Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
Reading a short story collections is like walking through a rain drenched street. You'll never know if its going to be a worthwhile experience or if you wish the sun is up and everything is dry around you.
Same goes with "Fragile Things" it has its wonderful moments and some stories that you wished Neil Gaiman should have just kept in his much talked about attic.
But, Good news is, In this latest short story collections from Neil Gaiman, it is obvious that the good to great short stories outnumbered the bad ones.
From the spine tingling "Feeders and Eaters" which will send scares to any reader, just the thought of having an elderly woman as a next door neighbor eating raw meat and cats is frightening enough and also wonderfully written by Gaiman in this story he said came from an old dream.
In a parallel world setting of a slightly changed streets of London, the world of Sherlock Holmes becomes the opposite of what it was in the "Study of Emerald", and a fitting homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece character creation of a great detective solving a crime. It's the first story of the book and mainly sets the bar of expectations of readers for the following stories.
My personal favorite i should say is "Harlequin Valentine" a twisted romantic tale that is recommended for multiple readings, written with such magical prose and character development.
"Monarch of the Glen" a novella which serves as a sequel to "American Gods" here you'll find Shadow two years after the events in "Gods" getting involved with another interesting Gaiman character creations "Mr. Smith" and "Mr. Alice".
In "Keepsakes and Treasures" the narrator details in cold blooded admission his growing up years and his experience hunting down four individuals who may have been his father and how he killed them in the process, the narrator which later turned out to be Mr Smith and how he became the right hand man of Mr. Alice.
The "Sunbird" is also one of my favorite, it tells the story of a club known as the Epicurean Club who shared the same passion of tasting and cooking every known specie on the planet until they realized they haven't tasted a bird called Sunbird which can only be found in Suntown in Cairo, Egypt..but what they found out was a reason why nobody has to eat the Sunbird ever.
"How to talk to Girls at The Parties" involves two coming of age men looking for a party they were invited to, only to end up in the wrong party inhabited by strange but human looking creatures from a totally different world.
"Goliath" inspired by the movie "The Matrix" tells the story of a man tasked to save the world, the real world i mean, not the dream world that he was used to. The last part although saddening shows him living the life he wanted, with a family, home, job only it was only in the dream world as in the real world he was just living the last 20 minutes of his life in a floating spacecraft drifting further into space.
"Closing Time" narrates an effective but mysterious and strange ghost story.
Other notable short stories includes "Bitter Grounds" "Other People" "October in the Chair", an unsolved disappearance in "The Facts in the case of the Departure of Miss Finch".
While the rest, don't worry its just a few, about 4-5 stories and 4 other short poems are just average. With "Diseasemaker's Croup" being the worst inclusion in this otherwise great short story collection.
Same goes with "Fragile Things" it has its wonderful moments and some stories that you wished Neil Gaiman should have just kept in his much talked about attic.
But, Good news is, In this latest short story collections from Neil Gaiman, it is obvious that the good to great short stories outnumbered the bad ones.
From the spine tingling "Feeders and Eaters" which will send scares to any reader, just the thought of having an elderly woman as a next door neighbor eating raw meat and cats is frightening enough and also wonderfully written by Gaiman in this story he said came from an old dream.
In a parallel world setting of a slightly changed streets of London, the world of Sherlock Holmes becomes the opposite of what it was in the "Study of Emerald", and a fitting homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece character creation of a great detective solving a crime. It's the first story of the book and mainly sets the bar of expectations of readers for the following stories.
My personal favorite i should say is "Harlequin Valentine" a twisted romantic tale that is recommended for multiple readings, written with such magical prose and character development.
"Monarch of the Glen" a novella which serves as a sequel to "American Gods" here you'll find Shadow two years after the events in "Gods" getting involved with another interesting Gaiman character creations "Mr. Smith" and "Mr. Alice".
In "Keepsakes and Treasures" the narrator details in cold blooded admission his growing up years and his experience hunting down four individuals who may have been his father and how he killed them in the process, the narrator which later turned out to be Mr Smith and how he became the right hand man of Mr. Alice.
The "Sunbird" is also one of my favorite, it tells the story of a club known as the Epicurean Club who shared the same passion of tasting and cooking every known specie on the planet until they realized they haven't tasted a bird called Sunbird which can only be found in Suntown in Cairo, Egypt..but what they found out was a reason why nobody has to eat the Sunbird ever.
"How to talk to Girls at The Parties" involves two coming of age men looking for a party they were invited to, only to end up in the wrong party inhabited by strange but human looking creatures from a totally different world.
"Goliath" inspired by the movie "The Matrix" tells the story of a man tasked to save the world, the real world i mean, not the dream world that he was used to. The last part although saddening shows him living the life he wanted, with a family, home, job only it was only in the dream world as in the real world he was just living the last 20 minutes of his life in a floating spacecraft drifting further into space.
"Closing Time" narrates an effective but mysterious and strange ghost story.
Other notable short stories includes "Bitter Grounds" "Other People" "October in the Chair", an unsolved disappearance in "The Facts in the case of the Departure of Miss Finch".
While the rest, don't worry its just a few, about 4-5 stories and 4 other short poems are just average. With "Diseasemaker's Croup" being the worst inclusion in this otherwise great short story collection.
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