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Bigot Hall: A Gothic Childhood
Bigot Hall is the nightmare home of a family most people would rather forget. Uncle Burst's belief that his face is made of pasta is one of the milder notions with which he regales the family. Uncle Snapper is confined to a treehouse because of the uncontrollable urges he feels once his gun is loaded. Uncle Blute drowned in the lake at the wheel of his Morris Traveller, where he remains perfectly preserved. And Nanny Jack refuses all efforts to bury her and strikes terror into her relatives' hearts as she abandons yet another final resting place. Throughout this happy breed strolls a nameless anti-hero, who, when not kidnapped by clowns or puzzling out the fossilised family tree, is passionately in love with his spaced-out sister, Adrienne ...
153 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1995
About the author
Steve Aylett
40 books128 followersSteve Aylett (b. 1967) is a satirical science fiction and slipstream author of several bizarro books. He is renowned for his colorful satire attacking the manipulations of authority, and for having reams of amusing epigrams and non-sequiturs only tangentially related to what little plot the books possess.
Aylett left school at age 17 and worked in a book warehouse, and later in law publishing.
Aylett claims to have books appear in his brain in one visual "glob" which looks like a piece of gum (but denies it's "channelled").
Aylett left school at age 17 and worked in a book warehouse, and later in law publishing.
Aylett claims to have books appear in his brain in one visual "glob" which looks like a piece of gum (but denies it's "channelled").
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 26, 2015
This was the first book by Steve Aylett that I read and it is still one of my favourite works by any novelist. The use of language is sometimes quite startling, pulling you up abruptly and wondering why nobody else has ever had the wit to construct images and phrases in this way until now. It just exudes originality. I must have read it four or five times now, partly to revel in its brilliance and partly in an attempt to identify the key to its creativity. It will make some writers jealous but inspire others to up their game in pursuit of the joy that must come from the production of something so pristine and perfect, a comedy unlike any other.
January 30, 2008
Steve Aylett, Bigot Hall (Serif, 1995)
I spent the first few pages of this book alternating between offense and amusement. After a while, it hit me that I hadn't laughed out loud this many times per page at any book in quite a while, so I dropped the offense.
Imagine In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash (the book that inspired the classic film A Christmas Story) jacked up on PCP and going on a crime spree and you have Bigot Hall, Steve Aylett's impressionist biography of hands down the most interesting family in all of literature. The narrator, a nameless adolescent called "laughing boy" by friends and family alike, turns his jaundiced eye upon most every family member and lodger at the family's country estate, a living (or at the very least highly unstable, from a dimensional perspective) mansion known as Bigot Hall. Amidst the witty repartee (and this would make a good handbook for those who like to find stultifyingly obtuse .sig files) these rather twisted characters come to life quite nicely, to the point where one can almost believe some of the book's most outrageous moments. I won't spoil them for you, you'll have to read it yourself, but let's just say Aylett pulled off a pretty nice chunk of real estate in making the Verger's predicament seem not only plausible, but completely in line with the rest of the doings about him.
As with all books of the "selected glimpses of life" genre, there's no plot here, so the book must rely on nothing but character development to succeed, and it does so quite nicely. It's also choke-on-your-manacles funny from beginning to end. ****
I spent the first few pages of this book alternating between offense and amusement. After a while, it hit me that I hadn't laughed out loud this many times per page at any book in quite a while, so I dropped the offense.
Imagine In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash (the book that inspired the classic film A Christmas Story) jacked up on PCP and going on a crime spree and you have Bigot Hall, Steve Aylett's impressionist biography of hands down the most interesting family in all of literature. The narrator, a nameless adolescent called "laughing boy" by friends and family alike, turns his jaundiced eye upon most every family member and lodger at the family's country estate, a living (or at the very least highly unstable, from a dimensional perspective) mansion known as Bigot Hall. Amidst the witty repartee (and this would make a good handbook for those who like to find stultifyingly obtuse .sig files) these rather twisted characters come to life quite nicely, to the point where one can almost believe some of the book's most outrageous moments. I won't spoil them for you, you'll have to read it yourself, but let's just say Aylett pulled off a pretty nice chunk of real estate in making the Verger's predicament seem not only plausible, but completely in line with the rest of the doings about him.
As with all books of the "selected glimpses of life" genre, there's no plot here, so the book must rely on nothing but character development to succeed, and it does so quite nicely. It's also choke-on-your-manacles funny from beginning to end. ****
January 25, 2009
I've always enjoyed Steve Aylett. Ever since I read his short story "If Armstrong Were Interesting," which is certifiably the funniest four pages in the history of English literature, I've hunted down and devoured every book of his I can find. Most of his longer works (aside from the faux-biography Lint, itself a masterpiece) are sort of comedic beatnik-noir-cyberpunk tales of improbable criminal organizations and their various doings. Very hard to describe to someone who hasn't read them - Aylett's style is unique, built as it is on the unexpected, the non sequitur, the artful defiance of logic (at which he has a achieved a Zen-like mastery). Here, Aylett presents an imagined autobiography, told from the perspective of a young adolescent and his surreal, dysfunctional family. Hilarious and beautiful, and oddly haunting despite its rapid-fire humor and cartoonish narratives.
For some reason, this book seems to be available only as a British import.
For some reason, this book seems to be available only as a British import.
February 8, 2009
A more accessible Aylett. Of course accessible is a relative term when concerning Mr. Aylett. Written in the form of a childhood memoir but not really resembling that description. Just like Aylett’s other books they aren’t really novels or stories more like bizarre emissions from his brain captured in glue and wood pulp. This also sort of resembles the Addam’s Family. If the show (or comic it is based on) was scripted by Thomas Ligotti or Bruno Shultz and then you watched it while consuming really spicy chili and then you transcribed the dreams you had in between waking with extreme heart burn later that night, it resembles that. This book also continues Aylett’s obsessive hatred of pasta and mimes. A fact I’m not sure what to do with.
January 1, 2019
It is wonderfully refreshing, given the planet-sized pile of dysenteric dung that is modern fantasy (endless pixie-shit trilogies or saccharine-sweet fantasyland social commentary) that there is Bigot Hall. Nothing like it exists in the multiverse, but a few progenitors spring to mind. The Addams family for sure, but an Addams Family that is descended from an alternative, dangerously insane Wodehousian dynasty. There’s hints of Ian Banks’ first two novels (Wasp Factory and Walking on Glass), as well as the d(w)ry humour of Alan Moore’s Bojeffries Saga.
Like all of Aylett’s books, the writing steams, screams, sparks and hisses in equal amounts, as if a ladle of molten iron had been dropped into paddling pool of toddlers. Words and phrases tumble over each other in a seemingly random linguistic pyroclastic flow , but have the power to form a deliciously dark narrative. Is the book too short? Hell, yes. Should there be a sequel? Never. Such a glorious nugget should be unique and be force-read to the Ignoscenti on a regular basis until they either convert or croak
As Steve Aylett said : “I knew books could see people around them, they ground their tiny teeth, tried to rattle like windows, stories to tell.”
Listen carefully and you’ll hear the sound of Bigot Hall’s tiny teeth and rattling window. Read the damn book
Or continue to be one of the ignoscenti.
Like all of Aylett’s books, the writing steams, screams, sparks and hisses in equal amounts, as if a ladle of molten iron had been dropped into paddling pool of toddlers. Words and phrases tumble over each other in a seemingly random linguistic pyroclastic flow , but have the power to form a deliciously dark narrative. Is the book too short? Hell, yes. Should there be a sequel? Never. Such a glorious nugget should be unique and be force-read to the Ignoscenti on a regular basis until they either convert or croak
As Steve Aylett said : “I knew books could see people around them, they ground their tiny teeth, tried to rattle like windows, stories to tell.”
Listen carefully and you’ll hear the sound of Bigot Hall’s tiny teeth and rattling window. Read the damn book
Or continue to be one of the ignoscenti.
June 11, 2018
I picked up Bigot Hall by Steve Aylett not knowing what to expect and it just blew me away. It is anarchic black humour at its best, filled with witty observations and completely off the wall characters, whose volatile natures and violent dispositions I have never met the like of before. I never laughed so much at such outrageous brutality; I'm utterly ashamed of myself.
There were many things I was reminded of during my journey through this book: the quasi-dimensional eponymous Bigot Hall, which maintains a tenuous grip on reality, had many of the attributes of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, along with the quirkiness of its characters. Uncle Snapper was very much like Trevor Howard in Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End. There was even a touch of Moorcock in here a la Jerry and Catherine Cornelius' obsessive incestuous relationship.
Yes, it's a crazy mix, but shining through is Aylett's very own wicked sense of humour and style. If I have a quibble it's that the book is episodic with no real sense of a beginning, middle and end, and the price tag is a little steep for such a short work. However, it was a refreshing change from the standard, long-winded epics you tend to find on the shelves these days; definitely a question of 'never mind the width, feel the quality'.
There were many things I was reminded of during my journey through this book: the quasi-dimensional eponymous Bigot Hall, which maintains a tenuous grip on reality, had many of the attributes of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, along with the quirkiness of its characters. Uncle Snapper was very much like Trevor Howard in Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End. There was even a touch of Moorcock in here a la Jerry and Catherine Cornelius' obsessive incestuous relationship.
Yes, it's a crazy mix, but shining through is Aylett's very own wicked sense of humour and style. If I have a quibble it's that the book is episodic with no real sense of a beginning, middle and end, and the price tag is a little steep for such a short work. However, it was a refreshing change from the standard, long-winded epics you tend to find on the shelves these days; definitely a question of 'never mind the width, feel the quality'.
March 19, 2020
LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY! is a cliché that adorns many a mediocre book jacket. I generally find that even books that tickle me don't often actually cause me to crack a smile, so you can take it as a gold-plated recommendation when I say that Bigot Hall had me grinning like an idiot from cover to cover. I did indeed chortle, guffaw and even nose-snort on several occasions.
You'll be familiar with that eureka moment when an artist, author or musician suddenly pops up on your radar and you find yourself wondering why the hell you haven't seen/read/heard their work sooner. Stumbling across Steve Aylett has definitely been one of those moments.
Every page of this short novel crackles with a deranged, off-kilter energy. It's packed full of audacious turns of phrase and bizarre fever dream imagery. It would be a huge disservice to Aylett to reductively compare him to others, but I'm going to anyway. Reading his prose for the first time gave me the same tingly feeling as watching Reeves & Mortimer in their prime, Chris Morris' twisted news parody Brass Eye, or David Firth's macabre and darkly surreal Saladfingers animations.
I imagine Aylett's absurdist prose will be total Marmite for most people, so all I can say is give it a go; you'll know within the first few lines if it's for you or not. Personally, I'm now off to purchase and greedily devour his back catalogue.
You'll be familiar with that eureka moment when an artist, author or musician suddenly pops up on your radar and you find yourself wondering why the hell you haven't seen/read/heard their work sooner. Stumbling across Steve Aylett has definitely been one of those moments.
Every page of this short novel crackles with a deranged, off-kilter energy. It's packed full of audacious turns of phrase and bizarre fever dream imagery. It would be a huge disservice to Aylett to reductively compare him to others, but I'm going to anyway. Reading his prose for the first time gave me the same tingly feeling as watching Reeves & Mortimer in their prime, Chris Morris' twisted news parody Brass Eye, or David Firth's macabre and darkly surreal Saladfingers animations.
I imagine Aylett's absurdist prose will be total Marmite for most people, so all I can say is give it a go; you'll know within the first few lines if it's for you or not. Personally, I'm now off to purchase and greedily devour his back catalogue.
August 9, 2009
This was absolutely excellent. I read Slaughtermatic and thought it was kind of over the top and incomprehensible way too often. But this was just smart and over the top.
It's hard to imagine exactly how he writes like this. It's like stream of consciousness (which is often boring or disjointed) but edited and cohesive. There are characters and each one stays "in character". You begin to know what to expect (even if it is the unexpected) and each is so interesting that it's hard to pick a favorite.
Each vignette is more absurd than the last but together they form a complete story. Some have interesting story seeds that could be the entire premise for a novel, others are just funny and mischievous.
Here's some dialogue, if you like this you'll love this book:
"You were referred to me by Mr. Roger Lang," said Father. "What can you say to redeem yourself?"
"I would like a room here."
"You and a million others. How old are you Mr. Mandible?"
"Thirty four."
"Correct. Do you heal quickly?"
"In a flash,. Unless the wound is open, as with a triangular chunk blade."
"Or a tubular coral injury," suggested Father, "sustained off the Hawaiian Islands."
"Precisely."
It's hard to imagine exactly how he writes like this. It's like stream of consciousness (which is often boring or disjointed) but edited and cohesive. There are characters and each one stays "in character". You begin to know what to expect (even if it is the unexpected) and each is so interesting that it's hard to pick a favorite.
Each vignette is more absurd than the last but together they form a complete story. Some have interesting story seeds that could be the entire premise for a novel, others are just funny and mischievous.
Here's some dialogue, if you like this you'll love this book:
"You were referred to me by Mr. Roger Lang," said Father. "What can you say to redeem yourself?"
"I would like a room here."
"You and a million others. How old are you Mr. Mandible?"
"Thirty four."
"Correct. Do you heal quickly?"
"In a flash,. Unless the wound is open, as with a triangular chunk blade."
"Or a tubular coral injury," suggested Father, "sustained off the Hawaiian Islands."
"Precisely."
January 27, 2013
Bigot Hall is the story of an unbalanced, insane, and possibly supernatural family, where our hero repeatedly dodges murder by his uncle, is madly in love with his sister, and lives to torment the guests of the house.
I read Aylett's Slaughtermatic about 5 years ago, and the style of this reminded me why I liked it. This felt less stream-of-consciousness than the other book, and reads more like a series of short stories. But the loosely held together cohesion of the shorts brings the overall book to life. The first few chapters seem largely self contained, but prior events begin to have an impact as the book progresses.
Aylett is offensive but hysterical. If you can laugh at comedic horror movies or porn comedy, then you'll laugh at this. Despite this, there's an unexpected endearing quality as the family unites in kind of an "Only our family is allowed to treat him so bad!" kind of way.
It's pretty dense writing, so despite the short length I have to recommend you only pick this up when you're in the mood for a book that requires focus, a book that can easily offend you, a book that's more of a themed collection than a novel, and a book that doesn't care about your expectations and just is. But when that mood hits you, this hits the spot.
I read Aylett's Slaughtermatic about 5 years ago, and the style of this reminded me why I liked it. This felt less stream-of-consciousness than the other book, and reads more like a series of short stories. But the loosely held together cohesion of the shorts brings the overall book to life. The first few chapters seem largely self contained, but prior events begin to have an impact as the book progresses.
Aylett is offensive but hysterical. If you can laugh at comedic horror movies or porn comedy, then you'll laugh at this. Despite this, there's an unexpected endearing quality as the family unites in kind of an "Only our family is allowed to treat him so bad!" kind of way.
It's pretty dense writing, so despite the short length I have to recommend you only pick this up when you're in the mood for a book that requires focus, a book that can easily offend you, a book that's more of a themed collection than a novel, and a book that doesn't care about your expectations and just is. But when that mood hits you, this hits the spot.
February 27, 2012
This book appeals to my interests!
It has a really nice Addams family vibe, and the episodic nature works much better with Ayletts style for my taste. I feel like you can pic it up, read one of the short chapters, and feel satisfied. And then come back later, read another, and still feel like it is all part of the same whole. This is funny, I guess, because normally I hear "A book of linked short stories" and I immediately tune out. But in my head, linked short stories ARE a novel. It's just a different construction?
People are very particular about what to call books, sometimes. I would NOT call this book a collection of linked stories. I would call it AWESOME and WONDERFUL.
It has a really nice Addams family vibe, and the episodic nature works much better with Ayletts style for my taste. I feel like you can pic it up, read one of the short chapters, and feel satisfied. And then come back later, read another, and still feel like it is all part of the same whole. This is funny, I guess, because normally I hear "A book of linked short stories" and I immediately tune out. But in my head, linked short stories ARE a novel. It's just a different construction?
People are very particular about what to call books, sometimes. I would NOT call this book a collection of linked stories. I would call it AWESOME and WONDERFUL.
April 11, 2021
I've read a couple of other books by Aylett, but none come close in my affections to Bigot Hall, which paints a surrealistic portrait of a sort of modern, punk rock Addams Family. The book is more a series of pastiches than a novel with an overall plot, and the ending descends into a vortex (quite literally) of metafiction, but despite that his language and humor consistently delight. It even has rare moments of beauty, as the poem the unnamed protagonist write for his incestually-involved sister:
If the sun which lights your eyes
Were thirty-seven times its size
Then you, and I, and all the world
Would start to twitch and fry.
If the sun which lights your eyes
Were thirty-seven times its size
Then you, and I, and all the world
Would start to twitch and fry.
October 17, 2011
I've never read a Steve Ayelett book I didn't love but Bigot Hall is one of my absolute favourites. I also suspect it's one of his most accessible, a good introduction to the Ayelett style. Every page snaps crackles and pops with language. The ideas have stayed with me and I only wish the book had been longer. I can't praise Bigot Hall enough. Just dont be put off by the lame blurb on the back cover. Steve Ayelett books tend to be mis-sold as zany when really they're so much more.
August 13, 2020
Bizarre chaos, both of characters and language. The book practically fizzes with wit. Recommended.
October 31, 2023
The overall story in this one was pretty nebulous and a bit hard for me to follow, but Aylett more than makes up for that side of things with his rapid-fire one-liners and delightfully sick POV. I believe the man is a genius, which doesn't mean everything he creates is perfect, but it does mean the rest of us should give it some attention and try to make some sense of it. Humor is a very subjective thing, but for me, this was absolutely hilarious, and for those of you out there sicker than me, it may be even funnier.
February 3, 2010
After about a third of the way through everything got rather 'samey' and somewhat predictable. I finished it but that's because I'm a finisher unless it's a really really crappy book - like 'My booky wook' by Russell Brand. Now that is utter egotistical contrived dross.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews