Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
by Shannon on Saturday, 3 of February, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I have recently become a Gaiman convert, taken the vows, said the hail Neils, and swore to remain true to the god of speculative fiction.
Okay, maybe “god” is going a bit far, but demi-god surely. I first picked up a Neil Gaiman book years ago when Neverwhere was first published. I liked it, but I was in the midst of my epic fantasy phase and soon forgot all about it in favor of sweeping medieval-esque worlds inhabited by elves and large men with larger swords. Basically, I was young and wanted my stories all raw and exposed, with no subtext or subtlety to weigh me down. Pure escapism was my goal. I’m kind of sorry I missed my opportunity all those years ago to become a follower of one of the best writers on the market today.
Fragile Things is a short story collection, and as the title implies, it is a fine collection of all things fragile. Some of the stories themselves have only the most delicate connection to what most would consider “story”. For example, Strange Little Girls was written to accompany Tori Amos’ CD by the same name and is a collection of snapshot-like images of twelve…well, strange girls; some only a paragraph or so long. There is another story Pages From a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louisville, Kentucky {phew that was a long one) also written to accompany Tori Amos’ Scarlet’s Walk, and being a fan of Tori Amos, I loved both of these stories. Then there is Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot that combines the major arcane of the tarot deck and a few traditional and untraditional vampire images, and is also a very loose gathering of sections only a few paragraphs long, but all connected.
Besides the looser, less cohesive stories, there are some very solid pieces of short fantastic fiction. Forbidden Brides Of the Faceless Slaves In The Secret House Of the Night Of The Dread (another long title) is my personal favorite. It was voted Best Short Story of 2005 by the Locus Awards, and I have to say I agree. It’s a satirical look at gothic fantasy and “reality” that is in my opinion funny as hell. And another favorite, The Problem of Susan, addresses the brutally cut and still loose thread of C.S. Lewis’ character Susan from the Chronicles Of Narnia. Of course, I have a rant involving Lewis’ handling of Susan’s character that would probably run about twenty pages long and use numerous swear words, but I digress. Gaiman handles the issue much more eloquently than I ever could, and leaves you-if not completely satisfied-at least content that someone cared enough to pick up the lost pieces of her life.
As Neil says in his introduction to the book:
“[Fragile Things] seemed like a fine title for a book of short stories. There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and heart.”
He carries this theme through wonderfully, reminding us not only of our own fragility, but that of memory, story, faith, and reality. It is, in my opinion, a book to go back to time and again, savoring it like snowflakes melting on your tongue.
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