Mr Pye

by Mervyn Peake

Dapper and smiling, Mr. Pye comes to the island of Sark with a mission--to conquer evil. He immediately sets about changing everyone he meets, but is unfortunately prone to excess. When the struggle between good and evil becomes embarrassingly personal, Mr. Pye is forced to embark on a campaign of unparalleled sin.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Humor, British Literature, 20th Century, Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books, though the Titus books would be more accurate: the three works that exist were the beginning of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, following his protagonist Titus Groan from cradle to grave, but Peake's untimely death prevented completion of the cycle, which is now commonly but erroneously referred to as a trilogy. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien, but his surreal fiction was influenced by his early love for Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson rather than Tolkien's studies of mythology and philology.

Peake also wrote poetry and literary nonsense in verse form, short stories for adults and children ("Letters from a Lost Uncle"), stage and radio plays, and Mr Pye, a relatively tightly-structured novel in which God implicitly mocks the evangelical pretensions and cosy world-view of the eponymous hero.

Peake first made his reputation as a painter and illustrator during the 1930s and 1940s, when he lived in London, and he was commissioned to produce portraits of well-known people. A collection of these drawings is still in the possession of his family. Although he gained little popular success in his lifetime, his work was highly respected by his peers, and his friends included Dylan Thomas and Graham Greene. His works are now included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the Imperial War Museum.

Reviews

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh dear. Much as I love Peake (his writings and his art), such whimsy is not to my taste. Sadder still, the wonderfully rich language of the Gormenghast books is largely absent. Consequently, I find it hard to give it a meaningful rating, but have tried to judge it in its own right, rather than as a work of Peake.

Perhaps I should side with Tintagieu, when she asks
"Can't a thing just be itself without its having to mean something?"


Photo of Peake's painting of The Avenue, on display in the Guernsey museum and art gallery, 3 May 2017

Art Echoing Life?

It's an odd little book that both reflects and contradicts aspects of Peake, his life and his beliefs.

It is set on the small island of Sark (near Brittany, NW France), where he lived for two very happy periods of his life (and where his youngest child, Clare, was born). It pokes gentle fun at local characters, including an artist (Thorpe) who is probably a comical view of himself.

Too many passages in the opening chapters read like a travel guide. I suppose that emphasises the importance of place (as in Titus Groan and Gormenghast), but it's rather too much, not very interesting, detail for those unfamiliar with the island. But now that I have been there, I understand the beauty.


Photo of Grande Greve, Little Sark, from La Coupée, 2 May 2017

The eponymous Mr Pye is an evangelist of an unspecified faith, who refers to God as the Great Pal and wants to bring love and joy to a community divided by petty differences. In contrast, although Peake's parents worked at a missionary hospital, he was not religious at all (though his wife was raised a Catholic, so they sent their children to Catholic schools).

Plot

It's more of a situation than a plot; it rambles along, and you keep waiting for something to happen (or some rich descriptions), but mostly in vain.

Middle-aged Mr Pye goes to Sark, and sets about exploring the island, then people's hearts, and then, he hopes, to bring them together in harmony. He uses self-esteem, self-confidence and charm to ingratiate himself:
"Not all [islanders] were pleased to be accosted... but their impatience was drained away as [he] smiled back at them with such demonstrable love."
That, and a whistle that is callow, saucy and knowledgeable, plus "the electric current of his love"!

His vision is
"A Sark purified by its own recognition of the supernatural, purified by the ceaseless battle for self-improvement... [but without]... private grievance, jealousy and feuds".

Why?

We never learn what prompted him to evangelism in general or Sark specifically, and we don't really know what happens at the end of the story. We don't really get to see how he intends to implement his grand ideas or what the consequences would be. We don't really get to know anything much about his beliefs, and no religious books or figures are mentioned, other than his Great Pal.


La Coupée, photographed from Sark, looking towards Little Sark, 2 May 2017

Magical Realism

The most interesting part is the magical realism (a term not coined at the time), when he sprouts angelic wings. As these become increasingly prominent and inconvenient, he struggles to make them go away, eventually concluding that he is too good, and therefore needs to sin a bit. Then, he develops a taste for inept mischief and although the wings go, horns develop. You can guess most of the rest . However, even that feels like a series of anecdotes, rather than anything more.

Despite all the detail of the island and its residents, and its quasi-religious theme, neither of the island's churches is mentioned, and I think a vicar is only mentioned once. You'd think he might feel threatened by the competition and crop up more often.

Themes

I guess it's about good and evil and the balance between the two, and also the difference between mere naughtiness and actual evil, but it's not funny enough to be an outright comedy, but it doesn't really seem to have much of a point about these themes, other than comedic.

Or maybe there isn’t really one. Peake had no need to invent a world for this story, and he wrote if fairly quickly, because he needed the money. It’s the only adult book of his that was published with his illustrations.


Peake's drawing of Mr Pye

Quotes

I found a few:

• "The sun gloating on the unrippled water and the blank and zoneless bliss of an empty mind."

• "The imprisoned harbour where the emerald water had become rippled with expectancy."

• "Everything he did or said seemed curiously out of focus."

• He was so frustratingly nice that "Miss Dredger, fighting down a desire to smash the window to let out her soul".

• "Along the tortuous passages of the caves the hollow echoes rumbled and the billows hissed and slapped the slimy walls."

• "his face naked with integrity"

• "a walk so hesitant as to look almost like a disease of the legs"

• A full moon "ribbed the edges of the precipitous cliffs and was reflected in the sheen of the sands"

• "the gloating light; the rhythm of the rocks"

• "so flat a face that it seemed to have been created by some sculptor who, experimenting with the art of low relief, was inquisitive to know quite how low a relief could go without disappearing altogether."

• "A faint thickening of the horizon implied France, and piled above this tenuous implication there were great domes of cloud."

• "A gaunt, cadaverous man and it was impossible to see him without being reminded of the bone formations that underline the flesh."

• "The charm was still there, but it was now more like the charm of something vaguely dangerous, like a baby with a razor."

• in a "claustrophobic skirt... her legs were screaming for freedom."

• Re painting (remember, Peake was an artist as well as a writier), "colour... is a process of elimination. It is the distillation of an attitude. It is a credo."

• "An absolute silence not only reigned but appeared to extend its empire."


Photo of bluebells and other wild flowers on cliffs of Sark, 2 May 2017

See also

• A similar, but much shorter story, is Marcel Aymé's The State of Grace, which I reviewed HERE, including a free link to a slightly abridged version of it.

• All my Peake/Gormenghast reviews (including biographies/memoirs and books about his art) are on a shelf,
HERE.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't very well list Peake as my favorite author on the Titus books alone, spectacular as they are. While those books may provide a frantically laborious definition of 'idiomatic' (if not merely 'eccentric'), Peake is more than simply Gormenghast.

There is his art, his (somewhat abortive) poetic career, and his minimal forays into drama, adventure, war reporting--and here, light farce. Published the same year as Lucky Jim, Peake provides us with another English vision of strange and liminal folk,--except his island is not the metaphorical isolation of academia, but the literal geography of Sark, where Peake relocated his family after The War.

Unlike Amis, Peake's satire falls much more broadly, often striking his protagonist as readily as any other target. As with his Titus books, there is a restlessness inherent in the fact that Peake never turns his hand, and so the reader is always left looking for purpose and direction. Just when you think you've pegged him, Peake tends to swerve.

The book meanders ridiculously, taking its time to arrive at the conflict. Until we reach the driving theme, the book is somewhat slow-going. It does not proceed ponderously, like the Titus books, but there is a measured pace which requires that the reader take the time to let things unfold.

In theme, it roughly resembles Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry , which so shook up American religion twenty years before. Like Gantry, Pye is our swell-headed yet carnivorously charming proselytizer and self-promoter, but trades big-top evangelism for the good old C of E, and so his religious notions take a more chummy, upright bent.

While Lewis contents himself with exposing the ungainly, cruel man behind the pulpit quacksalver, Peake paints no such plain indictment. Peake lampoons not only his self-righteous hero, nor just religion, but the very physical and spiritual life at the root of any discussion of belief (or the lack thereof).

Peake doesn't fall hard on one side or the other, but gives us equally wonderful and absurd arguments for (and against) both at once. A reader looking to be instructed or justified will spend all of their time searching. Peake makes it clear that he doesn't have the answers, but he does provide a good number of questions, and each is arm-in-arm with chortles.

There is no preachy author surrogate here, nor the comeuppance of a fable. Yet this lack of direction sometimes injures the work. While Gormenghast moves about these difficult questions slowly, giving a reader a clear view before drifting on grandly, Pye alights quickly and then it's on to the next. There is little evidence of Peake's mastery of language and style, though a keen eye will see 'Pye' as a sleek and straightforward counterpoint to Gormenghast's wrought and grandiose.

Both books move slowly, and both are grounded in their settings. Gormenghast's measured pace is that of the ancient castle: the gait of a museum-goer turning always upon some new and unexpected wonder of yore. Pye's is more akin to it's dreary, peculiar island: a walk along the shore, where some sights will pique the eye, but will more often leave the mind roaming than rapt.

It is a testament to Peake's wryness and sense of character that this light, undecided, often pointless tale comes off as amusing, sweet, and even original. His mildly fantastical religious parable calls to mind both another Brit and another Lewis: Clive Staples, but Peake has writ a religious send-up that is more even-handed and much less bitter.

First the grand fantasy of Gormenghast deflates Tolkien's pretension, then Peake's follow-up highlights the short sight of yet another of the Inklings. Shame I'll never teach Lit, this one has a lot of intriguing cross-pollination.

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A remarkably well constructed parable, which deserves to be better known. The moral is, roughly: don't be ashamed of being a good person, even if it makes you feel ridiculous. Peake finds a clever and original way to say it.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would like a peek at this island through MP's wild and extravagant eyes. He spent some time painting and drawing here.

The only other dramatic affiliation related to this island I have come across is The Dame of Sark

A pressie with a photo tucked inside. How lovely to have the face to go with the name, and Squirt, what a little dish he is.
Many, many thanks.

St. Peter's Port

Opening: 'SARK.'
'Yes, sir,' said the man in the little quayside hut. 'A return fare. Six shillings.'
'A single, my friend,' said Mr Harold Pye.

Here the eponymous makes his way from St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, to the isle of Sark and Creux harbour, causing much silent interest from his fellow passengers.

Creux Harbour, Sark

Witches Seat on a chimney.

La Coupée, the wasp waisted land bridge between Big and Little Sark.

A penguiny cove tries to lassoo a whole island community (yes, it's a small one but still) into his disciiples during a midnight agape picnic. He starts to grow wings so changes tack and behaves a little roguishly whereupon horns start to spring from his forehead.

Yep, you read that right!

You remember that wall-denting escape in Angels and Demons? well, this ending was like that, only whackier.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with Mr Peake's gorgeous prose but lacking the compulsion and gravitas of the Gormenghast novels or his poetry. It's a slight tale, a fable really, filled with some terrific characters and scenery but I wasn't gripped or filled with the same sort of enthusiasms that his other writings have given me.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than four stars really but it has left me wondering. You know how sometimes you start a book and think it is about one thing and then something happens and it turns into something else? Well, that is just what happened here. So I am not sure if it was the surprise which made me like this more or whether it was the story itself.

Mr Pye arrives at the island of Sark in the Channel Islands, his intention being to bring love and kindness to the people, to make them realise that the best way forward is to be good to each other, no matter their differences. As his aim begins to succeed, and he reveals to his closest friends that he is merely doing what he believes God, or his Great Pal, wishes him to do, something very strange and completely unexpected happens, and Mr Pye flees the island.

Having come up with a solution, or at least an idea about how he should start to deal with his problem, Mr Pye returns to Sark, but this time with a very different agenda.

I am a recent(ish) convert to Mervyn Peake's imaginative writing and style of illustration, and in the end what I thought was going to be a religious diatribe turned into a different kind of morality story. The moral, at least to my mind, was moderation in all things, and don't stick your nose in where it isn't wanted. Accompanied by many illustrations in this edition, it ended up being an entertaining and intriguing read.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather odd fantasy novel/religious allegory set on the Channel Island of Sark. Harold Pye turns up on Sark with the intention of spreading love to the people there. He meets with some resistance but is beginning to make headway, when he becomes aware that the actions he is taking to make changes in his congregation are being reflected in external changes to his appearance. Upset and alarmed, he decides that he needs to counteract his good deeds with some evil ones...

This wasn't really my cup of tea - I rarely enjoy fantasy novels, the main character Mr Pye was strangely unlikeable which made his appeal to the islanders unlikely, and the fact that this was an allegory meant that the secondary characters were largely stereotyped. There were occasional humorous moments, and I did like the character of Tintagieu, the island's 'loose woman' who was smart and perceptive.

The novel on a whole felt a bit dated, it was pleasant enough but didn't really grab my attention. It wouldn't in my view be the best introduction to fantasy or to Mervyn Peake, but some people might enjoy the religious theme and the whimsical feel.

[Graham Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set on the small Channel island of Sark, this book follows a campaign by the central character, Mr Pye, who has arrived on the island as a visitor, and who is intent on transforming the lives of the locals with his very personal religious convictions. As a rationalist, this made me a little uneasy, but the good news (pardon the pun!) is that there isn't any proselytising as such, and the religious ideology is kept vague. I Wonder whether the author was religious? He was apparently born and spent his early years in China, where his parents were missionaries. He also had a couple of spells living on the island of Sark, so you can see where the location and the story came from.

I've seen the book described as a comic novel. It is mostly light-hearted and amusing, with some good comedic lines, but I would say it's a very gentle form of comedy. But then, I've found I don't always get on with comic fiction. It's actually quite difficult to maintain comedy throughout an entire novel (I'd say Ben Elton is an example of an author who does this well).

Mr Pye, like all of Peake's books, features eccentric characters, and underlying elements of magical realism. Written in 1953, the language and attitudes are rather dated, and at times, questionable. I cringed at one instance of what to us in the twenty-first century looks like out-and-out racism, but probably wouldn't have been seen that way in the nineteen-fifties (at least, not to the majority white European population).

Mr Pye is a character with boundless energy and enthusiasm; a motivational figure. I found the early section almost like a primer on positive assertiveness and influencing - quite enlightening. Although whether Mr Pye's approach would work in real life is a matter of conjecture. After initial successes in his evangelical endeavour, events conspire to throw up some significant challenges for Mr Pye, as his spirituality begins to take on a more significant embodiment than he can cope with. The proceedings turn somewhat to farce, with the forces of good and evil apparently fighting it out in the persona of the little man.

The spirit of the place, and how it has shaped the inhabitants, is well evoked. The plot drives forward, taking the reader (well, this reader at least) with it. The characters are a joy: the formidable Miss Dredger, the artist, flip-flopping between enthusiasm and despair, and the object of his affection, the force of nature that is Tintagieu - 'five foot three inches of sex'.

At the start of each chapter is a sketch by the author (who was a talented illustrator). These are quite cute - particularly the one of Tintagieu strolling home, having made her escape from the beach (where she left her clothes), and help bring the characters to life.

Like most of Peake's books there is a feeling that there's something allegorical at play; that he's ridiculing aspects of society. But regardless of this, the story and the characters stand by themselves. Peake was a great storyteller, and the descriptive work in Mr Pye is excellent: 'His little feet were immaculately shod, a diamond point of light on either toecap. His fawn waistcoat fitted over his paunch as neatly as the feathers on a wagtail's breast'.

I've been revisiting this book after a gap of decades. While this is not, for me, as good as the Ghormenghast trilogy (for which Mervyn Peake is most famous), it's still a highly enjoyable book.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Pye is a difficult book to review. If you liked the Gormenghast trilogy, there will be a lot to enjoy here. For those new to Mervyn Peake, I would not start with this book.

Peake's best writing qualities are evident. He has such a distinctive, witty, poetic style that is a joy to read. At its best, it had me chuckling aloud! His cast of characters, much like in the Gormenghast trilogy, are larger-than-life characatures. I don't, however, use this as a criticism. In the context of Peake's writing, his characters seem on the surface cartoonish but also distinct, relatable and memorable.

My primary criticism is that the pacing and the story itself felt uneven. There are moments where I found myself switching off a little, before being jolted back to focus with a lovely description or exchange of dialogue.

[Zumzaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5/10
This isn't Peake's peak His cast isn't as colourful, quirky or nearly as interesting as they need to be and the social commentaries I cannot figure for cynicism or a singular critique against the non-communal though the character of the island does not breathe enough for any of these themes to aesthetically work.

[Daniel Polansky]

A would-be saint gets caught between heaven and hill, and the consequences of righteousness and sin, while trying to bring happiness to a small Channel island. It's weird, it's funny, it was nice to read something by Peake which didn't mostly involve descriptions of rumbling masonry.

[David]

The last of the Peakes that I read. Descriptions of Sark remain fresh in my mind from this novel. Superb detail.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

angel
devil
in between
mr pye commands the scene

[Starling Wilkie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such fond memories of the TV serialisation many years ago so I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read the book. Such a delight. Clearly a parable but of what it’s pretty hard to nail. Don’t mistake charisma for wisdom? Meaning well isn’t the same as doing well? Mr Pye isn’t someone you’d want as a neighbour but I challenge anyone not to be cheering &/or crying by the last page.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in February 2001.

Peake's most famous work, the Gormenghast trilogy, has autobiographical connections with his childhood in China. Mr Pye, his only other completed novel, is also related to his life. This is more obvious, because the location of the novel is not a fictional place but the Channel Island of Sark. This is where Peake worked as a young artist. (Some of the geography of Gormenghast Castle is also derived from that of the island.)

Mr Pye, which also exists in the form of a radio play, is a strange novel. It begins fairly naturalistically, Mr Pye being an elderly visitor to the island who aims to bring sweetness and light and knowledge of his "Great Pal" to the islanders. Christianity is never mentioned, but it is fairly clear that he represents the positive side of a particular kind of evangelist.

However, about halfway through things change, as Mr Pye discovers that, in some sort of joke by his Pal, he is beginning to sprout wings like an angel. Suspecting that this is a result of the goodness he has been practising and preaching, he begins reluctantly and rather inexpertly to perform evil acts.

More detailed connection between the novel and Peake's life beyond the setting is hard to see. Mr Pye is certainly not him, but he may be intended to be the young painter Thorpe. It seems more likely that neither character is wholly autobiographical. Peake's clear feeling that Sark needs the ministrations of Mr Pye is perhaps revealing of his attitude to the people of the island - though I believe he was reasonably happy there.

As a novel, Mr Pye is fairly unsatisfying. None of the characters are really convincing, the plot is too arbitrary. Unless you are a real Peake fan, stick to the Gormenghast trilogy.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh.

I didn’t find as much of the gloriously sonorous writing as I hoped from Peake and the characters were unlikeable and annoying without being interesting. A bit disappointing really.

Personally, I enjoyed the latter section in which Mr Pye is manically trying to balance out his actions of good and evil (and the ending). The start, in which he’s being a good person and converting felt too long and boring with it. I like the concept but could’ve done without the moral of the fable being behind it. Ambiguity suits better sometimes.

[Guy Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'It is all interwoven', said Mr Pye. 'One cannot segregate things in an arbitrary way - words and illnesses, tadpoles and tears, volcanoes and dominoes, are all interwoven. What affects one thing affects all the rest.'"
p.127

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just too odd. What Peake was driving at with this number, I cannot fathom. And perhaps that's it, perhaps I'm just too dumb and impatient to appreciate Mr. Pye.
Not.for.me.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather strange story of magical realism, set on the island of Sark. It is an exploratory essay on the nature of good and evil, with, I suppose, much symbolism and metaphor if one could be troubled to identify it as such. Published in 1953, it seems to present a portrait of Sark as a microcosm of humanity, although I have never visited the Channel Islands and cannot tell how accurate this description is.

The protagonist, Mr Pye, enters the story as a good man who is both perceptive and understanding. He is pious without being conventionally religious: perhaps Peake’s vision of what a Christian could be without any of the trappings and distortions of the Christian church. He seeks only good for others, and wishes to improve their lives by eliminating conflict. Sark is his test-bed.

To a modern eye, however, Mr Pye could appear to be entitled, interfering and controlling. If he weren’t so good-natured and well-intentioned to all, one would anticipate a descent into abuse – but this is not at all where the author takes us. Instead, we have the contrast between those who are prepared to listen and understand, and the much more numerous mob that is led astray by its disappointments and fears. Here, Peake may well have been thinking of the descent to fascism in various European countries, and elsewhere around the world, seen during the first half of the 20th century. All in all, though, it is an amusing, thoughtful and thought-provoking tale, although becoming rather dark towards the ambiguous ending, which I found rather unsatisfactory. Perhaps the author couldn’t decide on a conclusion, but perhaps he is saying that humanity has to decide for itself about what is good and what is evil – there are no gods, angels or devils to direct us.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a book by Mervyn Peake to be very well written and, in that respect, I wasn't disappointed. His language, his capacity to paint a vivid picture with few words and his ability to create strong characters is as evident here as it is in the Gormenghast books. So why the distinctly average rating? Basically, I don't think it's aged too well.

This is a tale of two halves, representing the battle fought over Mr Pye's soul. In the first half, he is the epitome of the virtuous Christian. Establishing this fact is essential to the rest of the book. The thing is though, to my jaded, cynical, non-Christian, 21st century eyes, he appeared very creepy and extremely manipulative. Far from being whimsical and amusing, I found this first half of the book, with the calculating Mr Pye, quickly became tedious. My sympathies were with the islanders and not with Mr Pye's evangelism, perhaps that was why, or perhaps the establishment of his 'goodness' simply takes too long. Either way, although I enjoyed the prose, I didn't enjoy the story.

Ultimately, the 'story' can be boiled down to a simple aphorism - don't worry what other people think think about you.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read about half this book and took a break for a year and a half before returning to finish it. It started out unique and ended up bizarre. Not far from what I would have expected from Mervin Peake, the Tim Burton of English novelists, but even so, I was a bit baffled by what to make of this one.

Mr. Pye is a missionary with a unique vision. His goal is to preach and exhibit so much love on the little island of Sark that the people there will have no recourse but to convert and follow “His Pal” who guides him from up above.

As Pye gains an unlikely following among the islanders and gains a reputation that has people considering issues of faith, he suddenly finds himself with a strange supernatural deformity, perhaps a gift or a curse. In attempting to out maneuver this strange otherworldly experience, he begins to throw away every aspect of his character in an attempt to become normal. In the end, he begins to question the true motivation in his own heart and recognize that his vision for the island might not be the right goal.

I really strange novel with a trajectory that feels loaded for spiritual reflection and aimless or at least intensely nuanced in message.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

A ponderous and mediocre novel with no discernible point, Peakes’ Pye arrives in Sark and is intent on teaching the islanders to be good. Thwarted, he must learn how to be bad, a task at which he also fails. It is plainly a religious allegory that fails to arrive at any conclusion, and is interminably slow in doing so. I’ve never been a fan of Peake and this was the final nail in the coffin for me.

I will also say that the blurb on the back of my version talks about the ‘wonderful characters and cameos’. I take issue with this point vastly - to a modern reader these characters are one dimensional stereotypes with a mixture of xenophobia and sexism sprinkled in.

In my view the prose is the main redeeming quality but even that couldn’t save it from being largely a slog to read, the conflict in the novel not being apparent until about 2/3 of the way through.

Far better novelistic meditations on religion exist. I would refer the prospective reader to almost anything written by Graham Greene.

[Faith Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

“All about the island the darkening water heaved and broke upon the rocks. The tide rose momently. Along the tortuous passages of the caves the hollow echoes rumbled and the billows hissed and slapped the slimy walls. High above the caves and the shrivelling beaches on the island’s rain-drenched back, the trees that slanted all one way from the prevailing winds creaked n the darkness.” (Mr Pye, Pg. 42)

Descriptive passages like this are almost equivalent to the tortured majesty of the Gormenghast trilogy but they are all too rare in Mr Pye. The concept of this story is unique, traversing from the banal to up-tight imaginative fantasy, capped off with a chase and a glorious ending. The tale magnifies a tiny place (Sark) and its inhabitant characters up to noticeable proportions but, sadly, the storytelling is ordinary and cautious when contrasted with Mervyn Peake’s own impossibly high standards. This is a quarter Peake, three quarters watered down.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the start I thought I was going to really enjoy it. Pye's arrival in Sark had a Master-and- Margarita devil-arrives-in-Moscow vibe, where Pye shakes up the island and there is something vaguely sinister about it (although that might be an indication of my attitude towards Christian proselytising than anything else). However, it never really delivered on its early promise. The transformation of Pye between good and evil was a fun idea, but I could never quite figure out the meaning of it all. And the chirpy dialogue between the characters was more irritating than charming. It took a bit of an effort to finish this in the end.

[Polly Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a difficult book to rate. I am still struggling to understand what the point of the tale was. Lots of things were unclear - Mr Pye’s background before his Sark adventure, whether his evangelism was Christian based or something else. The ending provided no clarity at all. That having been said, the characters were drawn beautifully, the descriptions of Sark made it feel very familiar and it was not at all difficult to read. The eccentric Mr Pye’s behaviour seems annoying but somehow wins people over no matter how extraordinary his demands are. There seemed to be a moral being laid out - maybe don’t assume people need to be told how to be good. A mystery.

[Stuartandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't go in expecting another fantasy on the same level as Peake's Gormenghast. Mr Pye, has a completely different tone, and style, to Peake's magnum opus but while the two are very different styles of fantasy with Mr Pye being along the lines of a comedic magical realism, whereas Gormenghast was more along the lines of Gothic is still well worth checking out mainly for how the titular character Mr Harold Pye interacts with the locals on the island which leads to some interesting results on his crusade. This book could also be used as a travel guide to the channel island of Sark.

[Richard Cubitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally light-hearted, amusing, and some excellent characterisation (Mr Pye, Miss Dredger and Tanty in particular). Not as masterful as Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy, but there are flashes here of that greatness. A stand out moment for me was Pye's visit to the coast of Sark, when he is sitting on a dilapidated cannon, mulling over his fantastic predicament. Worth the time if one likes a good fable. Recommended.

[Jan Kjellin · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the positive side, I really want to visit Sark and see these places with my own eyes after reading this book.

On the not-so-positive side, this isn't very good, even though I kind of enjoy the overall story.

Without googling the answer, I suspect this was written long before Peake's masterful Gormenghast-trilogy, simply because so much of what made those books so good is lacking in this one.

I'm glad I read it, but I likely won't read it again.

[Sydney Cernek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mervyn Peake is my favorite author, and this book was beautifully written, obviously, and the plot was extremely unique and interesting, but it was not the most interesting book i have ever read to be truthful. However i am sad to have finished it because now i only have one more book of his to read and there will never be any more:( but beautiful character building and flawless transitions, as always

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if a prophet showed up on the shores of the tiny Channel Island of Sark in the 1950's? No doubt he would be a classic English eccentric in a pinstriped suit and carrying an umbrella. Mr. Pye is Mervyn Peake's playful novel about redemption, sin and salvation. Thoroughly entertaining, it's a humorous fantasy novel with a serious sub-theme filled with unique characters.