Book Review Edward Gorey The Doubtful Guest

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1957 Bloomsbury Press Gorey’s third published book is a series of rhyming couplets about a mysterious nuisance house guest who disrupts life for a wealthy family. The creature, resembling an otter crossed with a platypus and wearing a scarf, tears up books, renders paintings crooked, sleep-walks and throws ornaments into the garden pond but no one has the heart to stop him. We are told at the close of the story that his antics have lasted seventeen years by the time we read about him, and he remains there to this day. Though alive, the creature behaves like a poltergeist, causing mischief and doing what it likes and no one knows how to stop him or get rid of him. Fun, but a little creepy too. Arthur Chappell