The Listing Attic (1954) ========================= *****
The Doubtful Guest (1957) ======================== ****1/2
The Object-Lesson (1958) ========================= ****
The Bug Book (1959) ============================== ***1/2
The Fatal Lozenge (1960) ========================= *****
The Hapless Child (1961) ========================= *****
The Curious Sofa (1961) ========================== ****1/2
The Willowdale Handcar (1962) ==================== ****1/2
The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963) ==================== *****
The Insect God (1963) ============================ *****
The West Wing (1963) ============================= ***1/2
The Wuggly Ump (1963) ============================ ****1/2
The Sinking Spell (1964) ========================= ****1/2
The Remembered Visit (1965) ====================== ****

AMPHIGOREY TOO:
The Beastly Baby (1962) =================== *****
The Nursery Frieza (1964) ================= -
The Pious Infant (1966) =================== ****1/2
The Evil Garden (1966) ==================== ****1/2
The Inanimate Tragedy (1966) ============== ****
The Gilded Bat (1966) ===================== ****
The Iron Tonic (1969) ===================== ****
The Osbick Bird (1970) ==================== ****1/2
The Chinese Obelisks (Sketch) (1970) ====== ***
The Chinese Obelisks (1970) =============== ****
The Deranged Cousins (1970) =============== ****1/2
The Eleventh Episode (1971) =============== ****
The Untitled Book (1971) ================== ***1/2
The Lavander Leotard ===================== ***
Direspecful Sermons ======================= ****1/2
The Abandoned Sock (1972) ================= ****
The Lost Lions (1973) ===================== ****
Story for Sara ============================ ****
The Salt Herring ========================== ***
Leaves for a Mislaid Album (1972) ========= ***
A Limerick (1973) ========================= ****1/2

AMPHIGOREY ALSO:
The Utter Zoo (1967) ======================== *****
The Blue Aspic (1968) ======================= ****1/2
The Epileptic Bicycle (1969) ================ ****
The Sopping Thrusday (1970) ================= ****1/2
The Grand Passion (1976) =================== **1/2
Les Passementeries Horribles ================ ***
The Ecletic Abecedarium ===================== ***
L'eure Bleau ================================ ***
The Broken Spoke (1976) ===================== ****
The Awdrey-Gore Legacy (1972) =============== ****
The Glorious Nosebleed (1975) =============== ****
The Loathsome Couple (1977) ================= ****1/2
The Green Beads (1978) ====================== ****
Les Urnes Utiles ============================ ***
The Stupid Joke (1980-1982) ================ ****1/2
The Prune People (1983) ===================== ****
The Tuning Fork ============================= ****1/2

AMPHIGOREY AGAIN:
The Galoshes of Remorse (illustration) ==========
Signs of Spring ================================= ***1/2
Seasonal Confusion ============================== ***1/2
Random Walk ===================================== ***1/2
Category (illustration) =========================
The Other Statue (1968) ========================= ****
10 Impossible Objects =========================== -
The Universal Solvent (1989) ==================== -
Scénes de Ballet ================================ ***1/2
Verse Advice ==================================== ***
The Deadly Blotter (1997) ======================= ***
Creativity ====================================== ***
The Retrieved Locket (1994) ===================== ***
The Water Flowers (1982) ======================== ***1/2
The Haunted The-Cosy (1988) ===================== ***1/2
Christmas Wrap-up (illustration) ================
The Headless Bust (1999) ======================== ****
The Just Dessert (1997) ========================= **1/2
The Admonitory Hippopotamus ===================== ***1/2
Negected Murderesses (1980) ===================== ***1/2
Tragédies Topiaries ============================= ****
The Raging Tide (1987) ========================== ****
The Unknown Vegetable (1995) ==================== ****
Another Random Walk ============================= ***1/2
Serious Life: A Cruise ========================== ***1/2
Figbash Acrobate (Illustrations) ================
La Malle Saignante ============================== ****
The Izzard Book ================================= ***

This second mass-market anthology of Gorey's assorted works holds its own against the first collection, Amphigorey, and presents pieces previously found in a number of his once hard to locate, highly-sought shorter books. This volume concentrates on the more obscure among Edward Gorey's output, and in fact several of the tales here I had never heard of before I acquired Amphigorey Too. The irony in the fact so many of these illustrated tales are humorous (in addition to being ironic, strange and disturbing) is that Gorey balanced their intentional comic value with the concept that he was not trying to provide his readers with unalterated amusement. In fact an editor once challenged Gorey by saying, "Edward, this isn't funny." To which Gorey replied, "Sir, isn't it best that it not be?" Amphigorey Too is a wonderful compiliation and a must-have for any Gorey fan.

I don't care if you've never in your life read Edward Gorey, I don't care if "it's not your thing," I don't care about any silly excuse. If you haven't read this book than you are not complete, and there's only one way to fix the problem.

Edward Gorey is satiric genius, and when he isn't being sarcastic and whimsical then he is beautiful and poetic (although come to think of it, he's always poetic, isn't he?). Being an Amphigorey, this book has loads or nonsense stuff crammed together with some of his best work. I can't imagine that anyone with any kind of imagination could read through it without finding at least one thing that they adored.

This is the 2nd of the Amphigorey series and is just as entertaining as the first. Edward Gorey takes macabre little tales and illustrates them in a delightfully, gothic manner. A literary treasure and a must read for those who enjoy dark humor.

I'm so pleased with this book and it has definitely become one of my favorites. Great artwork and wonderful stories, my favorite of course being "The Beastly Baby".

I really enjoyed this, an absolute must have if you like Gorey or if you want a collection of his stuff to try him out. =)

If your familiar with the tongue-in-cheek humor of a man with a name like Gorey, then you'll love this book. Some parents may be a little shy of the death and spooky themes with little children I think it's more suited to collectors of odd things and older kids with a penchant for the macabre.