Helpful Score: 3
At first, I could not understand why Patrick McGrath would write a modern book in gothic style. But then I got it: because he's really, really good at it. The Grotesque is dark, witty, and very well written. It makes me think of an Edward Gorey cartoon, come to life. The story is told entirely from the perspective of a brilliant but rather detestable narrator (hence the term "grotesque") who is extremely unreliable. But, he's all we have. And so we follow him as he unravels this twisted little tale of murder, adultery, and other nefarious acts. Overall, it's like a visit to a fun house, a quick trip in the spooky darkness, with lots of distorting mirrors, resulting in more amusement than terror.
Helpful Score: 2
Another reviewer described this book as an Edward Gorey cartoon come to life, and I couldn't have said it better myself. It is a very uncomfortable book, dark and macabre. Patrick Mcgrath is such a great writer that he does this with total class. Not for the squeamish. Funny, dark, and satirical. Not for everyone, but definitely my kind of book.
This was a very unusual gothic novel by McGrath. I read one other book by him several years ago, ASYLUM, which I thought was an interesting look at the criminally insane. In Grotesque, the story is narrated by Sir Hugo Coal who has been paralyzed and is confined to a wheelchair. Hugo is an amateur paleontologist who discovered a dinosaur in Africa that he feels is the predecessor to modern birds. But will the scientific community agree with his theory? Hugo does his scientific work related to the dinosaur in the barn and his family lives in a decaying English manor house called Crook. Hugo believes his butler, Fledge, is out to get him and take over as master of the manor. So is Fledge getting intimate with Hugo's wife? And then what happened to Sidney Giblet, who was the intended to Hugo's daughter. He has disappeared and who is to blame when his bones turn up? Is it Fledge? And how does this relate to Hugo's pig farm and his gardener/pig farmer who Hugo met in Africa? Hugo watches all this from his wheelchair but how reliable is his narrative?
This was enjoyable overall blending a gothic mystery with a comedy of morals. Hugo's narrative is one of the best examples I have read of an unreliable narrator. I have a couple of other books by McGrath that I will look forward to reading.
This was enjoyable overall blending a gothic mystery with a comedy of morals. Hugo's narrative is one of the best examples I have read of an unreliable narrator. I have a couple of other books by McGrath that I will look forward to reading.
An odd outing, not quite as spooky as portrayed on the jacket blurb. It's an okay change-of-pace book for mystery lovers and others who usually read straightforward novels. I generally dislike passages about dreams and hallucinations, and there were some in this book I skipped over. The narrator and I share many outlooks on life (except for one major one), and he certainly is not the most pleasant of companions, which sometimes made me look inward.
I liked it but I think it was a bit over my head.
This book was much too dark for me; I didn't really like it at all.
