Customer Reviews

The Gashlycrumb Tinies: Or, After the Outing

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

The concept behind "The Gashlycrumb Tinies; or, After the Outing," by Edward Gorey, is brilliant in its simplicity. It consists of a series of rhymes about small children who suffer various deaths. Each child has a name beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, and their grim fates are arranged alphabetically by name. Each fate is also accompanied by one of Gorey's macabre drawings. Sample lines: "E is for Ernest who choked on a peach. F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech. G is for George smothered under a rug. H is for Hector done in by a thug."

I found this book hilarious. Gorey's children have a proper Victorian look to them which makes their scenarios that much more bizarre. Most of the drawings show the unfortunate children just before their deaths; only a few of the pictures actually show explicit death or violence.

One could read "Gashlycrumb Tinies" as an outrageous parody of children's books (of alphabet primers in particular), or just enjoy it for what it is. Either way, I think it's a wicked delight.

This is the first Gorey I have ever read. I just read it today. Here are my impressions:

As my title indicates, I found it highly amusing. I found myself laughing out loud a few times while reading this very short book.

The illustrations are fantastic as you can gather from most of these reviews. Most of the illustrations are funny but I might note the exception to that in the gruesome image of Kate's corpse after being struck with an ax. I think that's the only illustration taking place after the event. That proved to be an exception though. The book is very amusing and hilarious at times.

It's an anti-children's book for adults. It can be a funny remedy to the insipid and happy-go-lucky kinds of children's books. That doesn't mean this is just for parents or those particularly sick with those children's books. I think anyone with a decent sense of humor, and especially a dark one, would enjoy this.

It's short. I don't know why the information says it's 64 pages because there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. Anyway, my point is that it's just a little humorous diversion.

This hardcover edition is really great. It's high quality and just plain nice...

Edward Gorey's dark subversion of children's alphabet books is a tiny book guaranteed to bring a sinister smile to the face of every one with a twisted sense of humor. Opening with "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs" and running all the way to "Z is for Zilla who drank too much gin," the simple but inspired rhymes combine with Gorey's pseudo-Victorian Gothic crosshatch illustrations to wickedly funny effect.

Although his disaster-specific illustrations (such as "R is Rhoda consumed by a fire") are macabrely witty, Gorey is really at his best when he leaves the most to your imagination. Consequently, it is really his illustrations of impending doom ("P is for Prue trampled flat in a brawl") or the shocking aftermath of an unknown circumstance ("K is for Kate who was struck with an ax") that are most likely to inspire a mischievous grin.

Although you might not want to give this to your anxiety-prone niece or your traumatized stepson as a Christmas stocking stuffer unless you wish to make them worry about your intent, older children will likely find it every bit as comical as adults--but adults are the real audience here, much more likely to catch the drop-dead humor involved. Wickedly amusing and sinisterly charming in every way.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I purchased this book after realizing that Edward Gorey was the wonderfully sinister artist behind the scary illustrations in most of the books by John Bellairs. What a pleasant (yet disturbing) surprise it was to see the alphabet written in such a memorably deranged way. The shock value alone of this book is great (just imagine an elementary school teacher handing this one out!!!) If you can appreciate anything sick and twisted and if you like any form of dark illustrations get everything ever drawn by Mr. Edward Gorey!!!!!!

Yes, it's warped! I feel like such an utter sociopathic evil human being for thinking this sick creation is completely hysterical. Oh, gosh, I mean, what's wrong with me that I break out laughing over what sounds in description the most demented thing ever drawn?

For those who may not know, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, by the legendary Edward Gorey, is a series of pen and ink illustrations that concern the ghastly, serial deaths of twenty-six small children (yes I feel awful just typing that knowing it's being read) all of whom have a name beginning with one consecutive letter of the alphabet, A,B, C, etc. and all of whom are depicted meeting singularly gruesome fates, each of the incidents set merrily to rhyme. The children are Victorian or Edwardian, as are nearly all characters Gorey drew, and they meet their demises in astonishingly horrid ways. One is devoured by mice, another is eaten by bears. Another is sucked dry by a leech, yet another unfortunate meets her fate under a rug. One child even manages to perish from ennui!

Oh, dear Lord, this is insanity, and yet as penned by Gorey, this is so sick it's funny.

I'm stopping here.

Before anyone tracks me down to stone me at a crossroads under a full moon while chanting from the Book of Common Prayer, try reading this disgustingly hilarious little collection and see if you don't agree it reaches in and finds some twisted avenue in your soul and tickles till your inner sadist erupts with laughter.

I like children. I swear I do.

"M is for Maud who was swept out to sea..."

Help! I'm not a bad person for laughing, honestly! Sick! Sick! SICK!

When I was a boy, my mother read to me the short poem of Solomon Grundy. It went - Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday, Christened on a Tuesday, Married On a Wednesday, Took ill on a Thursday, Worse on a Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on a Sunday. This is the end of Solomon Grundy.

I don't remember how young I was, but I was startled by the short life of this Solomon Grundy character. It also made me wonder about death. Not in a depressive, fearful way, but in a curious way. Even though I wasn't intellectually tuned to metaphor , my unconscious understood that though we don't die in a week, we do die - whatever dieing meant to me in those days. It was a lesson. A lesson wrapped in a tale for the young at heart.

Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies teaches us the same lesson, but it also contains the one ingredient we need to extinguish the fear of death ( for a time ). Humor. We see the calamity of it's characters and we laugh. But we laugh because we are kin to the absurdity. The greatest ill a parent can do to a child is to deceive that child from the truth. The Gashlycrumb Tinies allows us to tell the truth, one step at a time. Laughter and death, something we all have in common.

Solomon Grundy or The Gashlycrumb Tinies - thanks Mom.

Otto

But you will not die of ennui if you open this book. It illustrates the misfortunes of 26 children with names A-Z to a ghoulishly humorous rhyme. The cover image of the umbrella wielding symbol of death and his doomed "tinies" is one of the most famous artwork out there; especially in the gothic world. Inside are drawings of the children before or after their sudden deaths. My favorite is "H is for Hector done in by a thug" with a drawing of an innocent schoolboy and two arms holding a long piece of cloth in the background. No doubt this scene was inspired by the barbaric cult that practiced ritual strangulation known as the "Thuggies." The most gruesome drawing is "K is for Kate who was struck with an axe" the rest are more witty than grisly. Like the title, this book is tiny in size as well but big on macabre humor!

Go through the alphabet with Edward Gorey -- one death at a time! This is a great gift for anyone you might know with a dark sense of humor. Or as a gift to a young child whose parents you don't particularly like... This short story is, like all of Gorey, a wonderfully illustrated and twisted look at the world from a very different perspective. If you already like, or have an interest in Edward Gorey, I would recommend you skip this and just purchase Amphigorey which contains this story as well as many others.

I was really only aware of Gorey's work from the opening credits of PBS's MYSTERY series, but after ordering this book as a curiosity for my store..., I fell in love with Gorey's deliciously twisted sense of humor -- our customers did too. Over the past year, we have reordered the book - up to 10 copies deep each time - and it always sells out within 3 days!

While never truly grotesque, this ABC picture book of small children succumbing to death by pick axe, well and murderers would by description offend most people. However, the humor is so irreverent and out of left field you'll most likely find yourself giggling, hoping no one will see you. You probably be embarrasssed to admit you like it, but at least you'll be howling when you do.

I didn't know what ennui was until I read "Gashlycrumb", but now I'm sure I have it! I saw this first in poster form and fell in Love. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but don't we all need to bring our darkside into the light? I have several of Mr. Gorey's books and I'm amazed where I find his art. Did you know he illustrated the original "Addams Family"? From playbills to popular catalogs I have enjoyed his whimsical eeriness. From an era when impolite words were whispered Edward gorey screams of impoliteness without really offending. Is it your own jaded mind or is something really kinky going on and your missing out on all the fun(read the"couch" book)? He also illustrated T.S. Elliots "Cats" book that the never-ending musical is based on. In short, really talented guy.