Neverwhere: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of Neverwhere: A Novel
Book Review: Horridly Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
Darkly whimsical perfectly describes the mood set in this book, especially when you are crossing the line between the real world and the shadow world lying beneath the surface.
If you've ever been to London, or any major city for that fact, you've more than likely traveled in that city's underground. But what if there was a world, a very real world, underneath that. The true "Underground." A world completely unlike the one you know, where the rules of physics and biology don't necessarily apply.
Richard Mayhew is young man living an ordinary life, with a good job, a "good" girlfriend, and a good heart. It is his good heart that drives him to help a bloody, strange and oddly regal girl named Door. By helping Door, Richard finds himself unknowingly entering the Underground, where their allies are the marquis de Carabas and Hunter and their enemies are Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, two of the most ghastly and other-worldly villains in that world.
Soon, Richard's life as he knows it doesn't exist anymore. He walks among the world, completely unseen by those around him. Knowing he must find Door, Richard makes his way literally into Underground, into a world he still doesn't fully believe exist. Trials and tribulations abound as he accompanies Door on her mission to find who murdered her family, all so he can return to the world he left behind. From the Rat-Speakers to a manor where tragedy occurred, to floating markets and finding the Blackfriars, and from an angelic home to a hellish cavernous maze (to name a few). Friends come and go, heroes are made and broken, and answers are found.
Go along for the journey as you fall through the cracks into a horridly fantastic dark world where you never know what is around the next shadowy corner...
Book Review: A delightful book full despite rat-eating violence
Summary: 5 Stars
Gaiman has this way of creating delightful stories even though they might contain less than delightful content: such as biting the heads of off live rats, bloody torture, and sifting through human sewage with a net. This is true in Neverwhere, where the story often turns violent. Somehow, though, it doesn't leave any feeling of nervousness or disgust, which is what grounds this type of story in Fantasy and out of Horror.
I'm not sure how he does it, but I believe it might the wondrous and complex worlds that he creates: in Neverwhere, this world is "London Below", a pseudo-real subterranean world in the tunnels and sewers under London. There are many interesting things happening, that the brutality of certain scenes is somehow made more palatable. Dont get me wrong - this is not a gore-fest, but there are very violent moments, as well as moments of extreme emotional distress for some of the characters... but there's no lasting sting. I associate it with a fine Single Malt: there might be a smokey or even sharp flavor to start, but the finish is pure velvety smoothness.
Another reason that Neverwhere appealed to me is the characters: each was a hard-survivalist on the surface (a requirement of living in the dangerous world below London), but they all had a depth to them that quickly revealed the heart under the hard exterior. I found myself liking every character, no matter how small their part in the story.
I highliy recommend Neverwhere, alhtough it may not be as suitable for younger readers as, say, Stardust
Book Review: "There's a lot of time in London, and it has to go somewhere - it doesn't get used up at once."
Summary: 5 Stars
Neil Gaiman is imaginitive, clever and can weave a witty and utterly believeable story out of whole cloth. This is particularly true in _Neverwhere_. Set in London, the boringly average Richard Mayhew leads a boringly average life: a beautiful, domineering girlfriend, a job in middle-management, and the world makes sense to him. Until he meets Door, who shows him "London Below" - a city alongside Richard's London, but one very different, and much more dangerous.
Richard's experiences in London Below is the classic hero's journey: the refusal of the call, the mentor, and so on. The predictability of events, however in no way diminish from the richness of the experience, especially given Gaiman's playful wit as he takes the mundane and common in London and recreates it. Tube stations become literal (Blackfriars, for example, is a station that leads to a monestary of ruddy-skinned, black cowled monks, and the ubiquitous London call "mind the gap" has sinister implications for those who don't mind it.) It is an utterly captivating read.
For those unfamiliar with Gaiman's work, this (or American Gods: A Novel) would be my recommendations to start. Fair warning: once you've experienced the creativity and uniqueness of his writing, you will want to read more by him. For those who have read his work, this certainly among his best work. Highly recommended.
Book Review: As good as it gets.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman truly is a great fantasy adventure. Mr. Gaiman's style of writing had me wondering what time period he was writing about and frankly I was surprised when I came to the realization. My confusion was due, in part, to the London locale but also a result of the incredibly realistic story blending of the author. The story begins with Richard Mayhew, the protagonist, being given a send off by friends. He's to leave Scotland for London to begin a new job. Mayhew is a strange sort of fellow, not daring or adventurous at all. Not truly enjoying the party, and perhaps having had too much drink he leaves for a bit and has an encounter with a woman who thinks he's a derelict. She provides him with a prophesy that confuses him but it's what sets the stage and gets ones imaginative juices flowing. It isn't long afterward that the reader is introduced to the next protagonist and then the story goes places, very different places both in time and locale. I'm especially interested in this sort of fantastic, whimsical, adventure storytelling and Mr. Gaiman is a master. The novel characters and story develop nicely and mostly what happens isn't at all what one might anticipate. It's all somewhat, and sort of, like an adult "through the looking glass" type adventure, but then, very much not like that at all. Mystery and danger, with a little magic thrown in, is rife throughout. Have some fun with this exciting book, I did.Book Review: What an amazing journey
Summary: 5 Stars
I think the only potentially more interesting trip would be one into Gaiman's mind. This book is truly exercise for the imagination. I almost always skip overblown descriptions in fantasy books, yet here I found myself rereading some scenes to try and better wrap my mind around the vibrant images conjured up. The people, places and personalities that Gaiman invents are at once thought-provoking, mind-expanding and totally believable. The world he describes is so surreal and delightfully irrational that it actually becomes credible. The reader parallels Richard in his descent into the madness that is London Below, but like Richard acquires a taste for this madness such that it is preferable to the artificialities littered throughout real life that Gaiman exposes.
This blending and contrasting of settings is to me the most interesting aspect about this book, but everything else is well done too. The protagonist is endearing, the story is cleverly constructed, and the supporting cast is downright compelling. Dark humor and defiance of stereotypes reign, and the heroes and villains all follow the theme of joining the unconventional with the ordinary, the exotic with the familiar.
In the end, perhaps the greatest testament to Gaiman's achievement is that by the end of the book it is hardly clear whether the fantastical or the mundane world is the more "real" of the two.