| The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: And Other Stories | 
 enlarge | Author: Tim Burton
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (28) Used (32) from £0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 2706
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.5
ISBN: 057122444X
EAN: 9780571224449
ASIN: 057122444X
Publication Date: November 18, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Occupying a similarly sinister and macabre world to the American artist Edward Gorey Tim Burton's work is similarly difficult to place. This is a beautifully produced book filled with fine line drawings--many in colour--illustrating 23 small verse stories which all centre on a surreal deformity--the eponymous Oyster Boy, Stain Boy, The Boy with Nails in his Eyes, Junk Girl, The Pin Cushion Queen...The tales are all quietly disturbing. As with Burton's cinematic work (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and Mars Attacks) the book seems aimed at children but the subtexts feel too disquieting. This however is where Burton's genius lies. Children are outcasts in the adult world and their own notion of what is important, grave, frightening and odd is different to ours. We each remember the child inside of us and so are each compelled to recognise the otherness within ourselves: the outcasts that Burton paints are somehow strangely well known to us. As dark and disturbing as the best fairy tales Burton shares a space with the Brothers Grimm--a place that all children know exists when the lights go out and the adults leave the room. --Mark Thwaite
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Poor April 15, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was brought up with Belloc, Gorey, Carroll, Lear, Nash et al and this really is pretty second rate stuff. There are a few nice rhymes (I hesitate to call any 'poems') but mainly it's all rather 'rumpty tumpty tumpty tum, dumpty dumpty dumpty dum' with a few 'weird' and 'dark' words thrown in. There is no craft to most of these and certainly the 'story' is lacking in many. A lot of rhymes are no more than 4 lines of about 4 words which is fine if it the words make a clever point or have nice twist and if there are only a few. All a bit too formulaic and the book only got the attention because of who it is written by. This stuff will be forgotten in a week after reading. Curiosity value only - read it in the book store. One star for the production value and one star for the illustrations.
amazing October 1, 2007
Never thought a girl with far more then the usual two eyes could be charming?
And that kinkiness could have applicable consequences - not for children, full of antiheroes a collection of bitter sweet poems.
I bursted out laughing and feeling sad at the same time.
woah! September 3, 2007
dark,funny poems by tim burton the director of the nightmare before christmas (this is not for little children)
Just go and read it a hundred times! December 27, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: And Other Stories" is a book for which you can say "I have read it more than a hundred times!".
And indeed you will.
Sometimes simple is more complicated, it also leads the art to be more everlasting in our minds.
The simplicity and harmony I find in Tim Burton's creations is one of that kind.
Every single word echoes in my mind.
 Dark, Quirky & Strange ! October 21, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories" is a collection of 23 poems written and superbly illustrated by Tim Burton - the director of, amongst other things - "Sleepy Hollow", "Beetlejuice" and "The Corpse Bride". It features a number of characters such as Oyster Boy (obviously, I guess), The Girl With Many Eyes, Stain Boy and Anchor Baby. For the most part, the poems are very short - many are only a few lines long, while "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" is pretty much the longest in the collection. There are a few others - like "Robot Boy", "Anchor Baby" and (my favourite) "Mummy Boy" - that make it past a couple of pages.
There's a pretty gruesome thread running though the book, plenty of strangeness and a smattering of sad and / or lonely characters. While I wouldn't describe it as scary, I wouldn't neceaasrily recommend reading it while eating cheese just before going to bed ! Fans of Burtom's films - especially "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - should enjoy this.
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