Mr. Pye by Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake is truly a master of the grotesque and the utterly bizarre. I started this book under the impression that it (unlike the Gormenghast books) was a realistic novel, but it turned out to be what would now I guess be called 'magical realism'. But the supernatural events are nowhere near the most remarkable thing about it; Mervyn Peake's style is so unsettling and creepy that it basically constitutes a genre of the supernatural in itself. I had to read the book very slowly because I find his style upsetting and frightening if I'm exposed to it for long periods, and though a lot of it was really funny, there's something really disquieting about it. I liked the first half much better than the second, because I felt like the plot was just spinning out of control and I became totally confused, I really have no idea what it all means now that I've finished it. So while I really enjoyed it, I'm also sort of glad that I'm done with it, because normal life feels reassuringly stable by comparison. I didn't really care for or like any of the characters, I mostly just really liked the situations and relationships between them. I think I have books where I get attached to the characters, and books where the characters are just impossible to identify with, and I don't think are meant to be identified with, and it's really hard for me to switch between the two types of books. I might have enjoyed this book even more if I hadn't constantly been bothered by the need to find a character I like, but it's really hard for me to put that aside.