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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
One of my co-worker's loaned me this short story collection after I loaned him Wicked-- due to the fact that this book contained 1 or 2 short stories that were also "twisted" versions of familiar childhood stories. It was the first time I had read anything by Gaiman and I really enjoyed the stories in this collection.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This is great! There's a wide selection of topics, but overall the feel of the book is a little dark. There are really great stories mixed in with so-so ones.
dark
medium-paced
I don't particularly enjoy short story collections as they tend to be a bit of a mixed bag and this was no different. Some were brilliant (Nicholas Was...) and others, like the one entirely about a man's penis, I did not like at all. Honestly what is it with this #menwriting.
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gaiman plays with a huge variety of styles in this short story collection.
Ok, so as with every collection, there were some stories I really liked (Chivalry, Troll Bridge, Apple), some that really creeped me out (Babycakes, Eaten), and some I really wish I knew the source material better (The White Road, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, One Life...). Even more varied than the genres were the writing styles--stylistic imitations, prose, free-form poems, and even a sestina (something I had promptly forgotten existed after high school English). All the stories were extremely well-written and thought-provoking, though I might skip some of the gorier ones on a re-read.
Ok, so as with every collection, there were some stories I really liked (Chivalry, Troll Bridge, Apple), some that really creeped me out (Babycakes, Eaten), and some I really wish I knew the source material better (The White Road, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, One Life...). Even more varied than the genres were the writing styles--stylistic imitations, prose, free-form poems, and even a sestina (something I had promptly forgotten existed after high school English). All the stories were extremely well-written and thought-provoking, though I might skip some of the gorier ones on a re-read.
Neil is just so relatable in that he’s a writer and has all of my writerly problems and feelings, which makes for some great quotes. There were a lot of good…I don’t know, galaxy brained (?) ideas throughout the book, which made the stories really fascinating and entertaining. However, some of the stories were kind of difficult to follow or seemed a bit redundant to me. Most of them were wonderful, though. Neil is very good at creating fluent images for readers, which I love. It’s also very satisfying to understand what he’s getting at, but I’m not gonna lie, the introduction was one of my favorite parts. There were just so many brilliant quotes.
This reminded me of Charles Bukowski and Oscar Wilde’s writing (and obviously Neil’s other works).
This reminded me of Charles Bukowski and Oscar Wilde’s writing (and obviously Neil’s other works).
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Some of the stories are better than others but worth the read.