Thursday, May 11, 2006

Dorp Dead

I have lots of books to blog! So here's one more.

Book: Dorp Dead
Author: Julia Cunningham
Published: 1965

Eleven-year-old Gilly Ground hates the orphanage. He hates the loud gongs, he hates the food, and he hates being surrounded by other people all the time. So when he gets apprenticed to a ladder-maker, Gilly thinks he's got it made. In this new place, everything is quiet, peaceful, and in its place. A little too much in its place. Soon, Gilly discovers that Mr. Kobalt is so fixated on order that he will do anything--anything--to ensure that order. And the only way Gilly can free himself and Mr. Kobalt's oppressed dog, Mash, from this cage is by using his not-inconsiderable wits.

I gotta say it; this is a weird book. I don't normally pick up creepy novels, but this one grabbed me. (Okay, not literally.) It's a quick read (I probably finished it in an hour), but don't be fooled into thinking it's easy. Like the best of Alfred Hitchcock, Cunningham relies mainly on psychological horror instead of gore and violence. Even more, Gilly's tale forces you to think about the uses and abuses of order and stucture, and the nature of cages, both literal and self-imposed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This Book Saves Lives.

DORP DEAD is about a dyslexic genius
who at 11 years of age, is growing up in a perposterious world with a legion of adults who being in denile about their own maturity levels demand subserviance and a loss of self respect almost ever time you deal with them.

This kid is learning early, very few people really know how to nurture, feel self joy and promote same in others.

And the greatest joy of this book is that it teaches it is OK to be completely alone sometimes.

it is ok to what till a "Real Person " comes along.

And that being alone is not the same as lonelyness.

GIVE THIS BOOK TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE.