I don't know what kind of tea Mr. Gorey drinks but I'd quite like to try some. If you wanted to explain to somebody what the word "suggestive" means, and were for some reason allergic to dictionaries, you were best off lending them this book. It's all good fun until the last page - which I find extremely worrying. And yet I'm afraid that says more about me than it says about the book.


Gerald did a terrible thing to Elsie with a saucepan....   July 16, 2004
 27 out of 32 found this review helpful

Though definitely not for everyone, this is probably the creepiest little thing I've read in a LONG time, this being accomplished entirely by subtle insinuation and suggestion than anything concrete.

Pornographic work? Not exactly, if you are expecting the sort of thing all those spam e-mails promise. This is surrealism, enigmatic and dreamlike... the graphic imagery is limited to bizarrely posed and leering maybe-unclothed/maybe-not cartoon figures tastefully obscured behind monstrously large ornamental urns, twisted naked tree limbs, and imposing bamboo screens, with such captions as "That evening in the library Scylla, one of the guests who had certain anatomical peculiarities, demonstrated the 'Lithuanian Typewriter', assisted by Ronald and Rupert, two remarkably well-set-up young men from the village." Over and again through the "story" my reaction was "What the heck is THAT supposed to mean???" while taken together they imply something hideously and repugnantly barbaric and freakishly obscene, with the only possible conclusions (when they can be made at all) not matching the reactions of the characters, until the shocking conclusion where at last the characters react appropriately to an eerie situation that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever... making the entire experience that much more disconcerting.

This is the beauty of Edward Gory's surrealism. Though, as I said earlier, it is not for everyone- the horror is too enigmatic and the humor a bit too strange for the taste of most people I know... as one negative review said: "Make sure you want to buy this sort of book... it is not what I was expecting." (What was she expecting? She never said... the statement would make a lovely caption for a Gory cartoon, though, unrelated to the panels directly preceding and following it: [A woman in a fur coat and a pair of sinister tennis shoes marking a calendar, while a strange and ambiguous animal watches:] "I would fancy a cup of tea, but only on alternating Tuesdays."/ [The ambiguous animal stands in a bookstore, frowning doubtfully as a distraught young woman points fearfully at a nondescript and dusty book on the bottom shelf of an antique bookcase, telling the woman in tennis shoes:] "Make sure you want to buy this sort of book... it is not what I was expecting."/ [The distraught-looking woman asks the woman in sneakers while looking out the shop window:] "Is it my imagination, or has that building moved since last I saw it?" [The doubtful animal replies:] "NO.")

And I think I should also mention that Gory's little cartoons are probably not a good idea for children. Although, I believe that at 9, 10, or 11 I would have been fascinated by the intricately detailed and strange little creepy drawings and their bizarre captions and though any vaguely "adult" elements would have gone way over my head, the cartoons would nonetheless have sparked my imagination... seeing them again as an adult would have been that much more chilling.

And, in closing, yes, this book is tiny, and very short. I'd suggest first of all trying out "Amphigory"- a collection of Gory's weird cartoons which includes "The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary", and if you especially like that story to get the little book, or to buy it as a gift for friends with a twisted sense of humor. In fact I would recommend that anyone suspecting they might have a taste for surrealism, dream-like and brutal satire of stiff and stuffy Edwardian and Victorian mannerisms art and customs, subtle gothic horror and twisted humor get hold of as many of the Amphigory books as they can.


Several reasons to beg loving relatives for this book..   December 3, 1999
 24 out of 27 found this review helpful

Every slightly Disturbed Person should have at least one example of Goreyhood on their shelves.. in case your loving relatives find this too distressing to buy for you, here are some sensible reasons to throw at them..

*Victorian orgies are cool

*It's a party accessory: read it aloud.

*It's a storybook for young, impressionable children.

*You can hit people with it and it will sting.

*Or, Whatever..

It's just so droll and vague and cheery. Besides, Victorian orgies are cool.


Delightfully Wicked   December 16, 2000
 22 out of 26 found this review helpful

The first Gorey book I've ever bought, and it's left me panting for more.

Subtitled "a pornographic work," The Curious Sofa it is indeed, but for what it leaves out. Readers won't find sex or violence on these pages, merely the titillation of the unseen.

Umm... mouth watering!


Anyone up for a game of Thumbfumble?   July 5, 2004
 19 out of 44 found this review helpful

Hardly pornographic at all, this small and simple book is filled with insinuations of events that could quite possibly be indecent or tawdry, but remain veiled, allowing the reader to reach their own conclusions.

While The Curious Sofa is amusing in its naive and capricious way, it is not a "bust out laughing" piece of entertainment, and made me smile but not laugh. I'm not entirely sure that is worth the $9.00 price. It would be more recommendable if it was half the price and marketed more as a novelty or gift item.

When looking at purchasing this item, take note of the small size of the book and the number of pages. The book is little enough to be a stocking stuffer at Christmas time, and the page count says 64, but it is actually only 32, because the printing is one-sided, so there is only one picture per page turn, opposite pages are all blank.

The drawings, while indeed whimsical, were not particularly special, and the only one who could possibly label anything in this book "pornographic" would be Mother Goose. We never do get to see this Curious Sofa either, and I found that to be the difference between feeling titillated with the unseen, and feeling cheated out of something that could have been special.

Overall, it would be a nice gift item if the price were lower, but at $9.00 for 32 pages with no real conclusion to the tale, leave it on the shelf.