A review by surelyinthefountain
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love Gaiman's prose in general, and I laughed quite a bit reading this -- guy's got a wry, dark sense of humor that really jives with me. That said, this is a 5 stars with an incredible amount of reservations. There's a scene about half way through the book --
Richard's ordeal
-- the metaphor is very well done, and the audio format, especially with the version where Gaiman is reading the book, brings it a kind of immediacy that is...very...emotionally hard to listen to, honestly.
The troll being dangled in front of him, knocked onto the tracks, while Richard pathetically scrambles after it all along -- how sometimes, just surviving in this world is a heroic undertaking and not trivial in the least
-- so much thematically to sink your teeth into here. I've got to adore this book just on the merits of this scene alone; it's incredibly powerful. That said, it's also very triggering re: suicidal ideation, making you doubt your reality, etc. -- especially so if you've ever experienced any kind of housing insecurity. I suggest approaching with caution if that's something you aren't in a good place for.
I'm also really iffy on how the women in this book are written. This is mostly a general vibe I get, but one specific thing that bothered me was that it's a little...troubling how we're given the impression early on Door is like, 14 or 15 or something, but we get occasional incongruous, weird moments where she's sexualized. I get that this is mostly done by bad guys or people with dementia, and I get we're supposed to find it weird. Still. I just get a weird vibe overall, that's all. Not enough fully formed thoughts on this to talk about it; just leaving a note.
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