Customer Reviews

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, and Other Stories

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great collection of drawings and illustrations from Tim Burton which I would definately reccommend. HOWEVER, keep in mind that the HOLIDAY EDITION is simply the ORIGINAL EDITION, with the addition of a new holiday themed slip cover. Remove the slip cover and you've got the same book. Just don't want anyone ordering thinking that it's a new edition with all-new or additional poems and art. Now that that's out of the way, buy this book! (Either edition, and any time of the year!)

You don't need to like dark things in order to like this dark book. You don't even need to be gloomy or sad to read it. This book is just brilliant. It's innocent and child-like tales will transport you to another level of imagination. You will sympathize with the poor creatures in this book, because they need to be loved too. You will smile and laugh and empathize. I highly recommend giving this book as a gift. Everyone i have lent it to, including corporate execs--really liked it. I also highly recommend "Lenore: Noogies" by Roman Dirge for something similar in terms of art and storyline, which Tim Burton also praises.

I have always admired the on-screen work of Tim Burton but had not known about his literary endeavours. When I was given this book as a present I did not expect much of it even though the title intrigued me and front cover art work was bizarre. I found this to be a collection of surreal accounts of abnormal children but still able to touch and allow the reader to endear to these beastly freaks of nature. The darkness in these stories are reminiscent of much of Burton's film work and the artwork is almost as powerful as the stories themselves. This book works on every possible level as it is simple yet sinister enough to be potent. A definite must-read for all those with a slightly twisted outlook on the world!

Tim Burton once again surprises and delights us with his new book, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories". The book is a subvertion to the children's fairy-tale book genre. If you look at the book and flip through its pages, you'll say it's indeed a children book, and it's supposed to look like one. But the book has several direct sex and drugs references (i.e., the sexual problems of Oyster-Boy's parents, and "the girl who sniffed lots of glue"), and most of the characters of the tales die at the end. Tim Burton, who's given us such wonderful movies as "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", has now made a wonderful book, filled with what he's best at, unusual, misunderstood and outcast characters. "The Melancholy Death..." is a collection of tales of little freak kids who live in deep sadness for not being understood or accepted. The stories are told through melancholic verses and the illustrations (by Tim Burton) are simple and extremely elegant. Once you meet characters like Melonhead, Stick-Boy, The Boy With Nails in His Eyes, Junk Girl, The Pin-Cushion Queen, it gets easier to understand how Tim Burton could come up with such an original and bizarre film as "Edward Scissorhands". It's as though he was one of the kids from the book. The references to sex reminded me of "Batman Returns", where Tim Burton subverted the action-movie genre, turning a Batman blockbuster movie into an expressionist tale of sex and horror. The Penguin, by the way, makes an appearance in the book as a child (The Hideous Penguin Boy). "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" is a wonderful book and a must for any Tim Burton fan.

If you are a Tim Burton fan, get this book. It's a collection of fun and very Tim Burton poems about outcasts and outsiders that makes you feel better knowing you're not in their situations.

The book is oddly formatted. Some pages have one line of verse and a picture on the adjacent side. The book looks like it is written for children, but I don't know if any kids would understand or enjoy it as a young adult like me did.

The illustrations gave me the creeps; they are fun, yet disturbing at the same time. I recommend this book!

I bought this handsome collection of short poems and stories by Tim Burton, not only because he is my most favorite director, but also because I was very interested in what his poetry and stories were like. Although "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories" is written as a children's book, the content consists of some sexual,drug, and just plain macabre stuff. For example, in a couple poems, like "Robot Boy," a line goes, "He never forgave her unholy alliance: a sexual encounter with a kitchen appliance." Also, to tell you about the scarce yet present drug content, in the poem called, "Sue", the beginning is, "To avoid a lawsuit, we'll just call her Sue (or "that girl who likes to sniff lots of glue"). And lastly,to show you that macabre stuff is present, I can't recite a specific line because all of them contain some or lots of macabre. But if you truly love Tim Burton, then this book is a good thing to have. I like the poems in this collection- they are fun to read over and over, and a great addition to your bookshelf. I just suggest that you don't buy it for a child or an early reader- it is really for an older kid (like 12 and up) to adult. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and anyone who loves Tim Burton, likes macabre comedy, and can be mature to some very light adult content will enjoy having this book!

P.S.- I loved "The Girl with Many Eyes"! (It was a clean and funny poem)!

P.S.S.- Not all of the poems contain drug or sexual content!! In fact, most are clean and clever!

Tim Burton has always had a fondness for outsiders, characters who are rejected from society. In his creations such as "Edward Scissorhands" and the "The Nightmare Before Christmas", his characters achieve a certain elegance, finally rising above what society mandates to live their lives. Edward S. gets the girl, Jack remains the pumpkin king.

In "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories", Burton shows us the darker side of things, characters like Oyster Boy, Roy the Toxic Boy, and Stain Boy who are different, but unlike Edward and Jack, don't find happiness. But there is still the same Burton flair, the simple beauty of the Boy with Nails in his Eyes, who tried to decorate a tree but couldn't do it right because he couldn't see.

The stories are told a la children's bedtime yarns, but these tales aren't for kids--instead, these are fascinating insights into the mind of one of the greatest creative talents of the past two decades. Burton draws elegantly and simply, with oversized heads, grotesque bodies, and spacy eyes, but nothing else could convey his dark visions better. His stories are short and to the point, some of them lasting only a sentence or two. His brevity is the one fault of the book...Burton could have made it twice as long and twice as enjoyable had he expanded a bit on the hideous penguin boy and other trite tales that left me wanting more. But still, Burton shows yet more wondrous talent oozing from his brain. I especially like the girl who stares at you for no reason. She just stares.

Of course, none of these characters are real, but then that's the key to Burton's genius. We've all met the staring girl before, once in our lives, and Stain Boy, and Oyster Boy, and Robot Boy, and the Girl who Turned into a Bed. While we haven't met them literally, they exist within each of us, grotesque, horrid images of humanity that Burton has thankfully allowed us to see.

I bought this book since I'm a fan of Tim Burton's movies (Edward Scissorhands is one of the most beautiful movies I've seen). I appreciate Burton's unique drawing style, and I thought I would enjoy this book. However, it wasn't quite what I expected. I had in mind something more similar to Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" or, at worst, something akin to Angus Oblong's "Creepy Susie." And while it does have some similarity, I found it much less entertaining. The stories are often little more than a reiteration of the title, and the verse in the longer stories strikes me as uneven in rhythm (which may not bother everyone, but i'm admittedly uptight about things like that.) One solidly redeeming feature about this book is the impeccable design, however. The hardcover edition is beautifully bound, and the book is cleverly and neatly laid out. Graphic design students might want to take note of this book solely for that feature, if it can be found cheaply.

In summary, I'd say the book is for hardcore Burton fans, or those who are more open to highly atypical stories. I give it three stars for effort and design.

Come on, look at the title, how many other "teen" books have you seen with the words "melancholy" and "death" in them? No one is marketing this as a teen book. Please don't let the last reviewer's ignorance dissuade you, this is a great book for anyone with a love of Tim Burton's aesthetic and wry humor. I would suggest the other edition (in black) because it's a great looking book...

Tim Burton, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories (Morrow, 1997)

Someone needs to explain this to me and fast, `cause I don't get it: how is it that bad poetry (and yes, folks, this is truly bad) and art that looks like a second-rate Edward Gorey ripoff (Burton is not the illustrator that he is the sculptor and animator) can be so insanely funny? I am completely at a loss for why I liked this anywhere near as much as I did.

Let's face it, if you squint right while watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's obvious even in Burton's finest work that the specter of Edward Gorey looms large over Burton's material; it has never been more obvious than it is here. Many of his characters even seem to have the same basic brushstrokes Gorey used in his illustrations. Which is not to say they're bad; they just look like Edward Gorey work. Not even as blurred as Bacon's famous study of Pope Pius.

And the verse? Absolute doggerel. Even conceding the idea that Burton is using Gerard Manley Hopkins-esque sprung rhythm (which he's not, because sprung rhythm does, at least, HAVE a rhythm), the implementation is so amateurish that it's impossible despite the rhymes to call this anything resembling poetry.

but good living Christ on a crutch, is this book funny. Morbid, twisted, insane, gut-churning (despite the pretty cartoons, folks, this is not one to buy for the kiddies; flip through the title story for a good example of why), and full of laughs. One almost gets the idea Burton was going for a place as the anti-Dr. Seuss. Little vignettes about characters who fade in and out like Dish Network reception in a typhoon, popping up unexpectedly here and there and doing exactly what you were hoping they wouldn't.

If you are at all a fan of Tim Burton, this is a must-read. If you're not, you're probably going to notice the faults and not find what lies beneath them. ***