The Epiplectic Bicycle By Edward Gorey

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Another favorite. I actually had birds named Embley and Yewbert. Hardcover Of all the books I own this one might possibly be the one I return to the most. The fact that it is very short is one reason; an alligator that rises out of a puddle shouting,Ho! is another. Certainly not the most disturbing of Gorey's books (children only beat each other with croquet mallets in this one), but maybe his funniest and most mysterious. And my favourite. Hardcover Delightful and splendid with the usual Gorey whimsy. Hardcover Who can say what this book is about. Who cares is what I say. Hardcover i have a crush on edward gorey. wouldn't it be great to be his friend, and have him write you birthday cards like the curious sofa? Hardcover

Having misread the title as The Epileptic Bicycle, I was waiting for some kind of velocipedic convulsion which never happened. Having re-read the title, I understand why.

Both text and illustrations are slight and, while not without interest, neither really grabbed me. But, I think there may be more in here than my first reading uncovered, so I'll give it a short while and read it again to see if I can plumb some hidden depths.

Update 25-05-2015: I have read it again, and there are no hidden depths to be plumbed, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, there is something about the book that I like (possibly that Yewbert looks a bit like Curt Cobain? That the bird reminds me of the 'nuisance bird' in The Phantom Tollbooth?), so I will give it an extra ½ star = 3½ stars. Hardcover What the strange bird muttered made me laugh out loud(sorry other library patrons).What prompted me to give this 5 stars were the comments and reviews of other Goodreaders.It took me longer to read them then it did to read the book.Thank you all!

p.s.The front and back cover are very funny. Hardcover Embley and Yewbert's surreal adventures on their epipleptic bike. They begin with a fight with croquet hammers (a novelty weapon!) and then, amongst other things, pass through a field of turnips, which are not there, and meet up with an alligator. The alligator gets hit after it attacks them and, in typical Gorey style, utters the immortal (!) words I die. Great fun and, as always, beautifully illustrated by the author. Hardcover It was the day after Tuesday and the day before Wednesday.

And why do you ask me, what does 'epiplectic' mean? !! Do I look like a dictionary?!

Two siblings are just hanging around doing what siblings do, hitting each other on the head with croquet mallets (remember those days?!) and a[n untenanted] bicycle shows up, leading to various random adventures, including entering a barn where it was too dark to hear anything. Yes, we are in a world Gorey loves, between Tuesday and Wednesday, that twilight zone, though never really scary.

Just crazy, absurd. It seems like it all happened in a dream, or in surreality, or, as in the end they discover an obelisk was erected in their memory 173 years ago, so they are really. . . (ooh, it's a ghost story!).

Callista refers to a film version of the story by Lauren Horoszewski posted on Vimeo; here it is:

https://vimeo.com/11171863 Hardcover I do love Edward Gorey and this is a great little oddity. It appears no one dies during this story, but do they really not die? The end leaves us wondering what happened to the kids and what is going on?? This is about 2 kids and a bicycle having adventures. It did make me laugh. There are not that many frames, but it skips chapters around like crazy and that felt like its own joke to me. This story just tickled me.

I do love the artwork and the mystery left at the end. Fantastic. I also found a short someone made of the story when I was looking up the publication date on Vimeo. It is 6 minutes of wonder. It’s worth looking up. I just put in the title and it came up. It is stop motion and it’s right off the page.

I also read this to the nephew and he loved it. I did ask him about the opening. The line is ‘It was the day after Tuesday and the day before Wednesday.’ He didn’t catch that till I pointed it out. I asked him the day after Tuesday and he said Wednesday and then I asked him what the day before Wednesday was and He said Tuesday, so I asked him which day they were talking about and now he was confused. He didn’t get it. I told him I think it was a joke. He didn’t laugh. He loved the bit with the alligator. He thought this was really weird and he gave this 4 stars.

This is one of my more favorite Gorey stories. LOVE. Hardcover

While Embley and Yewbert are hitting one another with croquet mallets one day, an untenanted bicycle rolls into their garden. This book chronicles their adventures across turnip fields, through barns and into bushes. The Epiplectic Bicycle