The Beastly Baby

by Edward Gorey

Offers a tongue in cheek description of a horrible baby, whose family is unable to get rid of it until an eagle carries it off

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Art, Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Dark

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 1995

About the author

Born in Chicago, Gorey came from a colourful family; his parents, Helen Dunham Garvey and Edward Lee Gorey, divorced in 1936 when he was 11, then remarried in 1952 when he was 27. One of his step-mothers was Corinna Mura, a cabaret singer who had a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. His father was briefly a journalist. Gorey's maternal great-grandmother, Helen St. John Garvey, was a popular 19th century greeting card writer/artist, from whom he claimed to have inherited his talents. He attended a variety of local grade schools and then the Francis W. Parker School. He spent 1944–1946 in the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and then attended Harvard University from 1946 to 1950, where he studied French and roomed with future poet Frank O'Hara.

Although he would frequently state that his formal art training was "negligible", Gorey studied art for one semester at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1943, eventually becoming a professional illustrator. From 1953 to 1960, he lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases adding illustrations to the text. He has illustrated works as diverse as Dracula by Bram Stoker, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. In later years he illustrated many children's books by John Bellairs, as well as books in several series begun by Bellairs and continued by other authors after his death.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the time, I do get Edward Gorey and he tickles me. This story was a miss for me. I could only feel pity for this beastly baby. I will admit to the end as the baby was going, I did see the humor intended there, but overall, this was not my favorite Edward story and it starts off Amphigorey Too.

This is a small one page drawing about this horrible baby. It’s all in black and white, thank goodness. It is originally written in 1962.

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

وای خدا من خیلی به این آشغال خندیدم 🤣
یعنی چی آخه؟؟؟

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normalmente gosto muito da tetricidade do Gorey, mas esse livro é cruel demais até para o meu mau gosto.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an unexpected ending! That was bizarre, even for Gorey.

[nazanin · Rating 2 out of 5]

این چی بود؟ 🧐

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorite Gorey books. Like the fate of children in most Gorey books, the Beastly Baby's existence is doomed from the get go. A gloriously tortured soul, page by page.

My favorite words in this book: "bric-a-brac" and "festooned."

[Huda Fel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually enjoy weird books but this one was tooo irritating.
It's about a baby who'd been called "it" cz nobody cared enough to give "it" a name. "It" was wicked that "it" cut off a cat's head. Grrr, never mind. I just hated it.

[Juushika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This opens the Amphigorey Too collection, and it's the best way to dive back into Gorey. Gorey sometimes punches down, and he certainly leans into ableist tropes here; but this is so wholeheartedly off-color that it can't but be delightful. The thwarted baby-imperilments are fantastic, and have a well-rounded, giddy spite.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unwanted baby finally gets tossed away. Classic Gorey hating on kids! Somehow he makes it work without coming off as hateful.

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This opens up the book "Amphigorey Too", and it's too dark, as usual.

I mean, was the beastly nany horrible from the beginning or did they make him tht way by treating him horribly? anyway, some of those images will be hard to shake off.

[Ema · Rating 5 out of 5]

L-am descoperit pe Edward Gorey tarziu, cu totul intamplator: am gasit un tattoo artist care mi-a placut foarte mult, apoi am aflat ca inspiratia lui vine, printre altele, de la Gorey. Nu mi-a venit sa cred ca aceste povesti pot fi scrise pentru copii, desi imi amintesc cateva carti ale copilariei care numai dragalase nu erau. Aici insa macabrul este dus parca prea departe pentru a intra in sfera de interes a unui copil.
Lasand asta la o parte, am fost complet fascinata de umorul negru si absurdul care guverneaza mare parte din ilustratiile/povestile lui Edward Gorey. Iar The Beastly Baby este favorita mea, alaturi de The Doubtful Guest si The Epiplectic Bicycle.

[Mirmhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite story of all time!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite disturbing. But I suppose it did have a happy ending of sorts.

[Quitealice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect gift for every new mom.

[Wetdryvac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beastly. Just beastly.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Amphigorey Too, wanted to separately rate the story.

[Mohammad Sabbir Shaikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i just can't stop admiring this book. it's awesome.

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭½

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of Amphigorey Too. A bit disturbing (I know, it's Gorey). I'm okay with his alphabetical book with disquieting death upon disquieting death, despite their being children (it's all in fun), but here in this story it seemed mean-spirited to pick on the baby. If I were it, I'd cut up the carpet and make unpleasant sounds too. Instead of sympathizing with those who had to cope with the baby, I identified with the baby. We all like an underdog, right? So this didn't sit quite right.

Nonetheless, he accomplished exactly what he set out to do ... it's just not entirely my taste.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Nayareth Gutiérrez Vera · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It was usually damp and sticky for it wept a great deal. It was consumed by self-pity, which in this case was perfectly justified…”

I cannot rate this. Although I enjoy tales of the macabre, sometimes dark, sometimes even a little gruesome, this one left me more sad than it left me disturbingly satisfied. This is the tale of a peculiar baby. Most specifically, though, the tragic tale of negligence and misfortune. The way this poor creature, as they themselves call it, navigates life and survives it by mere chance made me uneasy… and a little devastated, ngl. The end was beyond tragic.

[MK · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first story I read by Gorey Edward was “The Beastly Baby.”
It felt very creepy and disgusting.
It just didn't feel right, and I didn't feel it had any message from this sotry.
I read a book that compiled 20 of his works, and there were some good ones among them.
As many reviews say, "The Beastly Baby" will make you feel sick, so don't read it.
Please read other stories.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of story that I read and think I could be friends with the author

[sarasblues · Rating 2 out of 5]

millennial culture is feeling sorry for the beastly baby

[Mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps Beastly Baby is just a metaphor for adults “its tiny eyes were surrounded by large black rings due to fatigue, for its guilty conscience hardly ever allowed it to sleep”

[Delaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky Month methinks

[A. Hadessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

das Ende hab ich nicht kommen sehen. uff

[Danai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is possibly the best thing I've ever read.

[jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a physical copy definitely added to the experience

[Rick Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading Edward Gorey 2023. The Beastly Baby is EG at his ruthless best.

Favorite quote:
"Fortunately, it was unable to walk."