Neverwhere
Neil Gaiman, 1996
Harper Prennial, 370
pgs.
Gaiman never caught my attention before,
even when I was in high school while everyone was busy reading his impressively
exhausting but incredibly well written comic "Sandman" I was
still getting into Bukowski (cause I
thought I was so tragically cool) But
recently-after much prodding from several people to get into the "Science
Fiction" genre post NaNoWriMo-a fan requested me to give his novels a try.
And, after swiping "Bad Omens" from a former lover, (and enjoying the
everloving shit out of it. Review to come.) I decided to give it the ol' college
try.
After much thought and consideration, I tried him out.
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that Gaiman's still not for me. Sorry folks!
Neverwhere is Gaiman's first novel about a Scottish man named Richard Meyhew (which hearkens me back to another famous protoganist aptly named Meyhew) who travels to London in order to make a life for himself, he finds himself in a less then amazing job at some sort of white tie law/executive firm, a flat in a normal part of town, and a beautiful, but vain fiancee named Jessica, who only truly cares about her career and image. Meanwhile, a pixie-ish little woman named Door (who can open imaginary and real doors with her magical powers.) is on the run from assassins who killed her family, she ends up trying desperately to search for help.
Worlds collide when Richard and Jessica, en route to a dinner they are running late for, finds bloody little Door lying in the middle of the street. Ever the good man that he is, he essentially tells Jessica to fuck off and brings Door back to his flat to help her. No good deed goes unpunished, however, when Richard is now tossed into the magical underworld of London Below, a place where London's homeless and vagrants reside, and nothing is what it truly seems. Now, they are in a desparite attempt to find out who is truly behind Door's family's death, and why.
Sounds like a fantastic plot. And it is! The first 50 pages really grabbed my attention and I kept reading further to find out more about London Below and the magical cast of supporting characters who are heavily sprinkled throughout. However, about halfway through the story, I started to lose interest. I felt like the story was getting stale and we were dragging our feet towards the end. Which felt a little lackluster and predictible to me. But don't let my bah-humbugness steer you away from this book. Word around the block is that this was Gaiman's first novel, so maybe not the best way to introduce me to his writing style, as his craft was more polished and professional by the time I got to Anansi Boys (Which I also recommend). Also, this book feels like it should be grouped into "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" genre because of the simplistic plot line and incrdibly detailed words and characters. Neverwhere and Hitchiker's are both firmly planted into Young Adult Sci-Fi. Where if you didn't read them when you were in your teens, it won't impact you as much when you're an adult.
Another thing I found disenteresting is the humor; I personally- as the case is with me and most British Enterainment- kept feeling like I'm missing a key part of the puzzle, or that I'm not 'in' on an inside joke the entire time. I even had to look up the “Mind the Gap” explaination to actually see if it was truly realistic or if Gaiman wrote it into the book for fun (The anouncemnt, not the creature). Maybe it's because I grew up American and enjoy things handed to me instead of – you know – thinking about it. Maybe it's because I have a Swedish and New England type of dark humor (It's all the snow and the dark, it gets to you after a while.) but I found the humor highbrow and generally dry.
After much thought and consideration, I tried him out.
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that Gaiman's still not for me. Sorry folks!
Neverwhere is Gaiman's first novel about a Scottish man named Richard Meyhew (which hearkens me back to another famous protoganist aptly named Meyhew) who travels to London in order to make a life for himself, he finds himself in a less then amazing job at some sort of white tie law/executive firm, a flat in a normal part of town, and a beautiful, but vain fiancee named Jessica, who only truly cares about her career and image. Meanwhile, a pixie-ish little woman named Door (who can open imaginary and real doors with her magical powers.) is on the run from assassins who killed her family, she ends up trying desperately to search for help.
Worlds collide when Richard and Jessica, en route to a dinner they are running late for, finds bloody little Door lying in the middle of the street. Ever the good man that he is, he essentially tells Jessica to fuck off and brings Door back to his flat to help her. No good deed goes unpunished, however, when Richard is now tossed into the magical underworld of London Below, a place where London's homeless and vagrants reside, and nothing is what it truly seems. Now, they are in a desparite attempt to find out who is truly behind Door's family's death, and why.
Sounds like a fantastic plot. And it is! The first 50 pages really grabbed my attention and I kept reading further to find out more about London Below and the magical cast of supporting characters who are heavily sprinkled throughout. However, about halfway through the story, I started to lose interest. I felt like the story was getting stale and we were dragging our feet towards the end. Which felt a little lackluster and predictible to me. But don't let my bah-humbugness steer you away from this book. Word around the block is that this was Gaiman's first novel, so maybe not the best way to introduce me to his writing style, as his craft was more polished and professional by the time I got to Anansi Boys (Which I also recommend). Also, this book feels like it should be grouped into "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" genre because of the simplistic plot line and incrdibly detailed words and characters. Neverwhere and Hitchiker's are both firmly planted into Young Adult Sci-Fi. Where if you didn't read them when you were in your teens, it won't impact you as much when you're an adult.
Another thing I found disenteresting is the humor; I personally- as the case is with me and most British Enterainment- kept feeling like I'm missing a key part of the puzzle, or that I'm not 'in' on an inside joke the entire time. I even had to look up the “Mind the Gap” explaination to actually see if it was truly realistic or if Gaiman wrote it into the book for fun (The anouncemnt, not the creature). Maybe it's because I grew up American and enjoy things handed to me instead of – you know – thinking about it. Maybe it's because I have a Swedish and New England type of dark humor (It's all the snow and the dark, it gets to you after a while.) but I found the humor highbrow and generally dry.
All in all, if you have teens/young
adults in your house and you want them to get interested into the world of
fantasy and science fiction, you needent look much further than Gaiman's work
(although this book is not for children as there is a shit ton of murder, some
sexual content very rare, like 2 scenes, and the occasional swear peppered in.)
Postscript - I was just now informed
that Gaiman has written some shows for the rebranded Dr. Who series (sigificant
other is a Whovian) MIND, FCUKING, BLOWN! So If you needed one more good reason
to go read this book, let this nugget of trivia be it.
Book Haiku:
Main character lost
In magical underworld
Main character lost
In magical underworld
Flat British humor
