Fragile Things: Short Fictions And Wonders (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
’We owe it to each other to tell stories’For years I’ve heard the name Neil Gaiman passed about, weighted with heavy praise, and have always promised myself to read him. Earlier this fall, after hearing him speak on NPR, I sat down with a copy of Coraline, and hungrily read it in one sitting. Despite the novel being intended for an audience much greener than I, I couldn’t help but be hypnotized by the charismatic voice and magical delivery and I renewed my promise to return to this author as soon as possible. More recently, although I was happily buried in a pile of Christmas reading, I purchased his second collection of short fictions, Fragile Things, to revisit this infectious voice and break away from heavier reading into his eerie landscapes. Simply put, this collection was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Filled with many of his Locus award winners, and his Hugo winner, this collection brings many of Gaiman’s works, most of them scattered about in various anthologies, together in one binding. All of the signature excellence with which Gaiman has rightly built his widespread fan-base is present to prove that he is equally wonderful with his short game as he is in novel form and to tell stories which will send shivers down the spines of readers of all ages.There is a vigorous charm about the writing. He lures the reader with lush, simple sentences, which are easy on the eyes, but commanding none-the-less. Once he has drawn you in, cozying up with the reader with a bit of background, the efficacious flow of his phrasing pulls the reader along through the lucid visions of his spectral creations at high speeds in an experience more akin to a thrill ride than just typeface on a page. While Gaiman’s writing isn’t extravagant, the sleek simplicity of it makes it effective to captivate the minds of both the young and old alike. I especially enjoyed Gaiman’s way of affecting a sense of a ‘story within a story’ where he puts near equal emphasis in the context in which the story is told as in the actual tale much like Henry James does in The Turn of the Screw, or Nikolai Gogol does to exemplify the oral tradition of storytelling. This technique is most uniquely present in October in the Chair, which earned the 2003 Locus award for Best Short Story, where the 12 months, each personified in a comical fashion, are seated around a campfire and listen to October tell a chilling tale about a young runaway and his nighttime engagements with the ghost of a dead boy. This helps highlight Gaiman’s pervasive idea of the power stories hold while also allowing him to bring the reader into the story at a safe distance before shocking them. This also allows the author to add a touch of autobiography, as is the case in Closing Time, where he admits that more of the story is ripped from reality than he would like to admit.These stories are just a flat out good time. From aliens to ghost and vampires, Sherlock Holmes and even into the Matrix, these stories will delight and frighten, which brought to mind my childhood of hiding beneath the sheets reading Steven King’s short stories far past bedtime. There is a compelling wit and humor to these tales, many of which reside just on the outskirts of any sense of conclusion, using the classic horror device of allowing the imagination to run wild and fill in the cracks. In stories such as Feeders and Eaters, we never learn the grisly details of exactly why the man has fallen in on himself, but there is enough horrific background to allow for creativity to connect the last few dots. Sometimes the ‘unsaid’ can be mightier than the ‘said’, and the emotion of fear overrides the physical object of terror. Gaiman is also a master at the twist, such as the Hugo winning A Study in Emerald, his Sherlock Holmes A Study in Scarlet inspired tale, which he mixed with a shot of H.P. Lovecraft. As the reader reaches the conclusion they will notice, if they are versed in Holmes lore a bit, an alternate reality that goes beyond the sci-fi elements. The most staggering twist is contained in the very short yet very disturbing Other People, which I would label one of the ‘must reads’ of this collection. A few other points of interest are the short pieces written to accompany a Tori Amos tour book that each reflect a personality from various songs, and a novella dealing with Shadow, the lead character fro Gaiman's American Gods.While many of these stories are first rate, this collection does fall into a few pitfalls that comes with the territory of simply rounding up anthologized stories, as there is a sense of unevenness and a fair share of filler. Some of the prose poems also seem to be placed in here just because and do not have the same impact as many of his stories, however Gaiman admits in the introduction that he originally did not intend for any of the poetry to be included. That said, Instructions, a poem that illustrates the clichés of fairytales in the manner of laying out ground-rules for what to do should one find themselves in a fairytale, is highly creative and one of my favorite pieces here. There are a few others that bring about a smile, although the stories are the real meat of the collection. A few of the stories can be shrugged off as well, but do not be discouraged as there is an abundance of juicy tales. The introduction itself is just as enjoyable as the rest of the stories; the readers get a glimpse into the author’s creative process as he describes some behind the scenes tidbits of each story. It is always fascinating for me to experience the author beyond the romanticized perception of an author, and here you can see Gaiman as the human being, writing stories in hotels rooms, airports, or in his living room as his children run about. He puts the stories into the context of his own life, which makes them seem all the more personal.Storytelling is of major importance to Neil Gaiman. In a recent NPR interview with Gaiman, he stated that his enjoyment in writing children’s fiction stems from a belief that it is the most influential. This is apparent in The Problem of Susan when Greta says that her interest in children’s fiction is because ’they seemed the books that were most important to me. The ones that mattered.’. Gaiman stated that the books we read in our childhood always reside in our hearts and help shape who we are, and also enjoying fiction at a young age helps ensure we continue to pursue literature throughout our lives. He said that Coraline is one of his favorites since many people come to him with stories of how when they were younger and faced with problems, they would remember how brave Coraline was and attempt to emulate this. He said that he began writing children’s fiction after a visit to the library in search of scary stories aimed at 5 year olds, his daughters age at the time, brought only concerned looks and no books. He set out to rectify this, and the world of books is a better place for it. The Problem of Susan briefly discusses a history of children’s fiction, moving from books where children were just miniature adults to ones that are more ‘pure’ and ‘sanctimonious’, and dealt with issues that befall children in the way they perceive and react to them. He shows how that pure, innocent period of growth is essential before they reach the pornography and violence that befalls adulthood. His method of doing so envisions a very different view of the Lion and White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia, one that won’t soon be forgotten. The poem Locks is another place where Gaiman stresses the beauty of childhood innocence in stories, and the function of storytelling being passed through generations. The importance of storytelling is also a major theme in The Invention of Aladdin, where stories can be a tool in protecting ones own life.Fragile Things is an excellent choice for all readers. It will shock, terrify and even make you laugh across a broad range of stories and poems. I am very glad I picked this up and I will certainly be returning to the twisted mind of Neil Gaiman very soon, I suggest you do as well. He seems to be always eager to tell a story and this is probably the closest thing to climbing up on his knee and hearing him recite one of his magical tales. I hope he has a big enough knee for all of us.4/5
Unfortunately, I picked up The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making in the middle of reading this collection, and it threw Gaiman's shortcomings and my reactions into sharp relief. Gaiman's clever, no doubt. But this is a mostly almost-horror collection of short story ideas rendered in a not particularly clever way, and I often had the feeling I was reading bits and pieces of autobiography tucked into larger tales. Luckily, a pleasant side effect was a coveted spot on Richard's RaR-TaG's list (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...). In the spirit of mild self-immolation, I plowed my way through in bits and pieces over perhaps two weeks--okay, now it's more like four--never able to take more than a story or two at a time. Here's what I think: Gaiman is successful because he is popular and slightly pushes boundaries in a currently fashionable, ie. noir way. Occasionally he does lovely things with words and had fabulous ideas, and I hear he's a very nice guy. However, for me, his writing is very uneven, and feels like it would benefit from longer incubation, and perhaps closer affinity with whatever genre he prefers. I'm not a horror fan, but so many of his short stories seem to delight in twists, and I'm not just referring to the surprise ending.'A Study in Emerald' is perhaps one of the most enjoyable stories, a riff on Sherlock Holmes solving a crime for the alien royalty, told in traditional Doyle style. 'October in the Chair' has an interesting concept at it's base and ends up being a story within a story, the source of The Graveyard Book. The inner story was enjoyable, but the outer felt unfinished, although I enjoyed the personification of the months. 'The Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves...' was a little bit amusing, but seems a tad overwrought and overthought. It has a facetious angle that benefits from a reader's knowledge of literature. 'The Flints of Memory Lane' is a germ of an idea that would benefit from grafting into a larger tale. I do like the line, "I like things to be story-shaped." Perhaps it should have been merged into 'Closing Time,' another story embedded within a story as patrons at a private club share ghost stories. 'Bitter Grounds' is a traveler looking for another life, and finds one as an anthropologist who studies zombies. It was a kind of 'meh' story, and felt like it was trying hard to be portentous and scary, but wasn't. I like the first paragraph and the phrase, "In every way that counted, I was dead"--a fantastic opening line. 'Other People' is a short-short I'm sure I've read before, perhaps in a mythology book; the idea feels like a chance to explore the concept of pain and hell more than anything else. 'Keepsakes and Treasures' has nothing worth keeping, and is twisted and unpleasant on a number of levels. The plot surrounds the development of a murderer as he finds employment under an obscenely wealthy man, Mr. Alice. It's one of the stories where none of the characters are likeable or redeemable. 'Good Boys Deserve Favors' (title taken from a mnenonic for learning music) is an ode to a bass that I presume the author played as a young boy, and is a little too short to feel quite as mystical as it wants to be. 'The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch' reminds me far too much of The Night Circus, and not in a way that benefits the short story. Unfortunately, it is a dark and twisted circus, and even the dreams have sharp edges. 'Strange Little Girls' would benefit from being read while listening to Tori Amos, but frankly, I'd rather not. I happen to own more than one Tori album, but she can get haunting and mournful quite fast, and I'd rather not spend the rest of the day depressed. 'Harlequin Valentine' was one of the few I rather enjoyed, an unexpected metamorphosis coming to a stalking puppet. 'The Problem of Susan' is better left unread if one wants to have any positive re-reads of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; although I found the Susan story an interesting idea, Gaiman manages to twist it up with a kinky sexual element that benefits no one. 'How Do You Think it Feels?' is a modern adultery tale. Very little seems special to me about it, and the angle of haunting is... meh. Not scary, not really thought provoking, not really interesting. 'Fifteen Painted Cards...from a Tarot' remains me in a painful way of a story idea I once had in college. Thankfully, it never escaped past my best friend; if only the same had happened here. 'Feeders and Eaters' was actually horrific, in a 'Tell-Tale Heart' kind of way. 'Diseasemaker's Croup' was mildly interesting, but not a fitting read for a hypocondriac, and 'Goliath' just missed me entirely. 'Pages from a Journal' was a bit of a yawn. 'How to Talk to Girls' had an interesting kernel of an idea, and a nice turn of phrase or three, especially when the narrator meets a girl who introduces herself as a poem. 'Sunbird' was an interesting twist on the firebird and the Epicurean adventurers, but I thought it dragged on a little too long. Again, I had the oddest feeling I had read the characters' dialogue before. It felt a little Zelazny, spare and self-consciously oblique.For me, by far the most enjoyable was 'Monarch of the Glen,' in which the American Gods's character, Shadow, is visiting Scotland. Two characters from an earlier short make an appearance here, and it is Mr. Alice and Mr. Smith. I enjoyed the way local mythology got weaved in on a number of different levels.Scattered through the book are a number of poems, all of which I am completely not qualified to give an opinion on, and none of which really spoke to me.Mission of browsing a Gaiman body of work accomplished, and self-flagellation accomplished for the week. Hurrah!
What do You think about Fragile Things: Short Fictions And Wonders (2006)?
I finished "Fragile Things" by Neil Gaiman while I was waiting for the anesthesiologist at UCLA Medical Center. Two days later, while visiting me in the hospital, my daughter announced that she "stole" the book from me. So, I don't have it to refer back to while doing this review. For me, the highlight of this collection of short stories and poems was the novella "Monarch of the Glen" that featured Shadow from "American Gods" re-interpreting the Beowulf legend. It was extremely good. I thought the poetry throughout the collection was very good too. The stories were kind of hit or miss. Right now, I really can't remember any except "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" which is about a socially inept young man from a boys' school who gets dragged to a party by his best friend and they end up at the wrong party. Let's just say that he learns to talk to girls, but they're the wrong kind of girls.All in all, I think "Fragile Things" is a good choice if you don't really have the attention span to devote to a novel at a given time and you just want some light reading that can be read in short spurts.
—Sandi
I love Neil Gaiman. He is brilliant, imaginative, and abso-friggin-lutely weird, and I love him for it. And this book of short stories and prose, Fragile Things, is by far my most favorite compendium of his. Fragile Things is a collection of oddities, retellings, poetry, spin-offs, and queer creations of Neil Gaiman's colorful imagination. Some of the stories have been published elsewhere, like Sunbird and October In The Chair, which were included in his M Is For Magic compilation, and some were published in other authors' works, written specially by Neil Gaiman, upon their request. A series of very short stories was inspired by an album of one of my favorite female indie artists, Tori Amos, who is good friends with Gaiman. There were award-winning stories here, too, such as A Study In Emerald which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and Sunbird, which received for its author the Locus Award.The book also included, at the very last part, a novella published two years after American Gods came out, entitled Monarch of the Glen. In the novella, the main character from American Gods, Shadow, finds himself lured into a game with monsters. I had my doubts at first on whether I should read it, considering I have yet to read American Gods and might inadvertently run into spoilers, but threw caution into the wind, anyway. The novella, as it would turn out, would have an entirely separate and distinct plot from American Gods. (I asked my husband, who has read it, okay.)I had a difficult time picking a favorite story from Fragile Things, because I loved everything! But I finally whittled it down to five: Harlequin Valentine, a short story based on the Harlequinade pantomime; The Flints of Memory Lane, which gave me the creeps; Other People, because it gave me more of the creeps and some goosebumps, too; Feeders and Eaters, for the sheer weirdness and horror of it, and; The Problem of Susan, which retells, if you will, the story of Susan Pevensie of The Chronicles of Narnia after the series had concluded. If you've read the series, you'll remember that Susan was no longer included in the last books, as she had taken to fancy things and such, and was no longer “fit” to return to Narnia. On the other hand, I couldn't think of any short story or poem that I didn't like. The short story written specially for The Matrix, which Neil completed prior to the screening of the very first Matrix film, was, of course, a bit predictable, as it was made to cater to the plot of the film. Apart from that, however, it was still an interesting read, and I enjoyed that one nonetheless. If I were to use the word ”unputdownable” to describe a book, this is the one. No one in the world, I think, has a more vivid and odd imagination like Neil does. Plus, he writes just beautifully: simple words, straightforward language, languid construction. He is the best storyteller there is, period. And I am just itching to read more of his works!Thanks, TINTIN, for my copy! :) Review also posted here.
—Monique
I am reading this book with my sister while she is home from college on break. Many of the stories and poems in this volume are spooky and/or funny, but I would like to review two stories and one poem that really grabbed me."October in the Chair"This story, dedicated to Ray Bradbury, smacks of that author's rich and subtle style. I love the story-in-a-story format, the inclusion of supernatural concept-beings such as the months (who remind me of the Endless, of course), and the even-handedly tragic character of the story October tells. I'm pleased that this was written in time for Bradbury to have read it, perhaps, before his death."Instructions"I almost dropped the book when I read this. It's such a simple form of poem, yet so unique (as far as I've read) and so rich. Neil Gaiman's abilities with the fantasy, horror, magical-realism, and fairy-tale genres blend together so seamlessly and astonishingly. It is as if Usain Bolt showed up at the winter Olympics one year, and swept the categories in figure skating and skiing for a change. The only other writer I can think of whom I consider as versatile as Gaiman is Margaret Atwood. Even his verse is good. "Instructions" isn't verse exactly, but it contains many remarkable ideas, each playing perfectly in key with all the others in the poem. "How Do You Think It Feels?"This is so subtle; it is barely even a magical realism story. Nothing supernatural happens "onscreen". Ian McEwan could have written it, or Richard Russo. Having been written by Gaiman, though, the story appears in books and collections of horror stories. Gaiman's authorship alone creates a tone of dark fantasy in the most understated possible way. A more vanilla-flavored writer could not have achieved this. The story is so much better for Gaiman's voice.
—Benjamin Quigley
