Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy)

There is not one author who can write like Mervyn Peake. This man had such a command of the english language that when he writes, he creates vivid images and pictures in your mind that no other author can do.
People told me Anne Rice and Tolkien would compete, but by far and away Mervyn Peake is just a master at story telling and imagery. Titus Groan is just one heck of a read - it's thoroughly enjoyable and definately worth the time to read.
When reading, read slow and take it all in. It's worth it.

I liked this book. It takes a bit of effort compared to some books. Give it a good 50 pages if you are thinking about giving it up.

I don't like fantasy novels, but this is good. It's not about a journey which is big plus for me. A lot of fantasy to me seems like characters travel from here to there. Anytime the author wants, they can just encounter new plot mechanisms.

This book is a good situational story, with lots of intrigue, murder and plotting. Very descriptive, it builds a surreal yet vivid world. Contains absolutly bizare but believable characters.

The countess with a 100 with cats which travel about like a giant snake. The fat chef swelter filled with hatred, ambitious Steerpike's unpredictable plotting. Some portions of this book are very memorable. Flay and Swelter and their 'disagreement' was a highlight for me.

I recommed it, but probably not for everyone. It reads long, and if you don't like poetic style writing it may not be for you.

But overall This book is totally unpredictable and brilliantly written.

The characters are constantly asking each other to repeat themselves or rephrase what they said. It's tedious, frustrating, and dumb. The book would probably only be half as long without this wasted, lazy dialogue.

While this review isn't for this particular edition of the book, I thought it best belongs here, as a review of the third novel itself:

Firstly, I was surprised that no one else had corrected the notion (that even the product review implies!) that this book is the final installment to a trilogy: it is not. It is simply the third book in a projected series about Titus, and the novel in which the focus shifts from the world of Titus's childhood (Gormenghast) into Peake's broader fantasy world. So, if you loved the first two books because of the world of Gormenghast, be warned that this book is different.

This is the story of Titus going out into the wider word, a definite a coming of age story (closing line of the third-to-last paragraph: "He had grown up. What a boy had set out to find a man had found, found by the act of living.") and the story of what happens to someone when they leave a place like Gormenghast behind completely (even to the point of other people being thoroughly ignorant of its existence).

It is not a particularly structured novel, but I think that its crazy meanderings, beautiful writing and marvelous characters (especially Muzzlehatch) are its greatest strengths. It reminds me of nothing so much as Petronius's Satyricon, and contains all at once a heart-breaking sadness, a horrifying picture of the dangers of the modern world and deliciously bizarre humor.

It's not a book for everyone, especially people who are caught up in the neat story of Gormenghast in the first two novels, but I have a great respect and deep love for this book. A perhaps challenging read but one infinitely rewarding that will engage the imagination and the mind.

I began to fall for the wonders of the world of Titus and Gormenghast after reading Titus Groan. The complexity and intensity of the language at times feels more like poetry than prose. For more info on the trilogy itself read the editorial review at http://www.the store.com/gp/product/0879516283/103-7360864-2418208?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance. If you can imagine Dickens writing gothic fantasy with the linguistic range of a poet then you are close. After buying the Audiobook trilogy by Michael Williams I can't recommend it highly enough. His voice is as rich as the characters that he is required to give life to. By turns crackling, humorous, bitter, angry, pathetic, depressed, ludicrous: Michael Williams voice catches the many moods and characters of these world's inhabitants and manages to convey the spidery, rasping, cloistered, dark and gothic atmosphere. If the store don't have it ask them to stock it! Also don't be put off by what some people say about the third book the third book is a classic if only for the character of Muzzlehatch.

Titus Groan in unabridged print is one of the least palatable literary dog turds I've tried to bag from my backyard.

Titus Groan as a Naxos audiobook, narrated by Rupert Degas, is an engrossing, stunning creation, one of my favorite audio experiences of all time.

Not only have the abridger, director, editor, and Degas made a thrilling listen, they've done it from such a bloated windbag of a novel that it's nothing less than literary alchemy and audio landscaping of the highest order, exposing the hauntingly-beautiful story hidden inside a lopsided, shapeless shrub.

I trust I've made my point - get the abridged audiobook!

These are three wonderful novels. I admit at times they are heavy going but they are worth the effort. Also the second book Gormenghast has real excitement and plot drive. The third book was a surpirise but not a dissapointment, if you stopped at the second go on. The imagery of the third novel is some of the most beautiful and haunting. Comaprison with Tolkein or fantsay novels is not valid, there is no magic here and no unpronouncable words with only one vowel. I was once asked what my favourite novel was and replied the Gornmenghast trilogy, the questioners reply was oh fantasy lots of wizards, yuk. This prevented him from reading one of the English languages major works of fiction.

Why hasn't this book received more recognition? It was originally published in 1946, for goodness sake. I wish some teacher or librarian had put it in my hands early in my reading career.

It's all description - setting and character. The characters' names and attributes are Dickens-like. The plot is slow and meandering. The decaying, endless castle is a wonder and a delight in which to lose yourself.

Be patient and let Gormenghast work its magic.

I re-read Titus Groan after reading Game Of Thrones and thinking about how Mervyn Peake had hit fantasy on the head and turned it into something better, while also making fun of it... predicting and also negating the melodrama and purple prose of books like Game Of Thrones. It was everything I remembered it to be, and more. I am confident that I can flip it open to any page and magically read some sort of lucid waking dream stuff that will totally trip me out in its hallucinatory maladroit insanity, words piling sensuously on top of each other to create some sort of absurd locus of freak creation. Yes, it's that kind of book!! So go right ahead and make fun of anyone who's fallen in love with Game Of Thrones but has never heard of Gormenghast... they don't know where it's at!!

I began to fall for the wonders of the world of Titus and Gormenghast after reading Titus Groan. The complexity and intensity of the language at times feels more like poetry than prose. For more info on the trilogy itself read the editorial review at http://www.the store.com/gp/product/0879516283/103-7360864-2418208?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance. If you can imagine Dickens writing gothic fantasy with the linguistic range of a poet then you are close. After buying the Audiobook trilogy by Michael Williams I can't recommend it highly enough. His voice is as rich as the characters that he is required to give life to. By turns crackling, humorous, bitter, angry, pathetic, depressed, ludicrous: Michael Williams voice catches the many moods and characters of these world's inhabitants and manages to convey the spidery, rasping, cloistered, dark and gothic atmosphere. If the store don't have it ask them to stock it! Also don't be put off by what some people say about the third book the third book is a classic if only for the character of Muzzlehatch.

Spectacularly imaginative! I loved the dark world of Gormenghast. Peopled with larger than life characters it's among the most vividly written books I've ever read in any genre. Until I read this book I was admittedly skeptical about the fantasy genre as a whole, but after reading this stunning book I realized there was a whole world of writing out there I'd overlooked. A stunning, stunning book.

I read this novel because it falls on many "top 25 fantasy novels of all time" lists. I find it interesting to read older fantasy novels and see where the genre has evolved from. This specific endevor was interesting but not enjoyable.

Titus Groan is the first in a fantasy trilogy. The titled character is mentioned very little in the story and is only two years old at the novel's ending. The actual main character in the novel is the castle itself- a sprawling, suffocating edifice full of grim characters. The vast majority of the novel takes places within the castle walls, following a dozen cloistered characters. The mood of the novel is grim, brooding, dark, gothic. If you enjoy vivid discriptions and masterful use of language, there is much to be found here. I can see why parallels are drawn to Dickens. From a modern perspective, it felt like a something China Mieville might write if he were depressed and trapped in a closet for 6 months.

I found the characters to be too eccentric for my taste. They were either too stupid, or too weird, or too scheming, or too ignorant. The pacing of the story is meticulously slow and not at all what the modern fantasy reader is accustomed to.

In the end, I can see why many people love this novel and see it as excellent literature. However, for me fantasy is about escapism and enjoyment. While I appreciated the dark beauty of the language, I didnt enjoy the read. This story simply isnt for me.

Mervyn Peake's "Titus Groan" is among the most unique works in the annals of fantasy fiction. It is not a book for a reader looking for a fast paced adventure or a tightly plotted mystery. While there are exciting passages and a discernible plot, Peake is more concerned with painting amazing word-pictures and exploring the soul-numbing effect of the endless ritual associated with life at Gormenghast Castle. The central thesis seems to be that freedom is essential to a happy, productive life, and when we lose our capacity to make our own decisions and seek beauty and truth in our own way we begin to die spiritually.
"Titus Groan" is linguistically brilliant, philosophically provocative, and completely unclassifiable.

This book, and it's follow up, "Gormenghast", constitute a towering achievement in the field of fantastic literature. Peake creates an utterly engrossing and complex alternate world with these books. Most fantasy novels on the market today seem pedestrian by comparison.

Mervyn Peake's book Titus Groan starts off wonderfully bleak, then loses the wonderful bit. Abandoned due to Gloom. Perhaps if it had been edited down a few hundred pages, but as it stands, it's a terribly difficult book to get through with anything approaching enjoyment.

I read this book because it was frequently mentioned to be (together with the Lord of the Rings) one of the books that are at the root of modern fantasy. In my opinion this book could be placed in other categories as fantasy. It has nothing to do with the sort of novels i consider fantasy. Yes, mister Peake can describe things in an excellent way, and his world does keep some promise. But in this first novel he does very little with it. So i guess i won't read the next (unless i am completly without other interesting books to read). this definitely is not my cup of tea and if you like books written for example by Tolkien, Jordan or Martin, you should get this from the library and try it for free instead of buying.

i find it funny that most of the people who dont like this havent read it all the way. i love mervyn peake, he has a vision of another world that is astounding , this is a cartoon for the mind. at times i got a clear animated picture in my head just from reading his descriptions: steerpikes walk, the millions of cats, etc. it is freaking hard to read, yes, but oh so rewarding if you follow through to the end. gormenghast is good too, but alas i havent read titus alone yet.

I just want to endorse the reviewers who used words like 'haunting' and 'hallucinatory'. I am planning to re-read the trilogy after a 15 year gap, and the images still crowd into my mind. The terrible kitchens, poor lovely Fuchsia, menacing Steerpike, the Hall of the Bright Carvings, Flay's knees cracking as he stalks the corridors. If you're not enjoying it, stop reading. But how sorry I am for you!

I admit I never finished it, as I picked it up I thought it looked interesting but it never gets anywhere, and it is VERY boring, the characters seem stupid and if you are looking for an INTERESTING book I heartily recommend you look elsewhere.

To my knowlege, the only thing ever written in the English language that even comes close is Shakespeare's latter plays. For characterization, plot, description, humor, pathos and sheer gothic intensity and wonder, Peake's Gormenghast trilogy may be without parallel in all of human literature.
Read it and find out what the English language is capable of.

I do like this book. However, I don't think it should even be considered as being on par with Tolkien. It is descriptive writing at its best--Peake creates some incredibly gorgeous imagery, and if you like character studies...this would be a great book. It is however sorely lacking in plot development and in terms of themes etc it doesn't gives you much to consider. It's a rich book with a lot of icing but contains precious little cake.

After an hour and 40 minutes I had to shut the tape off. Seems as though the writer has forgotten that the plot is the most important piece of a book. Total torture. Goes nowhere. Dont do it and dont EVER compare this to Tolkien.

Do you like description? I mean REALLY like description? As in, the words, "I prefer my books to have a complete absence of content other than description, including plot, character development, rising action, climax, and denouement," have passed your lips? Then this book is for you!

This was, arguably, the most tedious book I've ever been subjected to. It came with very, very high praise, so I figured what the hell: I'll give it a shot. Nope. I kept waiting for something, ANYTHING, to happen. It never does. It's very well-described, but that's it. I know every square inch of a castle full of people I know nothing about: people who never change or evolve, who don't do anything.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is the reverse of that sentiment. It's as though the author had a clear understanding of what was happening throughout an entire castle for a single moment in time, and set out to simply describe every square inch of it.

Look at your computer (you're reading this, so no challenge there). Now describe your desk, its contents, and their surroundings in complete detail. Every particle of dust. Every Cheetos crumb. The way the light from your screen partially illuminates the surface of the keys, while the cracks between remain dark. Everything. Every little detail, no matter how trivial and irrelevant. Do not describe the sound of an arriving e-mail or instant message, for that implies activity. Just the single, static instant in tableau, noting every minute aspect of your view. Now publish this description and you too can be a contender in this genre.

This is NOT fantasy, nor is it historical fiction. It's not a mystery, or a thriller, or a romance. There's no psychological depth, no conflict, no passion. There is no magic, no non-humans, nothing fantastic or mystical. It is simply pedantic babbling that has strangely captured the minds of about half of its readers.

In short, if you want to hear ALL about Castle Gormenghast (perhaps you wish to build a castle full of miserable people and can't afford blueprints?), then have at; I hope you love it. If, however, you expect a BOOK within the pages of these covers, look elsewhere. There's far too many authors that can craft excellent visuals while simultaneously telling a story.

This is the most boring drivel I have ever heard. I love an elegant turn of phrase, and the language of Ivanhoe, but this is a terrible waste of words. There are hours of descriptions of horrible, ugly people and places without the hint of a plot. I will not waste any more time on this review. Just know, if someone recommends this book to you, they are most likely playing a mean trick on you.

This beyond any doubt one of the slowest paced books (as well as boring beyond belief) I have attempted to read. After 102 pages I have decided it is time to surrender. However, I think I will keep the book to read on those nights when I find it difficult to fall asleep.

I got through 11% of this. I know that people always cry when someone leaves a negative review on a book they didn't finish reading but garbage is garbage. If someone put some mush that smells like fecal matter on a plate and told you to eat it, you would refuse. They may say that you cannot know that you won't like it until you have tried it but the smell alone is reason enough not to.

For me, the first 11% of this book is the stench of fecal matter and the following 89% is the source of the foul odor. I have had enough.