Reviews

Nonsense! the Curious Story of Edward Gorey by Chloe Bristol, Lori Mortensen

theybedax's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Beautiful art and an interesting bio teaser for Edward Gorey. It definite made me chuckle and I'm diggin' his style!

nattycran's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

As a lifelong fan of Edward Gorey, it was so stirring to read this story of his life written for children. I was so impressed with Chloe Bristol’s use of his style in the illustrations. The author, Lori Mortensen, wrote about Gorey the way I might have—with love for this curious, unique, wonderful man who made the world all the more strange and wonderful.

elspethm's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Very cute mini biography of Edward Gorey, illustrated in a similar style to his own.

antlersantlers's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Lovely. It reminds me of [b:The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown|41453977|The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown|Mac Barnett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1540796683l/41453977._SX50_.jpg|64713222] in both the structure and tone. The illustrations are nicely evocative of Gorey without being rip-offs and maintaining their own distinct energy. My favorite page was the spread of his anagrammatic pseudonyms and different silly version of what he, as that author, might look like.

periparaparasakura's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

4.25

leighsnerdlife's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

Beautiful illustrations and a lovely biography.

elke_go_read's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

4.0

Fun picture book about Edward Gorey - with very Gorey-like style!

toad_maiden's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

An entertaining look at one of literature's oddest specimens. Delightful, Gorey-esque illustrations.

calistareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I have read all of Gorey's published works and so I can say that I am a fan of Edward Gorey.

I appreciate that he was such a weird dude. In the 50s when everyone looked either clean cut or like a greaser, Edward had his own weird style. He wore a long fur coak with sneakers and metal rings on his fingers. That's totally out there for the 50s and even the 60s.

He was a genius and started drawing at 1 and 1/2 and taught himself to read at 3. He skipped a few grades. He was a clerk during WWII and then he went to Harvard. He got a job at Doubleday doing artwork. He tried to write several novels and abandoned them.

My favorite detail was that when he died, he left a library behind of 25,000 books. I'm so jealous. That would be amazing. I'm pretty sure I could collect that many given time and money.

I think my favorite stories of his are the alphabet books where the children die to each letter. The best!

The artwork here in this book is good. It's not Gorey's style, but it sets a great mood between Alice in Wonderland and Dracula. He read those back to back by the way and that sort of set him up on his path of the macabre. The author uses quirky language and throws in some lines and names from Edward's books which is nice. She packs quite a bit of information in this.

I haven't heard his sexuality mentioned anywhere and it's ignored in this book. He died alone with a house of cats. He never missed a performance of the ballet in 23 seasons. Who knows if he acted on it, but the guy could easily be gay. He was most certainly an eccentric if nothing else.

This is a great intro into the life of Edward and I do recommend it. There could always be more.

onegalreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A little unusual but great!