Pajiba

OK, I usually try to avoid hijacking Cannonball Read reviews with Book Club updates because I don't want to take distract from the book & reviewer at hand, but:

The Pajiba Book Club March selection will be The Graveyard Book by Mr. Neil Gaiman. And I'm glad that Admin pointed out the parallels between Neverwhere and Alice in Wonderland because The Graveyard Book is a retelling of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. There will be a full post dedicated to previewing the Book Club selection later, but, you know, since we are already talkin' Gaiman I figured I'd put it out there.

I haven't read Neverwhere but enjoyed other Gaiman books so will probably pick it up. I'm not overly familiar with Alice (other than the basic gist, I've never read the book or been that bothered by it) so I think I'll be ok there.

And I'll try and get a copy of The Graveyard book for the next book club.

I’ve read three of his books now; Good Omens, American Gods and now Neverwhere. I really enjoyed American Gods but, upon the completion of the other two, I found myself with a feeling of “well that was…alright.”

Since I know many of the Pajibans might zero in on that, I just wanted to say I can totally feel you on that. I like Gaiman, but of the ones I've read, they have either brought out a "oh my God, I love it" or "okay, that was good and all, but what's the big deal?" reaction. For me, Stardust and Good Omens were the first I read, and while I thought they were funny, I wasn't exactly convinced. On the other hand, I loved Neverwhere and Anansi Boys, and while I liked American Gods, I don't think I liked it quite as much as many other people on this site. It was still very good.

As I said, I actually really liked Neverwhere but I love London (I've only been twice and would love to go back) so that was definitely a major selling point, and I also liked all the underground stops and references - I have a shot glass that says "Mind the Gap" which I actually bought on my second visit after I'd read this novel.

There was a British TV mini-series of Neverwhere.
It starred that guy who looks like Paul McCartney who played Paul McCartney in "Back Beat".
It might have been good except the budget appeared to be about $500.

If I remember correctly, the book came after the series, and it suffers for it. I would love to see the series remade with a Real Budget, but I'm very meh about the book itself. Door is a blank character in the book, and she's not all that lively in the series, either, but at least she's less of an empty canvas.

That's an excellent point, Wednesday. It's almost like she's a Macguffin.

When is the book club date again Yossarian? I've actually got The Graveyard Book as my daughter won it at a Halloween party at the bookstore. Yes, I raise nerds and I'm proud of it.

Also, since there has been mention of Good Omens: I left my copy on the kitchen table one day when my Mother-in-law was babysitting so she decided to begin reading it. My Mother-in-law is a pretty hardcore Catholic. Her reaction: "I don't think that's exactly how it goes." I laughed. Hard.

Gaiman is a shitty adult novelist. His children's works are alright and some of his comic book work is sublime, but I cannot abide either American Gods or Neverwhere, so no, you're not alone, even from the geek contingent.

That said, Good Omens is a collaboration with Terry Pratchett, and if you're at all familiar with either author's style, you will easily recognize Pratchett as either the predominant influence or the connecting voice. If you don't like Discworld, you may not like Good Omens, but if you like American Gods, you probably don't like Good Omens.

I LOOOOOVE Neverwhere! Though I don't know if it's for the story or just the characters. I've never heard of The Graveyard Book, is it more recent? And as a fan of Gaiman's and Pajibans, when is everyone reading it? I'd like to play, too!

...Damn it, now I can't decide whether to watch the old BBC Neverwhere series or to just eat some really rare porcelain.

Great review admin. I haven't read Gaiman yet, but have American Gods on the shelf as it was recommended as a good start.

I was a big Sandman fan, then read Neverwhere when it first came out, and really loved it, but I recognize that it is not as fully fleshed out as it could be. I felt like he was writing the plot but maybe needed help with the drawings, so to speak. I've re-read it a few times since, and I still really like it.

Great review, Admin. I'm not a big Alice in Wonderland fan, so I didn't get the clear parallel at all.

Gaiman's other books: Stardust was a nice fairytale, American Gods was good but heavy-handed, and Anansi Boys was fun. I'm not going to automatically buy any new novels, though. Good Omens I don't really count as his, as it was a collabo with Pratchett clearly holding the reins.

I really like Neverwhere, but like Jen K it's partly tied up in my affection for London. I read the novel again while I lived there and loved it even more. I would always think of Neverwhere when I heard "Mind the gap".

I'm going to go against the grain.

OK, one caveat: Sandman is on a league by itself so I won't count it.

1. Good Omens
2. Coraline
3. Stardust
4. Anansi Boys
5. American Gods
6. Neverwhere

Good Omens is more than alright. And to be fair, he didnt write it alone so what you may have reacted against isn't necassarily one writer but Gilliam and Sir Pratchett. Oh Terry *sigh*

1. Sandman
2 Smoke and Mirrors (esp. "Troll Bridge" which breaks my heart--so I "teach it" in fiction workshop)
3. American gods
4. Stardust
5. Neverwhere
6. Good omens
7. Fragile Things
6 Coraline

Haven't read the Graveyard book yet.

Tried and couldn't start Anansi Boys

First thing I ever read of Gaiman's--even before Sandman, was Don't Panic, a fanboy book about HGTTG.

This is my absolute favorite book. Ever.
That is all.

Oddly, I had just finished re-reading Neverwhere about twenty minutes before bumping into this review. Plot schmot, say I. Gaiman's aware of his habit of plot-cloning in his own works, even linked from his blog once to a site that pointed out, more wittily than I am, that all his plots boiled down to "average person discovers magical world next door to our own." However, he does such different things with that essential displacement that for me, the Alice comparison doesn't hold up more than superficially. There are a lot of rabbit holes in Gaiman's writing, but each world has rules and an internal logic that always makes for a sound story, unlike Lewis Carroll's shotgun approach to the crazy.

Stardust's tone & atmosphere are as distinctly different from Neverwhere as each is from American Gods, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, or Good Omens. Different rabbit holes, different journeys, different symbolism, context, different purpose, different storytelling. Richard Mayhew is nothing like Shadow, for instance, who's nothing like Coraline: their worlds are dangerous or mundane in believable, structured, specific ways that match only their own stories.

I see Neverwhere as primarily a paean to London itself: its architecture, lovely (St Paul's) or heinous (Centre Point!!), its history, from Romans to Victorians, its cosmopolitan jewels like the British Museum and its decidedly mundane sewer system. Putting the Floating Market in Harrod's, making real Black Friars out of Blackfriars Station, naming one character Old Bailey--he's enjoying playing with the language of the town, inverting or embellishing places that are really just street signs now, and adding weight and personality to London's ancient/modern culture soup: Gap monsters, killing fogs, cups of tea. I don't know if Gaiman loves London the way Mark Helprin loves New York (Winter's Tale), but I can't see the plot of this book as anything else but a canvas he paints London on.