The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: And Other Stories - Softcover

Burton, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 057122444X ISBN 13: 9780571224449

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2004

Synopsis

Book by TIM BURTON

About this title

Review:

This unassuming hardcover in black buckram with a dark lavender title plate is the door into a world of twisted pleasures. Filmmaker Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas) tells 23 winsomely macabre stories about boys and girls who don't fit in. Their bodies are misshapen, their habits are odd, and their parents are appalled by them. But they do try hard to be human, like poor unwanted Mummy Boy, who's "a bundle of gauze": he goes for a walk in the park with his mummy dog. Some kids are having "a birthday party for a Mexican girl." They think Mummy Boy is a piñata: "They took a baseball bat and whacked open his head. Mummy Boy fell to the ground; he finally was dead. Inside of his head were no candy or prizes, just a few stray beetles of various sizes." For all its simple humor, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories is a peculiarly disturbing book about the violence that children suffer. It is illustrated in pen and ink, watercolor, and crayon. The themes and imagery are at a young-adult to adult level.

About the Author:

Tim Burton is the creative genius behind Batman, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks!, Pee Wees Big Adventure, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others. He began his career at Disney, where his first project was a six-minute tribute to Vincent Price. His second film, the twenty-seven-minute Frankenweenie, was deemed unsuitable for children and never released in theaters. He lives in New York and Los Angeles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 057122444X
• ISBN 13: 9780571224449
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128