Ghastly

[robearal]

I tried to read the books, and only made it part-way through the first one. I've been watching the BBC mini-series today on DVD. I think I can safely say that I really do not like Gormenghast. The BBC production is fabulous, with an incredible cast, great costumes and design. But the characters are all incredibly unlikeable

Comments

[[nods]]

[huxbear]

I found the book really hard to get into but -- for some reason (possibly that it was on as a "marathon" with all the episodes at once, late, late at night) I really got into the mini-series when it was shown on TV here... And the unlikeable nature of the characters is part of what the story's all about, though -- especially that (in the end) even the most "sympathetic" character ends up becoming even worse than those who he perceived "wronged" him... "We become what we hate" basically...

[bitterlawngnome]

I really enjoyed the books, but you're right, he characters are no very likeable. None of them.

[robearal]

Well, the "Fantasy Novel", as we know it, was still in its infancy. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were still setting the "rules", as it were, when the Gormenghast novels were written. Peake took a different take on the tradition of The Fantastic, more along the lines of the Gothic novel.

But I, like you, was irked by the lack of magic, etc. Part of that disappointment is due to the marketing of the books to a modern reading public as "Fantasy".