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A review by mindmouthsoul
Fragile Things: Short Fictions & Wonders by Neil Gaiman
5.0
My second Gaiman Collection of Short Stories!
I've read a couple of reviews which weren't as positive which I can understand a bit, this collection was a bit more difficult to "get into" than Smoke & Mirrors (in my eyes the better of the 2 collections) but nontheless, for me as a huge Gaiman fan, it was superb (hence the 5 star rating - I'm also a bit sorry, I can't really stay that objective when its about Gaiman)
One gets the feeling while reading that all the stories which didn't quite fit into "Smoke & Mirrors" ended up in here, and that might be true, so versatile are the different stories and genres they fit into.
One of my favourites was DEFINITELY "A Study In Emerald", as a huge Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Dolye) fan, as well as a huge H.P.Lovecraft fan, I was very excited about this story.
It does at times seem a bit much like a cheap copy of the typical Doyle style, but it also has its typical Gaiman charme, so I could forgive that, and of course it has the - also typical - Gaiman twist (which is also a very Lovecraft-y thing, too, btw)! A very enjoyable story indeed and excellent to begin the book with.
"October In The Chair" was excellent! I believe it would be good as a children's story actually! I love the way the seasons are described sitting around the fire, telling stories, I shut my eyes after reading the introduction and could vividly imagine the little meeting taking place (a quality in Gaiman stories I cherish maybe the most, describing just enough to give the imaginer the right direction for the imagination...). I am very fond of Gaiman's "stories inside stories"-stories (I'm sure there's a name for this kind of thing but it has slipped my mind momentarily), this being one of those.
I read "Forbidden Brides Of The Faceless Slaves In The Secret House Of The Night Of Dread Desire" on my way home after uni, on the train, which was stuffed with people due to rush hour. It is a very short short-story (17 and-a-half pages) and it had just the right length for that late trip home I thought, but I hadn't expected it to make me smirk, smile, giggle and laugh about it as much as it did, subsequently causing my fellow travlers to shoot me annoyed glances.
In fact, I don't think I've ever really read a Gaiman story which made me laugh. If you want to start with something a bit light-hearted, start with this story.
"Closing Time" is another one of these "stories-in-a-story" stories.
A ghost story and a very nice one too.
"Bitter Grounds" had a weird aftertaste to it, mainly because in it both New Orleans (nearly destroyed a few years ago by Hurricane Katrina) and Haiti (pretty much destroyed by an earthquake a few days ago) are mentioned. It was kind of spooky, and I'm not usually spooked, if ever, by such strange coincidences.
Reading "Harlequin Valentine" made me very interested in buying the graphic novel which I found in a shop recently. I loved the way Harlequin was described, being fed tiny bits of information to add to the picture of him (it?) every couple sentences until just before the story ended you had this "AH!" moment. I remember, as a child I had a book of stories adapted into ballets and there was the story about Pierrot, or Harlequin for that matter, I can't remember, really, but reading "Harlequin Valentine" reminded me of that book and now I wish I knew where I had it so I could look that story up.
I find "The Problem Of Susan" is a story most people have a problem with who dislike "Fragile Things" and I must admit, it is very weird. It is a "The Witch And The Wardrobe" story and I was excited to read it but must say I was a bit disappointed. The idea behind the actual "problem" of Susan was a good one, but I think the story was too short to really go into that matter properly. It would have needed an extra 10-20 pages, probably, to get rid of what it is that so many people dislike about the story, but I couldn't tell you really what it is that is missing, it is just this notion I have "this story needed to be longer"...
"Feeders And Eaters" was a very uncomfortable read. Right from the beginning, the title even, I was sure it will be a story where I just HAVE to squirm in my seat a bit. Its not very explicit really, not gorey or anything, but it is JUST enough to make me feel a bit weird in my own skin.
"Goliath" is Gaimans contribution to the Matrix world. If you've seen the 3 movies and The Animatrix as well you might have your difficulties with this story because it doesn't fit the general idea of The Matrix exactly, but if you're open to other interpretations etc, this is a very nice story.
I think, after "A Study In Emerald", "Sunbird" is maybe my favourite story of the collection. It is a typically weird Gaiman idea, something that doesn't always really make sense, turned into a lovely story about a weird, exlusive, old gastronomical club, on their neverending quest to find new things to eat - with a twist (of course)!
SO, I havn't written something to every story in the book, but to the ones I enjoyed reading the most, regardless of if I ended up liking or hating the story.
A must-have for every true Gaiman fan, but definitely not something a Gamian "newbie" should start off with.
I've read a couple of reviews which weren't as positive which I can understand a bit, this collection was a bit more difficult to "get into" than Smoke & Mirrors (in my eyes the better of the 2 collections) but nontheless, for me as a huge Gaiman fan, it was superb (hence the 5 star rating - I'm also a bit sorry, I can't really stay that objective when its about Gaiman)
One gets the feeling while reading that all the stories which didn't quite fit into "Smoke & Mirrors" ended up in here, and that might be true, so versatile are the different stories and genres they fit into.
One of my favourites was DEFINITELY "A Study In Emerald", as a huge Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Dolye) fan, as well as a huge H.P.Lovecraft fan, I was very excited about this story.
It does at times seem a bit much like a cheap copy of the typical Doyle style, but it also has its typical Gaiman charme, so I could forgive that, and of course it has the - also typical - Gaiman twist (which is also a very Lovecraft-y thing, too, btw)! A very enjoyable story indeed and excellent to begin the book with.
"October In The Chair" was excellent! I believe it would be good as a children's story actually! I love the way the seasons are described sitting around the fire, telling stories, I shut my eyes after reading the introduction and could vividly imagine the little meeting taking place (a quality in Gaiman stories I cherish maybe the most, describing just enough to give the imaginer the right direction for the imagination...). I am very fond of Gaiman's "stories inside stories"-stories (I'm sure there's a name for this kind of thing but it has slipped my mind momentarily), this being one of those.
I read "Forbidden Brides Of The Faceless Slaves In The Secret House Of The Night Of Dread Desire" on my way home after uni, on the train, which was stuffed with people due to rush hour. It is a very short short-story (17 and-a-half pages) and it had just the right length for that late trip home I thought, but I hadn't expected it to make me smirk, smile, giggle and laugh about it as much as it did, subsequently causing my fellow travlers to shoot me annoyed glances.
In fact, I don't think I've ever really read a Gaiman story which made me laugh. If you want to start with something a bit light-hearted, start with this story.
"Closing Time" is another one of these "stories-in-a-story" stories.
A ghost story and a very nice one too.
"Bitter Grounds" had a weird aftertaste to it, mainly because in it both New Orleans (nearly destroyed a few years ago by Hurricane Katrina) and Haiti (pretty much destroyed by an earthquake a few days ago) are mentioned. It was kind of spooky, and I'm not usually spooked, if ever, by such strange coincidences.
Reading "Harlequin Valentine" made me very interested in buying the graphic novel which I found in a shop recently. I loved the way Harlequin was described, being fed tiny bits of information to add to the picture of him (it?) every couple sentences until just before the story ended you had this "AH!" moment. I remember, as a child I had a book of stories adapted into ballets and there was the story about Pierrot, or Harlequin for that matter, I can't remember, really, but reading "Harlequin Valentine" reminded me of that book and now I wish I knew where I had it so I could look that story up.
I find "The Problem Of Susan" is a story most people have a problem with who dislike "Fragile Things" and I must admit, it is very weird. It is a "The Witch And The Wardrobe" story and I was excited to read it but must say I was a bit disappointed. The idea behind the actual "problem" of Susan was a good one, but I think the story was too short to really go into that matter properly. It would have needed an extra 10-20 pages, probably, to get rid of what it is that so many people dislike about the story, but I couldn't tell you really what it is that is missing, it is just this notion I have "this story needed to be longer"...
"Feeders And Eaters" was a very uncomfortable read. Right from the beginning, the title even, I was sure it will be a story where I just HAVE to squirm in my seat a bit. Its not very explicit really, not gorey or anything, but it is JUST enough to make me feel a bit weird in my own skin.
"Goliath" is Gaimans contribution to the Matrix world. If you've seen the 3 movies and The Animatrix as well you might have your difficulties with this story because it doesn't fit the general idea of The Matrix exactly, but if you're open to other interpretations etc, this is a very nice story.
I think, after "A Study In Emerald", "Sunbird" is maybe my favourite story of the collection. It is a typically weird Gaiman idea, something that doesn't always really make sense, turned into a lovely story about a weird, exlusive, old gastronomical club, on their neverending quest to find new things to eat - with a twist (of course)!
SO, I havn't written something to every story in the book, but to the ones I enjoyed reading the most, regardless of if I ended up liking or hating the story.
A must-have for every true Gaiman fan, but definitely not something a Gamian "newbie" should start off with.