John Bellairs and Edward Gorey: a Winning Combination

The cover of the gripping The Ghost in the Mirror by John Bellairs features a massive rock, strewn with snow, so high that Rose Rita could be taken for a cold-looking doll at the bottom. The illustration, by the famous and taste-making Edward Gorey (1925-2000) transports the viewer into the atmosphere of the book, even before the first page is read. This is the second novel featuring Mrs. Zimmermann and Rose Rita, who appear as secondary characters in most of the other Lewis Barnavelt series, and like The Letter, the Witch and the Ring, the book, too, is set outside of New Zebedee, Michigan. The huge rock looming above Rose Rita added value to John Bellairs’s creative writing, and once you read the book you may understand why Gorey chose to feature this rock on the cover. Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmermann are overwhelmed by the rawness of the 19th century in the book; the lack of electricity and the rawboned nature of pre-modern amenities have an effect on them.

The House with a Clock in its Walls, however, is the first book in Bellairs’s long career as a juvenile writer, and he and Gorey collaborated from the beginning. The house is almost a character in the book, as you would guess from the title.

When one thinks of John Bellairs they also think of Edward Gorey and vice versa. This dynamic duo collaborated over twenty novels. Edward Gorey’s black and white, scary illustrations are perfect for John Bellairs horrors. The interesting thing about their collaboration is that they didn’t talk a lot. “It doesn’t mean there couldn’t be two or three letters in miscellaneous correspondence. But as far as we are aware, they never communicated.” – Andreas Brown, who represents the Estate, says. They barely ever communicated when not working, and that only through a third party. The team use each other as a boost; Gorey’s illustrations very often heighten senses from the novel and give off a feeling of hopelessness and horror.

The House with a Clock in its Walls is an awesome novel: powerful magic, evil warlocks, bringing back the dead, the gain and loss of friends… and poor Lewis Barnavelt is stuck right in the middle of it. Lewis, freshly an orphan, ends up moving to his uncle’s new (old) house, bought with an inheritance. He then meets an elderly woman called Mrs. Zimmerman, who lives next door. As the book unravels, Lewis learns that the two people he is living (near and with), are magicians. While all of this is going on at home, he is struggling to fit in at school. Lewis is socially awkward, and also is a little bit on the chubbier side. He is constantly getting bullied, so when he gets a friend, he is desperate to not lose him. He goes so far to keep his friend that he is somehow subconsciously convinced to deal in black magic: necromancy. Unfortunately, the person he raises from the dead is none other than an evil witch who wants to destroy the world. Selenna Izard almost succeeds but is thwarted by Lewis, Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman. Bellairs has a way of making you want to read more, enchanting you to flip the page and dive in.

The thing I like about Edward Gorey is that he always works in black and white, which makes the scene feel a whole lot worse. Gorey also likes to draw simple faces, just two dots, a curvy nose and a mouth, but then on the same exact picture he puts an incredible amount of detail on one single brick, or a gravestone. Edward’s drawings also look so still, like they are not in motion. The thing about John Bellairs though is that I feel like he had a depressing life. Notice that John Bee’s characters are never happy. Jonathan is always depressed and Lewis is always worried, Rose Rita is pretending to be brave and Johnny Dixon is always scared. None of them produce true genuine smiles, I mean sometimes they do but they never truly last, because everyone is relieved only at the very end of the novel, when they finally triumphantly smile. That’s why I feel like Eddy and Johnny were made to be together, both so dark that they truly amaze readers.

In his debut novel, the house seems alive: with the creaky floorboards and the changing stained glass, the house has its own personality. Another feature to the house is the third floor. Imagine walking down a dark dusty hallway leading to a barren room; the third floor has a feeling that sends a chill up your spine. The house also seems to have an effect on Uncle Jonathan, when he walks around the hallways listening to the clock, acting all paranoid.

Lewis is socially awkward and a little weird looking, with short arms and short legs.

At the moment he is looking to the side which shows the viewer his sharp nose. Lewis is now sitting next to a window looking outside. The beautiful long curtains with small flowers on them are quite formal while Lewis’s bathrobe seems to be made with the same design. Once again we see Lewis’s sharp funny-looking nose.

Now, this book is so amazing they decided to make a movie about it. So in 2018, an American fantasy film appeared in theaters, called, The House With a Clock In its Walls. Directed by Eli Roth, based on the 1973 book by John Bellairs, it starred Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan, Owen Vaccaro as Lewis, Cate Blanchett as Mrs. Zimmermann, and Kyle MacLachlan as Mr. Izard. Released by Universal Pictures in the U.S. on September 21, 2018, and receiving $131.5 million in box office, against a production budget of $42 million, it was a financial success. Mr. Roth makes a cameo as Comrade Ivan.

The House with a Clock in its Walls movie was not very accurate. It did have the same plot but many things were different. John Bellairs’s amazing descriptions did not get into the movie, in my opinion. Two things really important to trhe production design in the house, were the chair and the windows, which Bellairs did not describe. Edward Gorey’s awesome illustrations also did not seem to get into the movie.

Another thing I did not like was that Tarby did not seem as important in the movie than the book. When Tarby quit being Lewis’s friend, the viewers don’t feel as sympathetic.  Also, it seemed that Mrs. Izard was alive the entire time, and, in the book, Lewis raised Mrs. Izard from the grave. Some smaller things that I didn’t like was that Lewis was not fat, meaning that the bullies did not tease him, making us not sympathize more with the main character; instead it was the goggles that he got teased for. Jack Black was a perfect actor for Jonathan, a balanced sense of humor, and he was awesome. I may have missed it from the book, but I didn’t know that Mrs. Zimmerman lost a family; I also feel like she did not play that big of role in all the action. Mrs. Zimmerman was of middle age, played by Cate Blanchett. She should have been played by an old actress, like Judy Dench. The names, characters, and Fifties atmosphere were all arrived at with fair accuracy, but the core of the book was replaced by something more easy for Hollywood. For instance, there was the book of Necromancy, under lock and key. But were there other books that Lewis read, like John L. Stoddard? There was also no car chase.

All in all, I was not very satisfied about this movie. It did however, make me think more about Edward Gorey’s impact on the book. I would rate this movie 6 out of 10 (or 3 stars), and would only recommend this movie to people who have not read the book yet, and if you read the book, don’t waste time on the movie. I felt like Jack Black was the best actor, because he was really funny, and I felt he did his homework.