I have never been so upset about a book as I have been about this one. It’s not a biography - it’s Dery’s attempt to legitimize his ideas about Gorey’s sexuality. Edward Gorey was a homo-romantic asexual, something he freely admitted in interviews and was very open about in various letters to people throughout his life. So where is the debate? Why write a book loosely based on this man’s genius, and then keep bringing it back to his ‘mysterious’ sexuality? It is very clear that Dery (a straight man), knows absolutely nothing about this complex orientation - he continually implies that Gorey experienced something traumatic in his childhood (no proof), and that he was just ashamed of being gay (again, no proof). What. The. Fuck. Shame on you Mark Dery - you had the opportunity to explore Gorey’s fascinating life and his beautiful creations… and instead you wasted it on a 500 page slap in the face toward the man you’re now making money off of. This brick gets 1 star, and that’s only because the writing itself isn’t garbage.