--- product_id: 26721332 title: "Carpenter's Gothic (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)" price: "₱4611" currency: PHP in_stock: true reviews_count: 12 url: https://www.desertcart.ph/products/26721332-carpenters-gothic-classic-20th-century-penguin store_origin: PH region: Philippines --- # Carpenter's Gothic (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) **Price:** ₱4611 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Carpenter's Gothic (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) - **How much does it cost?** ₱4611 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ph](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/26721332-carpenters-gothic-classic-20th-century-penguin) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission. At the still center of the breakneck action--revealed in Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialoge—is Paul's wife, Liz, and over it all looms the shadowy figure of McCandless, a geologist from whom Paul and Liz rent their house. As Paul mishandles the situation, his wife takes the geologist to her bed and a fire and aborted assassination occur; Ude issues a call to arms as harrowing as any Jeremiad--and Armageddon comes rapidly closer. Displaying Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialogue, and his startling treatments of violence and sexuality, Carpenter's Gothic "shows again that Gaddis is among the first rank of contemporary American writers" (Malcolm Bradbury, The Washington Post Book World ). Review: Accessible Gaddis (Sort of) - I admit it. I am a Gaddis addict who has read the Recognitions four times and JR every two or three years since its publication in 1986. Carpenter's Gothic is another masterpiece, not exactly easy but at least confined pretty much to a single language and words just about anyone can understand. This makes it an excellent place to start on Gaddis for those who may (understandably) be daunted by the longer books. Liz, a stunning redhead and post-debutante daughter of a corporate tycoon whose bribery scandal provoked suicide several years back, is being fleeced by the company pals of her father's, who are administering her father's estate in their own interest. She has a husband, Paul, a battered ex-infantry lieutenant, her deceased father's bagman, who married Liz for her dough and is now helplessly watching it vanish and trying feverishly and incompetently to establish himself as a public relations consultant to a cartoon backwoods evangelist. She has a brother, Billy, a prep school dropout who finds nothing worth doing and finally makes one pathetic and fateful effort in the wrong direction, and she is chanced upon by McCandless, a mysterious stranger, her landlord, who effortlessly seduces her and then tosses her aside for a chance to ride into town with the brother who just keeps showing up. Even Liz's only friend, another heiress trying her best to run through the dough left her by a despised aunt, calls Liz collect from Acapulco. Her life is one ridiculous situation after another, and then it ends, pointlessly, at age 33. McCandless, the landlord, is an initially interesting figure whose incessant smoking may offer something of a key to his real character. He serves as a kind of death impulse in the lives of the other characters, who are simply lost and doing their best with the very little with which they have to work. These others are all so inept that being unscrupulous doesn't even advance their agendas, and nothing really happens to any of them except a series of one off accidents. . Gaddis's persistent major theme is failure and Carpenter's Gothic represents failure on steroids. Nevertheless, as others have pointed out, the language is fantastic and the situations are hysterically funny. Optimists won't like the book much. They should try Dale Carnegie. He's good too, in his way. Review: A Thinking Person's House of Horrors - Taking place exclusively in the eponymous dwelling, CG is a long-winded and by turns creepy and satirical yarn told primarily through the eyes and thoughts of a psychologically, and literally, trapped woman. The book's arc, such as it is (Gaddis favors page-long soliloquy over driving narrative action) concerns said woman dealing with the rigors of living with an abusive, alcoholic husband whose ties to a wayward reverend have gotten him into a mess of trouble. Also worth noting are the woman's interactions with her new home's original owner, a mysterious figure who pops in and out to deliver cryptic messages, smoke incessantly, and rifle through an unsettling amount of ancient documents in an upstairs study. The woman, our hero, is quickly at her wits-end and is pushed even further into the all-consuming darkness of America past and present, in which themes of bigotry, sexual tension, addiction and other general nastiness come to the fore. Imagine, if you will, a very literary (and talky) version of the recent American Horror Story (season one, natch) and you'll have a pretty good idea of the goings-on in Gaddis' house of horrors. Linguistically, the book is a raw and circuitous machine, wherein phrases like 'paper tore' are repeated ad naseum, creating a patchwork effect that adds to the isolation and claustrophobia of the titular house and its effect on its captives. It is not only physically ensnaring, this locale, but verbally so as well, creating a sense of narrative dread within a narrative absent of physical push toward a satisfying climax. That is not to say things end without a certain level of change on display, which is all I'll reveal. If you have an interest in literary horror, you'll find this journey satisfying, if a little taxing on the eyes as Gaddis seems very unfamiliar, as so many postmodernists are, with the virtues ascribed to the 'return' and 'tab' keys. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,264,056 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2,910 in Humor About Law & Crime #15,216 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #16,678 in Classic Literature & Fiction | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 46 Reviews | ## Images ![Carpenter's Gothic (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/714vk2IuPWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Accessible Gaddis (Sort of) *by L***N on January 2, 2014* I admit it. I am a Gaddis addict who has read the Recognitions four times and JR every two or three years since its publication in 1986. Carpenter's Gothic is another masterpiece, not exactly easy but at least confined pretty much to a single language and words just about anyone can understand. This makes it an excellent place to start on Gaddis for those who may (understandably) be daunted by the longer books. Liz, a stunning redhead and post-debutante daughter of a corporate tycoon whose bribery scandal provoked suicide several years back, is being fleeced by the company pals of her father's, who are administering her father's estate in their own interest. She has a husband, Paul, a battered ex-infantry lieutenant, her deceased father's bagman, who married Liz for her dough and is now helplessly watching it vanish and trying feverishly and incompetently to establish himself as a public relations consultant to a cartoon backwoods evangelist. She has a brother, Billy, a prep school dropout who finds nothing worth doing and finally makes one pathetic and fateful effort in the wrong direction, and she is chanced upon by McCandless, a mysterious stranger, her landlord, who effortlessly seduces her and then tosses her aside for a chance to ride into town with the brother who just keeps showing up. Even Liz's only friend, another heiress trying her best to run through the dough left her by a despised aunt, calls Liz collect from Acapulco. Her life is one ridiculous situation after another, and then it ends, pointlessly, at age 33. McCandless, the landlord, is an initially interesting figure whose incessant smoking may offer something of a key to his real character. He serves as a kind of death impulse in the lives of the other characters, who are simply lost and doing their best with the very little with which they have to work. These others are all so inept that being unscrupulous doesn't even advance their agendas, and nothing really happens to any of them except a series of one off accidents. . Gaddis's persistent major theme is failure and Carpenter's Gothic represents failure on steroids. Nevertheless, as others have pointed out, the language is fantastic and the situations are hysterically funny. Optimists won't like the book much. They should try Dale Carnegie. He's good too, in his way. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Thinking Person's House of Horrors *by K***R on September 29, 2013* Taking place exclusively in the eponymous dwelling, CG is a long-winded and by turns creepy and satirical yarn told primarily through the eyes and thoughts of a psychologically, and literally, trapped woman. The book's arc, such as it is (Gaddis favors page-long soliloquy over driving narrative action) concerns said woman dealing with the rigors of living with an abusive, alcoholic husband whose ties to a wayward reverend have gotten him into a mess of trouble. Also worth noting are the woman's interactions with her new home's original owner, a mysterious figure who pops in and out to deliver cryptic messages, smoke incessantly, and rifle through an unsettling amount of ancient documents in an upstairs study. The woman, our hero, is quickly at her wits-end and is pushed even further into the all-consuming darkness of America past and present, in which themes of bigotry, sexual tension, addiction and other general nastiness come to the fore. Imagine, if you will, a very literary (and talky) version of the recent American Horror Story (season one, natch) and you'll have a pretty good idea of the goings-on in Gaddis' house of horrors. Linguistically, the book is a raw and circuitous machine, wherein phrases like 'paper tore' are repeated ad naseum, creating a patchwork effect that adds to the isolation and claustrophobia of the titular house and its effect on its captives. It is not only physically ensnaring, this locale, but verbally so as well, creating a sense of narrative dread within a narrative absent of physical push toward a satisfying climax. That is not to say things end without a certain level of change on display, which is all I'll reveal. If you have an interest in literary horror, you'll find this journey satisfying, if a little taxing on the eyes as Gaddis seems very unfamiliar, as so many postmodernists are, with the virtues ascribed to the 'return' and 'tab' keys. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ William Gaddis: America's Greatest Novelist? *by J***N on March 11, 1999* OK, maybe not, but certainly one of the five best in this century (though I'd be pulling teeth to make such a list). A satirist of the highest, Gaddis always wrote beyond himself, outside of rigid systems, with a quiet(though sometime shrill!) voice, and a fervor which can - and has! - awaken the American soul from its slumber, breath a new breath to festor a new life in it, which has been downed into cataplexy. Buy his books. ## Frequently Bought Together - Carpenter's Gothic (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) - Agape Agape (Penguin Classics) - The Recognitions (New York Review Books Classics) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ph/products/26721332-carpenters-gothic-classic-20th-century-penguin](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/26721332-carpenters-gothic-classic-20th-century-penguin) --- *Product available on Desertcart Philippines* *Store origin: PH* *Last updated: 2026-08-30*