Pajiba

Yeah, not a memorable book in the best sense. It's like Gaiman was mentally stuck between his authorial worlds. Should it be a regular fantasy book? Geared toward teenagers? A kid's book? It didn't feel firm to me, either.

"Neverwhere" is a much better example of two worlds separated by a paper thin boundary. It would be an absolutely outstanding movie in the right han---what's that? Adapted from a BBC series you say?

*googling*

*punches messenger in the face*

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS!?!?!?

I think most of what you didn't like were, in fact, the main points of the book. It isn't so much that he didn't have time to flesh them out, or rushed past ideas he starts with. He was telling a very simple story about a silly boy who falls in love with a girl and grows up. The world that they live in is a deep, rich place, and alot is going on there, some of which intrudes into their lives, but those aren't the story he's telling. I also loved the ending and very much disliked the movie, which I thought was just plain silly, though I suppose those are matters of taste.

I read this a while ago, after seeing the film, but I have no memory of what I thought about it. I think I'll have to give it another go.

I did really enjoy the film though, I thought it was great fun.

I think you walked in expecting a modern fantasy novel, and therefore missed the point. Modern fantasy explains. They learned all the wrong lessons from Tolkien's incredibly well-crafted world.

Older styles have mystery and strange, inexplicable magicks. Odd things happen simply because Faerie is different from Earth, and authors didn't have the obsessive need to explain why to their readers. It is simply taken as true that creatures who aren't human might have non-human motivations and behaviors.

The world is different in both subtle and major ways. It's supposed to make you a little uncomfortable, because that world would be a little uncomfortable.

He wrote a fairy story, plain and simple, in the style of older English fantasy, like Dunsany or Hodgson. The full title actually is pretty explicit about this: Stardust (Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie). The conflicts tend to be resolved by fairy tale logic rather than by force, Faerie is mysterious and strange, and it is no more happy a place than our world, just more fantastic.

I too was a little disappointed by the book, but I saw the movie before reading. The movie just felt more thought out to me, especially the parts that take place on the air ship.

Neverwhere was a great book as well, and if you want humor, armageddon, an angel that isn't exactly good and a demon that isn't exactly evil, read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Thanks to Carrie and BWeaves.

I woke up with a serious case of bitchface and that comment had me fired up like a mofo.

Who knew the spambots were so literate?

Nicole, I'm bringing the bitchface for both of us.

MB, comments like that are why I have been lurking for like eight fucking years and have maybe posted 4 comments ever. Cannonball Read has finally been the catalyst to get me to post instead of standing outside in the bushes wondering why nobody ever invites me to the party. Why do you think so many people lurk and never post? Because when you finally do, your comments are either ignored or mocked. I thought the thread from the other day was a great way to get some of us lurkers out of hiding.

FyreHaar wrote an honest, thoughtful review of the book he/she read, and it was written for a blog post. This isn't AP fucking English and we aren't being graded. I can handle constructive criticism, but that wasn't constructive. Just mean.

Believe it or not, we are one fucking huge family of weirdos. Some of us are far weirder than others, and I think a lot of us are here because it is hard to find people with similar tastes, ideals, and worship of Joss Whedon & Ryan Renolds in the places where we live. I have come to think that a lot of you are my friends and family, even if you don't know who the hell I am. I cried like a fucking baby the day that AlabamaPink died, and I have been reading this site since before the government took it over. It's time for the lurkers to de-lurk on mass. I am posting on every article from now on. It may be two days after the article is posted, but I will be commenting, even if it is just to say that I am here, I am one of you.

And don't piss me off right now. I play Roller Derby and we are in the off-season, and I am just itching to give someone a good smackdown, even if it is just a verbal one.

You should probably know that this book is best read in it's graphic novel form with illustrations by Charles Vess.

http://www.amazon.com/Neil-Gaiman-Charles-Vess-Stardust/dp/1563894319

Gaiman started off as a comicbook writer, his earlier writing style tends to not feel fleshed out because he lets the artist fill in a lot of the details.

I was of the read the book first, wasn't keen on the movie crowd. I haven't revisited either in a while so maybe one is due.....

I do agree the others who've recommended Neverwhere as a far superior book and quite enjoyed the series (shoddy production values included) which, for Peep Show and The Thick Of It fans, has both Johnson (from the former) and the great Malcolm Tucker (from the latter) in pivotal roles.

I read the book before seeing the movie, and to be honest I didn't really like the movie. It was Ok in a Brothers Grimm kind of way, but Gaiman's novel had a sweetness to it that i thought was lacking in the movie. I really liked this book, but maybe it's not for everyone. i don't know. I thought that the bitter-sweet ending was powerful in a way that the movie didn't really have.

I read it after seeing a preview for the movie, but then didn't see the movie until much later so neither one were really ruined for me, though I preferred the ending in the novel - I loved how there wasn't a need for a huge grand finale which is such a cliche.
However, I was disappointed with the novel. It was my first Gamain and after hearing all the raves about him, I definitely did not get it. Since I figured maybe it was me, I also tried American Gods and Neverwhere, which totally converted me.

Stardust is one of the last Gaiman novels I have yet to read. I'm currently about halfway through American Gods. While I love the movie Stardust, I'm certain I'll love the book as well. And, I keep picturing Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson as Shadow! Thank you for the review!

Agreeing with everyone who read the book first and found the movie lacking. DITTO. I have nothing else to add, you have all covered it already.

I'm sadly unfamiliar with the book/film, but it seems like the similar divide that existed in the two versions of The Princess Bride--if the book was more caustic, then ultimately bleak in its ending than Gaiman's is 'bittersweet'.

I hear you. I'm not much for the Pajiba Pet Obsessions either, and my unedited ramblings are more disjointed and uninvited than fan-breeding or sexy (will no one weep for the prudes)? I don't know where people get the time to comment as often as they do--I'm more of the 'ten minute keyboard blackout' type--so a lot of the special features for the 'Pajiba Community' kind of come and go before I have noticed, but I'm kind of socially lazy, so maybe it's a non-starter. And I'll be frank: I can't be bothered with the slang or deities. No hatred here, just my own little way. Aren't I fun?

I started reading the site about four years ago, lurked for a bit, and posted under a different name at the time. I remember the big government blackout, the 'Weekly Trade Round-Up' (itemized by number), Jeremy C. Fox, THE WICKER MAN sandy vagina flame war, and others who weren't so lucky. I love the site and comments, but am about as likely to scale to the top of the commenter ranks here as I am to grow another toe. Please, drown out my insanity with yours, friends.

Excellent light and bittersweet tale. Seems like this review is mostly about expectations, rather than a stand-alone opinion of the book.

For a very late dip back into the thread...

A lot of expectations here that Gaiman should have "Fleshed out the world" and so on. That is exactly the problem. "Fleshed out" worlds lack mystery. If you know what's over the horizon, it's not a new frontier anymore. If you allow your imagination to kick in, you'll fill those gaps with something that will feel eminently more fantastic to you than anything some writer could have sketched in there.

Fairy tales, and pre-Tolkien fantasy in general, are all about mystery. The world is largely an unknown. Things happen that are beyond our understanding.

That is the way the world was. Actually, that's the way the world is, but science has given us just enough information that we think we understand the world, since we can, in fact, explain most of what we see, day-to-day.

I find great irony in the fact that I'm one of the only scientists around here, but I'm the one lamenting the loss of mystery.

to answer a whole lot of comments.

-I think I was pretty upfront that my review was very much based on my expectations as set by the movie.

-I love old school fairy tales with bleeding fingers and boys who never come back from running with the wolves and evil sisters who carve their feet down to fit into shoes. No joke. I think this being an illustrated story first makes a whole lot of sense and thinking of the writing style as an adaptation of a graphic novel brings into a much more coherent light.

-Commander Strikeher, MB, Nicole, BWeaves and all my other homies, thanks for the bitchface!!! you are all the reason I love Pajiba.

Pink forever!

I'm in the same situation. I watched the movie first, and it was great. The book, while at least different than the movie, was disappointing after the movie :(