TITLE: NeverwhereAUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
STARTED: December 1, 2008
FINISHED: December 8, 2008
PAGES: 371
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Neil Gaiman, the genius behind "The Sandman" graphic novels -- which Norman Mailer called "a comic strip for intellectuals" -- delves into novel-length fiction with Neverwhere, a wild and mesmerizing story set in a bizarre and chilling underground London. Neverwhere begins innocently enough: It's the story of Richard Mayhew, a plain man with a good heart. Unhappy in love and in life, Richard is thrust into a dark and evil world when he stops to help a young girl he finds bleeding in the street. Now Richard has much more than work and girlfriend dilemmas on his mind -- now he's wanted by two very evil, powerful, and nasty mercenaries who like to think that they are, in fact, rather gentlemanly. Lyrical, humorous, and horrifying, Neverwhere is a fantastic novel
THOUGHTS: I actually did not love this story, but by golly did I love the world. If I continue to read Gaiman it will be because he can craft a world and characters with such an amazing imagination my jaw drops and I ooh and ahh through the text. For Neverwhere, I could have cared less about Richard Mayhew and his story but I couldn't stop reading. The sassy and witty text, the diverse and well-painted characters, the amazing setting, all of it worked in tandem to make this a book I could not stop reading.
As I read this book, I kept finding myself thinking, 'I want to be a set dresser on this movie!' Gaiman's vivid writing was so imaginative, yet realistic that I wanted to visit the world of London Below. I wanted to smell the smells, hear the noises, and see the grit of the things that fall through the cracks. I kept on thinking of the details you see while waiting in line for a ride at the Magic Kingdom.
For me Neverwhere was not an addictive story but more of a study in how to craft a realm out of thin air.
Additionally, I loved the witty dialog in this book. The sentences of text the characters whip off to one another had me giggling as I read in bed.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
Comments