A review by ladiicatherine
The Cormorant by Stephen Gregory

2.0

The Cormorant is about a young man whose Uncle passes away and, in his passing, the young man is left a little cottage for his wife, Ann, and his young son, Harry, to live in. The only caveat to inheriting and keeping the cottage is that the young family must agree to keep and take care of the cormorant (a bird) who the main character names Archie. I'll be completely honest - I'm not 100% certain what the heck I just read! Copyrighted in 1986 and set in the United Kingdom (or thereabouts), Stephen Gregory does a good job at capturing a certain atmosphere. While I feel the characters are a bit on the bland side for the most part, the story is just interesting enough to keep your attention. The novel is just under 200 pages long and can be a fairly quick, clean read for those (read: not me) who are faster readers. It wasn't an un-enjoyable book, but it's not for everyone. Found in the horror section of a used book store and given to me as a Birthday present, I'm not sure how much of a "horror" book this actually is. Don't get me wrong, there are a few horrible aspects to the book, but it's not a scary read by any means. I'm just not sure if there is a deeper meaning in the pages that I missed because I'm sort of left just scratching my head and asking myself, "what the heck?".

Recommended for those that enjoy shorter novels that are strange without being too, too strange and for those that love obscure novels and authors.