Reviews for Nightmare Abbey
Review - Nightmare Abbey
What the book was about: A group of men and a few women gather at the dark and oppressive Nightmare Abbey. Scythrop Glowry, a writer of philosophical pamplets, is the son of the owner. He falls in love with his flirtatious cousin Marionetta. His father doesn’t like the match and tries to arrange for Scythrop to marry Celinda Toobad. She wants nothing of an arranged marriage and flees to Scythrop (not knowing who he is) because she read one of his pamphlets and thinks he can help her. Scythrop hides her in an abandoned wing of the Abbey and proceeds to fall in love with her while still loving Marionetta. When the two women find out about each other, they leave and marry others, leaving Scythrop to his philosophy.
What I liked about the book: The conversations between the characters (which take up the majority of the novella) are often amusing.
What I didn’t like about the book: To fully enjoy satire, you have to be intimately acquainted with what is being satirized. I’ve only read as much Shelly, Coleridge and Byron as Carp has demanded.
The most interesting quote: The scene where both girls stormed out of the room after finding out that Scythrop loved both of them: The whole party followed, with the exception of Scythrop, who threw himself into his arm-chair, crossed his left foot over his right knee, placed the hollow of his left hand on the interior ankle of his left leg, rested his right elbow on the elbow of the chair, placed the ball of his right thumb against his right temple, curved the forefinger along the upper part of his forehead, rested the point of the middle finger on the bridge of his nose, and the points of the two others on the lower part of the palm, fixed his eyes intently on the veins in the back of his left hand, and sat in this position like the immoveable Theseus, who is well known to many who have not been at college, and to some few who have. We hope the admirers of the minutiae in poetry and romance will appreciate this accurate description of a pensive attitude.
Recommendation: It would be better enjoyed by fans of Shelley (who was himself the model for Scythrop) although the satire is written so well that you can get a sense of him just by reading this book.
What I liked about the book: The conversations between the characters (which take up the majority of the novella) are often amusing.
What I didn’t like about the book: To fully enjoy satire, you have to be intimately acquainted with what is being satirized. I’ve only read as much Shelly, Coleridge and Byron as Carp has demanded.
The most interesting quote: The scene where both girls stormed out of the room after finding out that Scythrop loved both of them: The whole party followed, with the exception of Scythrop, who threw himself into his arm-chair, crossed his left foot over his right knee, placed the hollow of his left hand on the interior ankle of his left leg, rested his right elbow on the elbow of the chair, placed the ball of his right thumb against his right temple, curved the forefinger along the upper part of his forehead, rested the point of the middle finger on the bridge of his nose, and the points of the two others on the lower part of the palm, fixed his eyes intently on the veins in the back of his left hand, and sat in this position like the immoveable Theseus, who is well known to many who have not been at college, and to some few who have. We hope the admirers of the minutiae in poetry and romance will appreciate this accurate description of a pensive attitude.
Recommendation: It would be better enjoyed by fans of Shelley (who was himself the model for Scythrop) although the satire is written so well that you can get a sense of him just by reading this book.
Reviewed by Roger on 2006-07-24 11:34:22