Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman

[Caitlin]

A stunning collection of short stories by the acclaimed fantasy writer. The distinctive genius of Neil Gaiman has been championed by writers as diverse as Norman Mailer and Stephen King. With THE SANDMAN Neil Gaiman created one of the most sophisticated, intelligent and influential graphic novel series of our time. Now after the recent success of his latest novel ANANSI BOYS, Gaiman has produced FRAGILE THINGS, his second collection of short fiction. These stories will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul. This extraordinary compilation reveals one of the world's most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers.

[Caitlin]

I saw as I was scrolling past the introduction that Neil Gaiman kinda gives a short explanation about the stories. I normally don't read introductions, but now i'm wondering if any of you did before starting the actual book?

[Elizabeth]

My copy is still on it's way from the Library, but now I'll have to be sure and check out the introduction - thanks for the head's up!

[Rachel]

I'm going to have to dig out my copy. My bookcase literally collapsed & most of my books are currently hiding in closets til i have proper shelves again.

Fragile Things was actually the first book I ever read by Neil. Personal, I always make it a point to read his introductions. I really enjoy the background info.

[Caitlin]

After reading the first short story, " A Study in Purple" I think my plan is going to be to read the story, then flip back and read what Gaiman has to say. I like the surprise of not knowing what the story is going to be, but being able to go back and get an explanation.

Also, I really loved " A Study in Purple".

[Elizabeth]

Wow. So, honestly, I love Gaiman as much as the next person, but I think in some ways a short-story collection as long as this may be a bit too much Gaiman for me. Some of the stories ("A Study In Emerald," and "October in the Chair) I thought were fantastic - gripping, engaging, and fun. But some of the others I just couldn't get into... Which is I guess the fun of a short story collection - you find stuff you really never knew you needed to read. As Caitin pointed out, reading the introductions after the stories gave the a greater sense of place, and I'm glad I heeded her advice! :)

Now, let's talk about "A Study in Emerald!!"


SPOILERS





I went through the entire story, right up to the end, thinking I knew who the narrator was, who the "friend" was, and understood Gaiman's twist on Doyle's world. Discovering at the end that the crippled doctor, that Rache, were in fact Watson & Holmes was a brilliant twist!

[Caitlin]

A Study in Purple? What was I talking about?

Elizabeth wrote: "Wow. So, honestly, I love Gaiman as much as the next person, but I think in some ways a short-story collection as long as this may be a bit too much Gaiman for me. Some of the stories ("A Study In ..."


I'm having an issue that every story has another story in it. It's charming at first but after the third one it seems like enough. Which is a huge bummer because the first few stories were really interesting in Gaiman's usual creepy-whimsical way. Maybe “A Study of Emerald” just set the bar to high for the rest of the stories?

SPOILERS





“A Study in Emerald” - Ugh, that twist was so good. After the reveal that Sherlock and Watson were the bad guys I went back and skimmed looking for name drops and obviously found none. I liked that he relied on the fact that people know this story well enough that we are going to fall into that trap. Also, it was fun to find that we don’t know who the narrator’s “Friend” is. Is it Moriarty like we (or at least I) assumed, or is the “Friend” still Sherlock, but Watson ended up with Moriarty somehow. It brought up a lot of questions and, like a good short story should, made me want to have more of it.