Number 44 - Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake

 

Another of the series of books I started last year.

Titus Groan was chosen for my book group and I was extraordinarily grateful. It gave me the excuse to finally get around to it and I loved it. 

So onto book two.  We delve deeper into the traditions and rituals of Gormenghast castle. Steerpike continues to murder his way up through the ranks. Titus is now seven years old (at the start of the book) and showing a rebellious streak of his own that can only lead to trouble.

The book follows his schooling under the strangest cast of teachers in fiction, the courting of Dr Prunesquallor's sister, and the rising threat from inside the castle in the shape of the devious and evil Steerpike. 

They don't write books like this any more. Never use just one word when two chapters will suffice. But those chapters are gloriously written. 

The cast of grotesques are beautifully (if that's the right word) drawn. You can practically see Irma Prunesquallor's nose poking out of the pages. You can feel the grime and the dirt of the castle and its environs. You can almost smell the atmosphere. 

This is a dense read.  It's very very wordy indeed, but in this case, that's not a fault. Once you tune into the cadence and the rhythm of Peake's writing, you become immersed.

I actually read this in just 3 days.  This edition is quite small print and was still 512 pages. It's not a short book or an easy read by any stretch of the imagination - and this book really does stretch the imagination.  As you can probably gather, I had a lot of spare time for reading in this past week.

This is frequently laugh out loud funny.  Given how dark the humour is, I'm not sure if that says more about me or the writing. For lovers of gorgeous prose, seedy atmosphere and jet black humour, this is an ideal book.

If you want fast moving action and nothing else, stay away.

On a weird note, I read the last hundred pages with BRMC's weird instrumental album - The Effects of 333 - playing in the background.  It really added to the atmosphere and made the build up to the showdown at the end so much more tense and exciting.