Customer Reviews

The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas

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4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Three ghosts, a recluse and an initial apparition. Dickens, right? Wrong: Edward Gorey does his own take on "Christmas Carol" in "The Haunted Tea Cosy." Delightfully verbose and filled with Gorey's surreal drawings, this is a picture book that adults will adore.

Recluse Edward Gravel is going about dreary tasks before Christmas. Then sudden an enormous insectile creature leaps from beneath the tea cosy. (Never mind what a tea cosy is) It is the Bahhum Bug, which has come to "diffuse the interests of didacticism." To escort the Bahhum Bug and Mr. Gravel, three subfuse but transparent personages appear to show him the Christmas That Never Was, The Christmas That Isn't, and The Christmas That Never Will Be. They show him distressing scenes around the grey town of Lower Spigot. It's written in a wry, twisted style, this book includes delightfully dour illustrations by the late and much lamented Gorey.

Tired of relentless holiday cheer? Looking for a dash of Halloween's darkness in the chirrupy holiday season? Then check out "The Haunted Tea Cosy," and then carry on to "the very edge of the unseemly"!

I've read this book a time or two and looked up words I thought I knew. They're sometimes long, sometimes arcane and even sometimes quite inane.

Didactically its well diffused. It's only we it leaves confused. Just when you think you've got the plot, you find what's plot is really not.

And here's a clue that's truly droll. Wallpaper seems to have a role. Perhaps it's meant to be the paste that makes diffusiveness a whole.

Yet it's a Dickens of a story, and we know, of course, it's a-la-Gorey.

This book is a wonderfl antithesis to all the forced jollities of Dicken's beloved chestnut. Old Scrooge should only meet this Bahum Bug! Instead, the Yuletide Bug takes the dour Edward Gravel through a tour of Christmases that Never Were, Isn't, and Never Will Be, all shown in wonderfully ambiguous terms. Of course the Moral Lesson Is Learned, and Mr.Gravel learns to sheer cheer with the equally grey people of his town of Lower Spigot. But the delight is that nowhere does Gorey force the lesson on us, never do the odd little tragedies, even in cemetaries, force one to See the Real Meaning of Christmas--until we have finished the story, and even then it is a droll little moral. This is one story I intend to make a holiday standard in my family.

Though the storyline is somewhat re-hashed, Gorey's drawings are delighful. A must-have for any real collector.

This is a short tale of Edmund Gavel who is visited by the Bah Hum Bug and 3 Christmas spectres. Other than the names of the ghosts there is no reference to Christmas in this strangely entertaining and delightfully illustrated little tale.

Oddly refreshing. Though I am familiar with Gorey's cartoon art, this is the first of his books that I've stumbled into and I suddenly understand his cultish popularity. TEA COSY is a re-make of Dicken's CHRISTMAS CAROL involving wallpaper thieves, ghosts of never-were holidays and a Bahum Bug who battles didacticism. The whole adventure ends at "the very edge of the unseemly." Don't wait until Christmas.

Mr. Gorey's unique sense of humor is sure to be appreciated for people with a taste for the subtle and obscure. This pastiche of "A Christmas Carol" finds Gorey in fine form, particularly with the irrelevant introduction of a large bug character, and the end when celebrations are carried "to the very edge of the unseemly." Wonderful! The art work, done in a style imitating the rustic wood carvings that have become common fodder in some holiday cards of late, is both Goreyan and new.

I LOVE Ed Gorey's work and have a growing collection. His attention to detail, symbolism, word usage and dark humor are all hallmarks.

However, I was a little disappointed with the "Haunted Tea Cozy," which I received as a gift. This is a clever, witty interpretation of "A Christmas Carol" and is vintage Gorey with regard to the text and choice of characters.

However, the drawings were just not as sharply detailed as Gorey fans will be expecting. I don't want to place blame with Mr. Gorey (this work was first printed in magazine form a year before and maybe the loss of crispness, hatching etcetera was due to the printing).

If you are an avid collector you will still want it and if you like the story or Mr. Gorey's writing it's worth the money. Nonetheless this is the first time I can say that I felt slightly cheated with a Gorey work.

If you like Gorey, you'll want this. Would not entertain children, too literary. Not as desirable even for adults as the Insect God or the alphabet book.

"The Haunted Tea Cosy" shows Gorey's esoteric humor at its best. Loosely based on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," we follow Edmund Gravel through a series of affecting scenes rendered in flat pen and ink, many involving wallpaper and other absurd Edwardian commonplaces. In the end he builds a mountain of fruitcake and carries a celebration "to the very edge of the unseemly." Fans of Gorey will treasure this addition to the canon, and those unfamiliar with his brilliant "Amphigorey" collection may begin to see what the fuss is about by reading this offbeat gift book.