Titus Groan

By Mervyn Peake

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Jun 26, 2007
• ISBN: 9781468301021

Reviews for Titus Groan

[xicanti_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I expected TITUS GROAN, (in which we follow the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan through the first year and a bit of his life), to be dense, wordy and difficult. I'd read scads of reviews that emphasized Peake's verbosity, and a quick scan of the first page seemed to bear them out. I figured I was in for a slog, albeit an enjoyable one. I prepared myself for at least five days of reading; six or seven seemed more likely.It is indeed wordy. I've heard it said that Peake never uses two words when eighteen will do, and this is very, very true. But for all that, it's surprisingly readable. The book is broken into segments, not chapters, and most of them are ten pages or less. I found it fairly easy to use these segments to plot my reading. I couldn't exactly read quickly, but I still managed a solid and satisfying hundred and fifty pages per day.The whole thing is just so interesting! The moldering castle of Gormenghast is a world all its own, and Peake limns it with absolute conviction. The castle's rituals and traditions seem strange and grotesque to us, but the characters believe in them to the core. They navigate via a most peculiar moral and social compass; all their actions and interactions seem to have been twisted a quarter turn to the left of what we in the western world would do if faced with a similar situation. And these actions are unquestionably the focus here. Peake isn't interested in time so much as space. He's perfectly willing to use up a page or six on some small, inconsequential detail that is nevertheless vitally important to the characters or their setting. It makes for some fascinating reading.And on top of that, it's occasionally quite funny. Many a time, Peake's ponderous sentences made me laugh aloud, and some of his imagery is just priceless. One of my favourite scenes involves a bizarre ritual in which the infant Titus is placed inside an open book, the pages of which are safety-pinned together at the top. It's such a strange, surreal image, and the characters treat the whole thing so seriously. I'm not sure it's meant to be funny, but I found it hilarious.As much as I enjoyed the book as a whole, I must say that the last hundred and fifty pages didn't do quite so much for me as the first chunk. I took a break (read: slept) right before Titus's birthday Breakfast, a lengthy scene in which Peake abandons the past tense in favour of the present. Alas, he has some trouble sticking to his chosen tense; every few sentences or so, he slips back into the past in a most jarring fashion. It bugged the hell out of me, and I had a lot of trouble getting back in to the story.But that issue aside, this was excellent. I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading GORMENGHAST good and soon. I highly recommend it, but be forewarned: if you're expecting anything like a traditional fantasy story, you will be sorely disappointed.(This review originally appeared in a somewhat lengthier form on my blog, Stella Matutina.

[eilonwy_anne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating, almost operatic book set in a fantastic world where nothing is supposed to change: the huge, decaying, ultimately unknowable castle of Gormenghast. There, the traditions of the House of Groan are worshipfully followed by a cast of characters whose minds and desires are quite human, even though their bodies, exaggeratedly expressive, often verge on the grotesque. A beautiful tale of the fight between great, statuesque Stasis and the small, clever hobgoblin of Change.

[sprainedbrain · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was not at all what I was expecting, but it was very good. Titus Groan is a wonderfully weird story about a giant castle (so big that some inhabitants are completely forgotten about by others) filled with delightfully weird, eccentric characters blindly following centuries of complicated rituals. Action unfolds slowly as we get to know richly drawn characters in this atmospheric, brilliantly written fantasy.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story of Titus' birth, and the readers are brought face to face, with the huge decaying castle and the odd personalities that live there. while not greatly to my taste, yet the scene is well set for the rest of the trilogy of "Gormenghast."

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book but I will admit it is not going to be for everyone. It moves at a languid pace. The words are as important as any story that is going on. For me it was a lot like reading an over the top fantasy novel that Dickens might have written. Only Dickens made his writing more accessible.

I can see the roots of a lot of writers I really like in this book though (China Mieville for instance). I am glad I finally read it and will work my way through the other books but this is going to be a series I will not read straight through.

[fergster73 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is a rare thing indeed to enjoy a book so much not only for the story but also for the magnificent use of language with which it is told.

[wirkman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great monstrosity of a novel. Great, twisted prose, folding back in time as the story covers the first year in the life of the title character. I read this book, first, in high school, and carried it around with me during the reading. And re-reading. I was teased for it, of course. The best jape? "Tightest Groin." Yes, high school kids say the darndest things. The book is not diminished by such farcical parody. It is, indeed, a great work of imagination and storytelling. But it is not designed for those who like simple stories. It's for those who want to be "bowled over."

[kronos999_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a book for the impatient, Titus Groan is a novel to be savored in loving detail. In spite of the word 'FANTASY' stamped on the side, this novel has less to do with post-Tolkien heroic quests than with authors such as Dickens who in many ways it reminded me. It chronicles a year in the life of the inhabitants of castle Gormenghast, home to the Groan dynasty for 76 generations upon the birth of Titus, heir to the Earldom. The members have only rare contact with the outside world and are bound completely by tradition. Titus, however, is not the only newcomer. Steerpike, the ambitious kitchen-boy, brings with him the force of change and it is difficult to decide whether to love or hate him for it, especially as events spiral out of control. Either way, don't trust him.

[clong_818048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely the most unusual book I have read in a long time. Every character is a bizarre combination of creepy, quirky, and likeable (although I don't suppose I can find anything to like about the gluttonous homicidal chef). They rarely interact with each other, and even when they do, they make no real attempt to communicate. I felt oddly ambivalent about Steerpike, the ambitious and deftly manipulative villain, who is in many ways as sympathetic as any of the characters. And the castle itself is a fascinating, barely-explored character, with entire wings that no one has entered in years. I suspect that there are plenty more odd characters and settings to be discovered in the second and third books. Peake's use of English is frequently spellbinding. There are some very funny scenes to help lighten the mood. At times the story moves quickly, but at other times it is slow-paced.

[pajarita_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Wow!This is some of the most impressive prose I've experienced in a while. And the book itself is unlike any other I've read. The use of the language kept me hooked throughout. The plot is enigmatic and entangling. The characters are numerous and frequently, hilariously described in detail.The language consistently moves the reader along with a poetic rhythm that is often humorous, satiric, loving, mystical, evocative, lyrical, terrifying, seductive and always intoxicating.There is no other book to compare this to; nor is there a genre in which to place this. This is its own genre.This is not fantasy. This is not Gothic. The only word I can think of is "Gormenghastean", a word I just made up. But that's ok, Mr. Peake frequently used words of his own invention.Mervyn Peake admired Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevensen; he was friends with Dylan Thomas and Graham Greene. But he is unlike these writers, except that he is, also, a master. China Mielville has openly expressed his own admiration. But these two writers are not alike except that both define their own creations.Give up your expectations for any genre; but do yourself a favor, and read this book.

[citizenjoyce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another book, like Sea of Poppies which is a set up for the rest of the trilogy. We meet the fascinating characters of Gormenghast whose lives revolve around ritual so much so that most seem to pull back from personal relationships into art or nature in order to sustain their concentration on the senseless ritual that keeps their society functioning. From the burning of artwork to the deaf Grey Scrubbers, to the Machiavellian Steerpike, the creaky Flay, the Countess with her white cats and wild birds, petulant Fuchsia, pitiful Nannie Slagg, owl-like Lord Sepulchrave, tittering Doctor Prunesquallor and the needlessly haughty sister Emma and twins Cora and Clarice culminating in the "Earling" of little Titus, Peake's characterization and world building keep the reader engrossed and delighted.

[paulmysterioso · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The first book in Mervyn Peake's amazing Gormenghast trilogy finds young Titus Groan, heir to the mysterious Gormenghast Castle, coming under the influence of the villainous kitchen slavey Steerpike.

[darla_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

OMG. This was completely different from my usual reading, and was one of those rare serendipitous finds. Nobody recommended it, I just picked it up to fill out my 3/$1 stack at the flea market. It's a slow-moving, lazy book. Over 500 pages, and dense prose at that, so it took me nearly 3 days to read. But the words...! You absolutely cannot rush this book. It's like the chocolate mousse of words, and not that sickeningly sweet Jello-pudding-like ersatz mousse with so little chocolate you might as well be eating sweetened cream, either. These words are rich and delicious, and you roll them around on your tongue, savoring the flavor. Not all that filling, but damn, it tastes so good you don't care. :) He uses big fat meaning-rich words, and never uses one word when three will do. Most writers I'd have been skimming by page 3. It takes some doing to make me enjoy slow, wordy prose.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just couldn't read this. Too much language for language's sake and not enough plot.

[jrissman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Titus Groan features incredible language and tremendously unusual and interesting characters. The setting- a vast, gloomy castle bound up in ancient and obscure traditions- is also a highlight of the book. Unfortunately, the story moves along very slowly, and there isn't much action. Though I enjoyed Peake's poetic descriptions and Halloween imagery, in the end I decided the book was a bit too boring to convince me to read the rest of the trilogy.

[kettle666 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Of all the lauded works of fantasy, and there are many, the Gormenghast trilogy of novels wins my vote by a light year. Peake creates an authentic mirror world of our own, but one that is also utterly unique, completely skewed and apart. Where Tolkien irritates with his sanctimonious cliche ridden moralizing, Peake shows us all the shades of everyone we know. I don't think anyone comes close.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a deeply weird book it is difficult to describe or categorize. In the introduction, Anthony Burgess, who calls it a "modern classic," comparable to other celebrated British works of the 1940s such as those by Orwell or Waugh, says there "is no really close relative to it in all our prose literature." I actually bought the trilogy this is part of years ago because it was recommended on the "Seven-League Shelf" of "the cream" of modern fantasy works. But there's nothing supernatural in it. Only it's set in an imaginary world not quite ours, a Gothic Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs about a decrepit warren-like castle and its grotesque inhabitants bound by elaborate and arcane ritual. The era is hard to place historically and the feeling of the book very claustrophobic. There doesn't seem to be a world outside Gormenghast Castle for its inhabitants. The title character, Titus, destined to become 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, is only just born when the 500 plus page novel begins and when it ends he's not yet two-years-old. The characters have such Dickensian names as Sepulchrave, Steerpike, Sourdust and Prunesquallor and no one in the first hundred pages seemed likeable. Titus' mother tells the nanny to take away her newborn son and she'll see him when he's six--then calls her cats to her. The relationship between servants such as Manservant Flay and Chef Swelter and the machinations of kitchen boy Steerpike are positively Byzantine. Lady Fuchsia and Dr Prunesquallor did grow on me though--there was more to both of them than first met the eye and by the middle of the book I was hooked. The language is baroque and the pace defines "leisurely" except that makes it sound too informal and light. Mind you, the prose is, if over-descriptive, aptly descriptive. Everything is vividly painted. And I mean everything from the glass grapes on Nannie Slagg's hat to the cutlery, plates and napkins "folded into the shapes of peacocks" set out for breakfast in Stone Hall. I get why a friend of mine abandoned the book before she reached 100 pages. There is a black humor threaded throughout, but the overall atmosphere is oppressive because all but a few of the characters are some combination of stupid, malignant or mad. I found the book more readable though as I got used to Peake's style and grew more fond of a few of the characters. I certainly will be reading the sequel, Gormenghast.

[patience_crabstick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantasy is not my usual genre, but I enjoyed this novel, the first in the Gormenghast series. The ancient family of Groan live a life bound by ritual, in an ancient castle. An heir, (the Titus of the title) has just been born and a kitchen boy schemes to take control. This work is fantasy in that Gormenghast bears no relation to the world as we know it, although it is still reassuringly Earth. The characters, though somewhat grotesque, are human and have the same clocks, dresses, toys that we do. Sometimes funny, always gorgeous, I'm pleased with my discovery of this series.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A castle populated with a joyously intricate vocabulary that describes characters like no other...explodes as one reads along with this classic fairy tale told in a new way. And the words alone are so wonderfully florid that it could get you to reading the book another time just to glory in the prose. Peake is obviously in love with the English language and he makes us fall in love with it too. A book that should be allowed to breathe and then sipped at as one allows the words to spin their web.

[karin7-11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't think I'd like it now, but I'd have given this a 5 when I read it.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gormenghast - actually a trilogy - is one of those stories that I have heard about but never wanted to try, until Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange novel gave me the taste for 'fantastical' (what I would consider not strictly 'fantasy') and Sebastian Faulks discussed the trilogy in his Faulks on Fiction essays. So I downloaded the first in the set, and gave Steerpike and the others a try.For the first half of the novel, I was enchanted, both with Peake's word building and world building. The characters are wonderfully eccentric - my favourites being Flay the butler and the Countess ('I would like to see the boy when he is six') - and the setting of Gormenghast Castle is staggering in its detail. But then, right around the point of uppity kitchen boy Steerpike's great scheme to destroy the old regime, something changed, perhaps in the style - and I lost interest. Getting through the rest was a struggle. Peake's Dickensian language turned purple, and the characters, especially Fuchsia the miserable daughter, had a sort of personality transplant. I'm sure that, after a break, I will go onto read the other two novels in the trilogy, but I can't say I enjoyed Titus Groan.

[aardvensis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This really is an exceedingly verbose book, woven from figured cloth, embroidered, beaded, appliqued, embroidered some more, resulting in a mad tapestry of convoluted, highly descriptive, poetic prose. It is not for the faint of heart. Do not try to read in short bursts, definitely keep this one for bedtime, rainy afternoons, long train journeys. It is an experience.

[helenleech · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Is Steerpike the symbol of revolutionarychange, sweeping away Gormenghast's inbred aristocrats and their decaying servants? Or a parable of the rise of the working class in post-war Britain? Or an allegory about the rise of Nazism, with Gormenghast representing Europe in the 30s? Whichever, I see Gormenghast everywhere in our culture, from Hogwarts to the the semi-worship of youth and beauty and the fear of old age and decay.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The birth of a son to the house of Groan is a momentous event for Gormenghast, but from that day on things start to go badly wrong. Apparently Mervyn Peake based Gormenghast on the palaces of Chinese nobles, and I can see similarities (with "The Story of the Stone" for example). Gormenghast is an enclosed world, ruled by tradition and ritual but it is strangely isolated; there are no visitors and no castle guard is ever mentioned so presumably it has no enemies. The writing is very descriptive; you can see in your mind's eye exactly what everything looks like, but it does slow your reading down. and I found it quite heavy-going.

[michaelfstewart · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not done this yet, but I must say it is marvelous. I've never read a book purely for the language used rather than the story. It's poetry without having to figure out what the author means.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a hard book to digest and a hard book to review. My first impressions was that is was a fantasy set in a medieval realm (think Lord of the Rings) but the book is definitely much more strange and complex. Set in Gormenghast castle, the world is filled with rituals and traditions that have been passed along generation to generation without question and have smothered creativity and created a stilted and dull society. There are no handsome swashbuckling knights or beautiful princesses, but there is a huge cast of very well-described and VERY bizarre characters. And there are heroes and villains, but without spoilers, I'll just say that the heroes and the villains are not who I expected them to be.

Although the plot of the book is not a breakneck-paced adventure, it is interesting. But the real gem hidden in this book is the amazing descriptions. There was one scene of a dinner, but rather than describe all the attendees by what they are wearing or eating, the narration takes place under the table and characters are described by how their legs jiggle or wave back and forth, or even inappropriately search out someone else's leg. Very interesting book.

[jayne_charles_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I would be the frst to admit that this is a highly original fantasy novel. It creates a whole world, clearly not our own, but at the same time not relying on the elves/dwarfs/fairies that populate most traditional 'fantasy' novels. It is darkly humorous, all the characters larger than life. I particularly liked the aunts ('breastless as wallpaper'!!!). Having said all that, reading it was a bit of a slog at times. I think in fairness it's just not my genre

[pussreboots · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I stayed up until midnight to finish the last 250 pages. I was just hooked and couldn't put the book down.I've wanted toread the Gormenghast trilogy since I saw the 6 hour (?)miniseries a couple of years ago. The miniseries had the feel ofa movie made from a book (or books) in the same way that theHarry Potter movies do. It seemed that a lot of details were beingleft out to keep the pacing good on the assumption that peopleinterested in watching had read the book(s) and could fill in thedetails from memory.I'm pleasantly surprised at how good the book is. The focus ison how strange and stilted culture can become when it is nolonger allowed to progress. So much of the plot is centeredaround the description of the decaying castle.There's a scene where the library is torched. The library hadbeen the one place where the 76th Earl of Gormenghast felt atall at home and was at all human. I think any avid bookcrosserwould find meaning in this short passage.Then there is the title character. Poor little Titus! I really feel sorryfor him in this first book. One comment though about Titus. By the end of the book he's just over a year old but he isn't depicted well. Perhaps the lack of love in his early life stunted him or perhaps the stilted dialogue style of the book is the reason for Titus remaining mum.

[tlockney_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story itself was not amazing or even all that compelling, I admit, but the language and images Peake created with it are what make this work so incredible. I'm happy I finally encountered it.

[drfp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel is quite heavily overwritten but I suppose that's the point - the prose reflects the sprawling, crazed nature of Gormenghast itself. Although a bit verbose at times I don't think that stops Titus Groan being readable. Personally, I found it much more enjoyable than many overly descriptive 19th century novels. Peake takes his time but he does fashion a fantastic, large than life set of characters. True, they're a little flat, as they're essentially caricatures, and it would be nice to see some added depth to them. But, again, it's sort of the point of the novel that these characters remain as they are. They're wonderfully vivid and I'm glad there's another two books in which to read about them.This novel and series definitely won't be for everyone, and don't expect much (if anything IMO) in the way of "fantasy", but it's a very good read if you've got some patience.