Neverwhere - Stop by here if you are reading Neverwhere

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

Go here if you are currently reading Neverwhere! Thanks Donna for the suggestion.

[Robert]

I am picking up neverwhere later tonight to start reading it for April, and I was looking on Wikipedia (is there anything you don't know?) to get some background on the novel before I started.

I'm not sure if anyone else is aware of this, but the novel is actually an adaptation of a British TV Series that originally aired in 1996. There are six 1/2 hour episodes, and they are available on DVD.

I was thinking it would be interesting if after reading the novel we watched the series, and compared the two. It's a little different than other series like Wizard of Earth Sea in that the TV series came first, and that Niel Gaiman not only concepted the series, but also wrote the novelization.

[Angie]

That is interesting that it was a TV series. I have always found him interesting, for example his novel Stardust was originally a graphic novel and then he made it into a novel, or so I hear. So he seems to like to take the same story and do it in different formats. He recently had everyone go to his website and vote on a novel of his, any novel, and which ever one people voted the most for he would put up online to read for free. American Gods novel ended up winning that.

[Deborah]

Neverwhere has also been adapted into graphic novel format now, though Neil himself did not write the adaptation.

American Gods was indeed free for reading on his website for a month, but has been taken down now. His publishers did it as an experiment to see how it would affect sales-- and the sales on American Gods went up by something like 300%. It's likely they'll repeat the experiment in the future, then.

[Rindis]

I've seen the series and read the book. I'll admit that I think the series is a bit better, but some of that is just some great casting, and some may be that I saw that first.

Stardust was never quite a graphic novel in the conventional sense. It was light prose with much of the description done through Charles Vess' illustrations. I'm afraid that I'm such a Vess fan that I could never stand to touch the straight novel. I'd like to see the movie version, but haven't had the chance.

[Inky]

I had no idea Neverwhere was television before it was a book. Gaiman wrote both? Are there any major differences in story between the two?

The book has always been a favorite. It has a great cast of bad guys. Richard Mayhew is a fascinating Everyman, coasting through life on the expectations of his job and his success-driven girlfriend. I love the use of the old woman, who tells his fortune and sees his good heart, but warns that might not be enough to keep him safe. And then there's Door, the character who acts just that part for Richard.

The book is written in an episodic kind of way, now that I think about it. It was like moving from story to story, with the events at the last the obvious, inevitable conclusion.

[Deborah]

Re: Stardust, directed mostly at Rindis.

The movie was quite good, although you shouldn't look for a straight adaptation from the novel. The movie is a creature unto itself and grand for all that.

[Shannon]

Inky said: Richard Mayhew is a fascinating Everyman, coasting through life on the expectations of his job and his success-driven girlfriend.

That's such a great description! I read Neverwhere recently - I had completely forgotten it was the April book here! But I think I'll put my thoughts etc. in one of the other posts.

[Rob]

True, Neverwhere was a television series, but Gaiman decided to write the novel after being so disappointed with how the series turned out. I'm glad he did, because after watching the show I was severely disappointed with one of my favorite authors.

[Angie]

After I read the book I am going to check out the series! Maybe we could discuss it on here as one of the threads for this month's book!

[Stacey]

I loved this novel, read it awhile ago. For audiobook fans, I have to say that it is one of the best audiobooks in my collection, read by Mr. Neil himself.

I highly recommend a listen.

[Inky]

Thanks Shannon! I'll see you on the other posts.