Highly Recommended Reading: Neil Gaiman's 'Fragile Things'

Filed by: Darren on June 7, 2007 at 7:36
Filed In: Books

I thoroughly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's latest collection of short stories (plus one novella, and a smattering of poetry), Fragile Things - Short Fictions and Wonders, as I rather suspected I would.

Given the sheer variety and frequency of Gaiman's major projects (novels, comic series, movies, theatre, audio performances, you name it...) it's almost a surprise to find that he actually has time to sit down and put pen to paper on a short story these days; but I'm very glad that he does, because the results rarely disappoint. It does, however, mean that his collections (or miscellanies) are rather few and far-between; there are but two of them, in fact. The first, Angels and Visitations (later re-released in an expanded edition as Smoke and Mirrors, of course) was published by Dreamhaven back in 1993, so it's been quite a wait for this, his second.

Well worth waiting for, though. I picked up Fragile Things because I was in the mood for something wonderful, and wonder is what I got. From the opening of the clever and charming Doylesque-Lovecraftian collusion 'A Study in Emerald' through to the conclusion of the moral and mythic novella 'The Monarch of the Glen' - which tells the tale of Shadow, a couple of years after the unfolding of events in Amercian Gods - I think I can honestly say that there wasn't single piece in Fragile Things that I didn't enjoy.

Particular favourites though, were 'The problem of Susan', 'Inventing Aladdin' and 'Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire' and the aforementioned 'A Study in Emerald'. I think I've always been drawn to the way that Gaiman tells the stories within stories, or the stories behind the well-known stories; this for me was the essence of The Sandman and has been Gaiman's best riff ever since; one that he continued to play on to great effect in American Gods (and, as I understand it, Anansi Boys, although I haven't had the time to appreciate that one just yet).

Would the non Gaiman-acolyte gain as much from this collection? I think so. It's a rich and varied assortment of interesting words put together in all sorts of entertaining, intriguing, amusing, evocative and wonderful (and wonder-full) ways. What's not to like?

Author info: www.neilgaiman.com
Ordering info: Amazon
Publication info: April 5th (pb edtn), Headline Review (UK)

Filed on: June 7, 2007
Filed under: Books
Tagged with: Neil-Gaiman | recommended-reading |

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6 Responses to 'Highly Recommended Reading: Neil Gaiman's 'Fragile Things''

Iain on June 7th, 2007 11:34 am

What took you so long to get to it? Definitely one of my favourite single author collections of recent years.
Ariel on June 7th, 2007 11:50 am

Partly the tyranny of the 'to-be-read' pile, partly because I knew I was going to love it, so I wanted to save it for when I needed cheering up... :)
Ed on June 7th, 2007 8:14 pm

"Would the non Gaiman-acolyte gain as much from this collection?"

He/she might just do. I read Smoke and Mirrors for my first Gaiman back in March and it impressed me enough to want to check out his other prose. And since I enjoyed Smoke... so much I thought I better get a copy of Fragile Things as well, though like yourself the overwhelming "to read" pile keeps getting in the way.
Ariel on June 8th, 2007 7:31 am

Excellent, very glad to hear it. What was your favourite piece in Smoke and Mirrors mate?
Ed on June 8th, 2007 9:39 pm

Babycakes sticks in the mind. Short, to the point, and appeals to my dark sense of humour while highlighting a serious issue. And it's even better when Neil reads it.
Ariel on June 11th, 2007 7:43 am

Yeah, that's something I've noticed in general. Hearing an author read some of their own work can really help with the appreciation of the rest of their material.