The Doubtful Guest by Edward Gorey
My rating: 4/5 cats
this review is for bird brian!!
i am insisting on reading this book as a metaphor for parenthood. in this wonderfully-illustrated-as-always edward gorey book, this creature arrives one evening, uninvited, unexpected. and it looks like a weird-ass penguin in a scarf and some canvas kicks. and it just will not leave.
it came seventeen years ago—and to this day it has shown no intention of going away
i assume there are plenty of parents who feel this way about their odd children—the alien, the other, the unrelatable who seems never to be leaving the nest and letting them get back to their lives already.
and it is a total pain in the ass. while this creature is living amongst them, it eats all the syrup and toast, and part of a plate, it steals parts from the gramophone, it hangs out in the fireplace and destroys its own shoes, it rips up books (!!!)
and messes up the hanging pictures, it lies down on the floor in front of the door and gets in everyone’s way, it hides in a tureen, it steals and hides all the bath towels, it sleepwalks, it throws the beloved objects of others in the pond, and it seemingly has no intention of ever leaving or getting a job or finding a nice girl and settling down!!
sound familiar, parents??
time to clean house before it gets any worse.
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