![]() ![]() "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" is a wonderful book and a must for any Tim Burton fan. The Penguin, by the way, makes an appearance in the book as a child (The Hideous Penguin Boy). The references to sex reminded me of "Batman Returns", where Tim Burton subverted the action-movie genre, turning a Batman blockbuster movie into an expressionist tale of sex and horror. It's as though he was one of the kids from the book. Once you meet characters like Melonhead, Stick-Boy, The Boy With Nails in His Eyes, Junk Girl, The Pin-Cushion Queen, it gets easier to understand how Tim Burton could come up with such an original and bizarre film as "Edward Scissorhands". ![]() The stories are told through melancholic verses and the illustrations (by Tim Burton) are simple and extremely elegant. "The Melancholy Death." is a collection of tales of little freak kids who live in deep sadness for not being understood or accepted. David Breskin, Tim Burton Interviews, p 68. Helena Bonham Carter, quoted in Leah Gallo, The Art of Tim Burton, Steeles Publishing, Los Angeles, 2009, p 153. Tim Burton, who's given us such wonderful movies as "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", has now made a wonderful book, filled with what he's best at, unusual, misunderstood and outcast characters. Tim Burton, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp 1123. But the book has several direct sex and drugs references (i.e., the sexual problems of Oyster-Boy's parents, and "the girl who sniffed lots of glue"), and most of the characters of the tales die at the end. If you look at the book and flip through its pages, you'll say it's indeed a children book, and it's supposed to look like one. The book is a subvertion to the children's fairy-tale book genre. Tim Burton once again surprises and delights us with his new book, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories". ![]()
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