Most of us are familiar with Tim Burton the director. The American gothic master is famous for works such as the macabre Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Ed Wood (1994).
His themes of alienation, death, and loneliness permeate all of his works. Including this little poetry book launched in 1997, a kind of one-off work filled with cute/macabre pictures and black humour.
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997) reminds us of God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian (1999) by Kurt Vonnegut. Partly with the concise theme and general tone of mortality lurking around the corner.
Burton’s work is much more accessible, making it a great way for all ages to appreciate his distinct creative style.
Gothic Angst Ahoy in The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
“But could a flame ever burn,
for a match and a stick?
It did quite literally;
he burned up quick.”
Burton illustrated and wrote this 113 page ode to sweet, hapless tragedy.
Edward Scissorhands freaked us out when we were kids, but we’ve grown to appreciate Burton’s unique style. Take The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and you get the visual sense of what’s at play in this diddy book.
Yes, then, Oyster Boy is a more kid-friendly version of his work. There’s the usual comedic melancholy and the like, all come from a wide host of charming, delightful, diabolical characters. Including:
- Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love
- Staring Girl
- Robot Boy
- The Melancholy Story of Oyster Boy
- Stain Boy’s Special Christmas
- Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy
Oyster Boy is the eponymous story, but each one is about an outcast child. Most of them are looking for belonging or love in the world, get jilted, or find some other path to a particular brand of happiness.
But, yeah, surely you can how your child may giggle at this type of thing?
“Mr. Smith yelled at the doctor,
What have you done to my boy?
He’s not flesh and blood,
he’s aluminum alloy!”
The doctor said gently,
What I’m going to say
will sound pretty wild.
But you’re not the father
of this strange looking child.
You see, there still is some question
about the child’s gender,
but we think that its father
is a microwave blender.”
It’s sad stuff mixed in with happy stuff.
“Alone and rejected, Mummy Boy wept,
then went to the cabinet,
where the snack food was kept.”
Fans of Burton’s work will delight in this book, which offers some fantastic artwork.
We were going to take pictures of that, compress them, load them all up, style them in a slideshow gallery format… but we’re in a bloody rush and busy, okay? As such, we turn to this handy little flick through the work and a look at the imagery.
Although great and suitable for kids, this kind of a Roald Dahl type experience. Dahl’s works like The Twits (1980) rejoice in the comeuppance of diabolical beings. There are advanced themes, though, of adults being pretty horrible.
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories has a similar vibe.
Stories deal with hybrid kids balancing a precarious existence (Brie Boy was a favourite of ours), women who have babies to manipulate men, alienation, sadness, loss etc.
And there is stuff like this lad with nails in his eyes. Possibly disturbing? Maybe.
One of our favourites is this Santa themed one with an inappropriate gift.
Yeah, then, we like this book! Burton’s oeuvre may not be for everyone, but if you fancy a more macabre version of Roald Dahl’s work you’ve got a delight here. Two severed thumbs up from us! 🪓
