Sunday, October 23, 2016

Morbid Curiosities: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre


Author - Paul Gambino (Scrap City)
Release Date - 2016
Format - Book (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):
      
      Halloween is almost upon us so its time to step up our spook game and dive deep into the macabre.  Most fans of horror, like myself, have a fondness for anything dark and morbid.  When I was a kid I was obsessed with Ripley's Believe it or Not and other shows consisting of the odd and strange.  That quickly led to a love of the obscure and macabre.  Taxidermied animals, skulls and bones, antique medical equipment.  I have always had an interest in this kind of stuff and if I wasn't obsessed over my movie collection I would probably be handing out cash for these types of things.  My wife can breathe a sigh of relief.  A few months back I was contacted about a new book, Morbid Curiosities: Collections of the Uncommon and Bizarre.  The book looked very interesting so I agreed to review it.  I then waited, waited, and waited until I received an email asking when the review was up.  Explained I never received the product and they apologized before shipping out another.  I received the replacement along with an email asking not to post the review until a certain date.  Well, I fucking forgot so I apologize to everyone involved.  Sorry I did not get this up in a timely manner.
     This collection of collections does not have a story line but consists of several interviews with famous collectors.  We have in depth discussions on what they collect, how they started, what are some specific pieces in their collections, and in some case how their significant other feels out their collection. 
     I didn't know what to expect when I was asked to check out the book.  I assumed it would be a collection of interviews and photographs, which it was, but it showed more than that.  It showed how dedicated to their collection they were.  Some were merely there to collect things people find strange and unusual while others came across the obsession completely by accident.  The collection had several fun interviews with avid collectors who have now made a name for themselves in the oddity community.  These interviews were very fun and insightful.  They were not that in depth but just thorough enough to hold the reader's attention.  The collection is very well put together with some amazing photo graphs of the collector and collections.  These all look great and the photographer has a lot of skill.  With that being said, we don't get a look at the entire collection of the collector.  We only get certain pieces that I'm sure they hold in high regard.  Overall, Morbid Curiosities is a fun little read but is more of a coffee table piece than an actual novel.  It looks good and will definitely inspire some question.  Fans of the strange and unusual (Winona Ryder voice) will really enjoy it.

No comments:

Post a Comment