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Fragile things

Short fictions and wonders

By Neil Gaiman

(179)

| Hardcover | 9780060515225

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Book Description

From Publishers Weekly
Hot off the critical success of Anansi Boys, Gaiman offers this largely disappointing medley that feels like a collection of idea seeds that have yet to mature. Among the ground covered: an old woman eats her cat alive, slowly; two teenage boys fumble through a house party attended by preternaturally attractive aliens; a raven convinces a writer attempting realism to give way to fantastical inclinations. A few poems, heartfelt or playfully musical, pockmark the collection. At his best, Gaiman has a deft touch for surprise and inventiveness, and there are inspired moments, including one story that brings the months of the year to life and imagines them having a board meeting. (September is an "elegant creature of mock solicitude," while April is sensitive but cruel; they don't get along), but most of these stories rely too heavily on the stock-in-trade of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Gaiman only once or twice gives himself the space necessary to lock the reader's attention.150,000 announced first printing.(Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Like the first and second, Gaiman's third collection of unillustrated short pieces (he has comics collections in his portfolio, too) showcases a particular facet of his talent. Smoke and Mirrors (1998) effervesced with his jovial parody of fairy tales, Raymond Carver, monster movies, Beowulf, and even Bay Watch. Adventures in the Dream Trade (2002) collects various kinds of memoirs on being a professional fantasist. Parody--in the alternate-world Sherlock Holmes pastiche, "A Study in Emerald," and an imaginary last book of the Bible--and memoir (two reprints from Adventures and at least one story, "Closing Time," that Gaiman admits is full of real persons and events) also figure in this book, but most of the contents, including the memory pieces, exude the romanticism, often erotic, that makes his first two novels, Neverwhere (1997) and Stardust(1998), for all their darkness and grit, so powerfully attractive. Many are love stories, ranging in tone from the lowering super-noir of "Keepsakes and Treasures," in which a multibillionaire, abetted by the genius-sociopath narrator, finds and loses his particular beau ideal; to the sf-tinged horror of "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," in which two randy teens crash the wrong bash; to the love-conquers-all rapture of the poem "The Day the Saucers Came"; to the movingly sad triumph over time in the flat-out sf entry, "Goliath." Less loverly but lovelier are such archromantic tidbits as 15 tiny stories for cards from "a vampire tarot," the council of the personified months in "October in the Chair," the bittersweet shape-shifting of the commedia dell'arte-derived "Harlequin Valentine," and all the other poems. One delight after another, 31 in all, with a thirty-second tucked into the author's introduction. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved [강컴닷컴 제공]

Critics

Fragile Things By Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman's latest collection, Fragile Things, compiles 31 Short Fictions and Wonders, including such varied items as a story based on tarot cards and short pieces written for Tori Amos CD booklets. However, the book is also full to the brim (and s ... (read full critics)

bookpage published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

Fragile Things

A new book by Neil Gaiman is always welcome but a short fiction collection is perhaps especially so, because it lets us experience a wide range of his work. Certainly, Gaiman’s remarkable talents are showcased to brilliant effect in ‘Fragile Things’. ... (read full critics)

laurahird published on Fri, 10 Sep 2010

See all critics

5 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never
saw before.
Say "please" before you open the latch,
go through,
walk down the path.
A red metal imp hangs from the green-painted
front door,
as a knocker,
do not touch it; it will bite your fingers.
Walk through the house. Take nothing. Eat
nothi ... (continue)

Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never
saw before.
Say "please" before you open the latch,
go through,
walk down the path.
A red metal imp hangs from the green-painted
front door,
as a knocker,
do not touch it; it will bite your fingers.
Walk through the house. Take nothing. Eat
nothing.
However, if any creature tells you that it hungers,
feed it.
If it tells you that it is dirty,
clean it.
If it cries to you that it hurts,
if you can,
ease its pain.
From the back garden you will be able to see the
wild wood.
The deep well you walk past leads to Winter's
realm;
there is another land at the bottom of it.
If you turn around here,
you can walk back, safely;
you will lose no face. I will think no less of you.
Once through the garden you will be in the
wood.
The trees are old. Eyes peer from the under-
growth.
Beneath a twisted oak sits an old woman. She
may ask for something;
give it to her. She
will point the way to the castle.
Inside it are three princesses.
Do not trust the youngest. Walk on.
In the clearing beyond the castle the twelve
months sit about a fire,
warming their feet, exchanging tales.
They may do favors for you, if you are polite.
You may pick strawberries in December's frost.
Trust the wolves, but do not tell them where
you are going.
The river can be crossed by the ferry. The ferry-
man will take you.
(The answer to his question is this:
If he hands the oar to his passenger, he will be free to
leave the boat.
Only tell him this from a safe distance.)
If an eagle gives you a feather, keep it safe.
Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that
witches are often betrayed by their appetites;
dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always;
hearts can be well-hidden,
and you betray them with your tongue.
Do not be jealous of your sister.
Know that diamonds and roses
are as uncomfortable when they tumble from
one's lips as toads and frogs:
colder, too, and sharper, and they cut.
Remember your name.
Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found.
Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped
to help you in their turn.
Trust dreams.
Trust your heart, and trust your story.
When you come back, return the way you came.
Favors will be returned, debts will be repaid.
Do not forget your manners.
Do not look back.
Ride the wise eagle (you shall not fall).
Ride the silver fish (you will not drown).
Ride the grey wolf (hold tightly to his fur).
There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is
why it will not stand.
When you reach the little house, the place your
journey started,
you will recognize it, although it will seem
much smaller than you remember.
Walk up the path, and through the garden gate
you never saw before but once.
And then go home. Or make a home.
And rest.

Is this helpful?

BansheeSmile said on Dec 11, 2011 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

It should be 3,5 stars, really.
This collection of short stories, although not as wonderful as "Smoke And Mirrors", is really a collection of jewels.
It demonstrates that Gaiman gives the best when he tells short stories (or not-really-long novels), when he can play with the characters, the ideas, t ... (continue)

It should be 3,5 stars, really.
This collection of short stories, although not as wonderful as "Smoke And Mirrors", is really a collection of jewels.
It demonstrates that Gaiman gives the best when he tells short stories (or not-really-long novels), when he can play with the characters, the ideas, the styles.
He is a storyteller, and he plays with this role, plays with the stories to obtain the most astonishing results.

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Poyel said on May 14, 2009 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

1 person find this helpful

I love a book of good short stories that I can read inbetween everything else in life.
And this was one of the better ones. Quirky poems and some stories that leave you to your imagination as to what happened. In short..LOVE this book.

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GeekGirl said on May 14, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Collections are difficult beasts to handle, especially when they bring together material that ranges from the very short to the novella, touching different genres and subgenres, often out of the original context they were written for.
It is easy, when rating such a book on the whole, to base yourse ... (continue)

Collections are difficult beasts to handle, especially when they bring together material that ranges from the very short to the novella, touching different genres and subgenres, often out of the original context they were written for.
It is easy, when rating such a book on the whole, to base yourself on the parts you didn't like rather than the bits you liked - and there are some stories and snippets I felt fell flat, or didn't really add anything to the book. I also think that the bits written for Tori Amos probably made more sense alongside the music than by themselves.
On the other side, the writing is usually pretty good Gaiman, and there are some precious and absolute gems like A study in emerald, Instructions or Sunbird that are well worth the price of the book. If you like American Gods, you also can't miss the Monarch of the Glen novella, that brings Shadow back in an unusual retelling of a well known Old English poem.
I would not recommend this as a starting point to read Neil Gaiman, but it's a very enjoyable read if you're familiar with the author.

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Ian Atrus said on Jun 28, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Two and a half stars.
Some of the stories are good, some just all right, some quite pointless. I didn't care much for most of the stories in the first half of the book. Quite surprisingly, most of them won an award of some sort; which either speaks regards the quality of the stories which were ... (continue)

Two and a half stars.
Some of the stories are good, some just all right, some quite pointless. I didn't care much for most of the stories in the first half of the book. Quite surprisingly, most of them won an award of some sort; which either speaks regards the quality of the stories which were submitted to such competitions, or it means that I am not as clever a reader as I think.
The last few stories of the book seemed to me to stand far above the rest. "Goliath", set in the Matrix universe, is intelligent and highly enjoyable; "How to talk to girls at parties" is strikingly original; I also enjoyed "Sunbird", and I was delighted to meet Shadow again, in "The monarch of the Glen".
Four stars to all the stories I mentioned; the rest, unfortunately, drags the overall rating down.

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Ficie said on May 30, 2009 | Add your feedback