Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A monsterous boy... May 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a delightfully curious book, a short and heavily illustrated (every other page is art) tale seemingly aimed at children but of such a dark content that it may well be more appreciated by adults. As Baker himself describes it: "This really is a very sad and terrible story. It is a tale of undiluted horror". The story concerns an evil young boy called Robert Caligari, and how his hatred of humanity leads to a truly ghastly comeuppance, and is told in Baker's unique and, let's face it, utterly loopy style. A delightfully mad jet black comedy, a book to both amuse children and give them nightmares. Nice one, Tom.
Bizarre! March 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very strange tale of a little boy who has an evil streak a mile wide. Strange literary images flood each page, spurred on by the line drawings opposite. Enjoyable, if not highly bizarre. Not for the faint-hearted!
Eccentric, dark and very silly June 20, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is an amazing tale of a terrible boy who is not nice. There are surreal moments and really quite silly bits. The story is all over the place, and slightly flimsy, which makes this more of a cult book but it will have its ardent fans. Wonderful illustrations by David Roberts though.
 Not nearly as good as it should be November 15, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This weird little tale starts out extremely well, and is full of excellent characters and uncompromising strangeness (the scene which finally 'turns' Robert against humanity, the news story about how a mob on a beach attack and dismember a great white shark is typically funny and brutal) but from about halfway on it goes seriously wrong: the last half of the book is unpleasant without being particularly witty and funny, and ultimately you are left with the feeling that if it hadn't been written by Tom Baker (you constantly hear his mad booming voice in your head while reading it), it wouldn't have got nearly as much praise or attention -- if you're anything like me, you constantly impose a sort of bonkers Dr Who cosiness onto the book as you're reading it, which isn't really there in the book itself. The start pitches itself as a children's book, but the end is adolescent horror. Not for kids, but ultimately not really for adults either. (Perhaps for sharks?).
Idiosyncratic oddysey from eccentric Doctor Who actor February 21, 2003
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is by no means the best work that Tom Baker is capable of. He has an entertaining prose style and is very eccentric in both his language and his story ideas. The problem here is with the story. It is basically a very silly chain of events taking place within a few minutes. In itself that is not a bad idea, but it does have the feel of something that was knocked out in an afternoon. This was written by Tom following his success with his autobiography [...] with Faber & Faber. You'll like it if you like Tom himself, Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, or Edward Lear. Even better is the talking book, read by Tom himself - who can resist that velvety voice?!
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