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Neverwhere

By Neil Gaiman

(367)

| Mass Market Paperback | 9780380789016

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Book Description

Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourish in abandoned subway stContinue

Critics

Neverwhere

I started this book sipping coffee by the last rays of a summer evening, but ended it in a darkened room wondering what it means to truly experience life. Welcome to Neverwhere, a dark world of fealty, fiefdom, and the forever dispossessed: a world t ... (read full critics)

sfsite published on Fri, 3 Sep 2010

Neverwhere

Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, an average businessman from Scotland living in London. He has a good job, a beautiful fiancée with above average social connections, and he's on the brink of making his name in the world. On one pivotal nigh ... (read full critics)

sfsite published on Fri, 3 Sep 2010

32 Reviews

6 people find this helpful

I love Neil Gaiman.

I feel sometimes like Gaiman is the best-kept secret in American/English fiction. This is the second Gaiman book I read, and I was not at all disappointed. He's quickly becoming my new favorite author.
Gaiman has a very English sensibility for comedy, and is not at all afraid to include fanta ... (continue)

I feel sometimes like Gaiman is the best-kept secret in American/English fiction. This is the second Gaiman book I read, and I was not at all disappointed. He's quickly becoming my new favorite author.
Gaiman has a very English sensibility for comedy, and is not at all afraid to include fantastic, dark events and places in his novels. He tends to write strikingly identifiable characters, too; he has a gift for the slightly dopey protagonist, too clumsy for his or her own good, with whom we fall in love by the middle of the story, and hang on for dear life while his/her grand destiny unfolds. In spite of the fantastic events they contain, his books seem extremely real; you don't read them so much as experience them.
You can tell that this book started its life as the script to a television miniseries, but don't let that steer you away. The type of writing it was early in life is probably responsible for giving the book a little more of a jerky feel than Gaiman's other stories (particularly the masterpiece "American Gods"), but all the elements of a great book are there. It's gripping, the characters all feel real and important (though I would love to see a few sequels set in this world, a la "Anansi Boys", to tell a bit more of their stories), the setting is well-illustrated enough to be enthralling, and the storyline has a lot in common with the much-cliched roller coaster, twisting and turning and delighting the reader throughout.
This is a great book. If you've never read Neil Gaiman before, go borrow something of his from the library, or purchase this or any other Gaiman book at any cost; he's amazing. If you're already a fan, this book will not disappoint, except if you're looking for something mirroring the grandiosity of "American Gods"; this book's not quite that large. But it's large enough, and great in its own right. Go get it!

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Savedr said on Sep 4, 2008 | 1 feedback

5 people find this helpful

Neverwhere

A fun, dark, quirky adventure down the rabbit hole where you find out you're not in Kansas anymore - you're in London Below. Neil Gaiman is quickly turning into one of my favorite authors.

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Readingrat said on Feb 28, 2008 | Add your feedback

3 people find this helpful

The first Gaiman's book I read it was Stardust, one of the worst book I've ever read. Anyway, I try to give to Gaiman a second chance and this time I didn't remain disappointed. On the whole it's a good book, but I'm not really enthusiastic. Gaiman's characters are a do-goodery, boredom fair, withou ... (continue)

The first Gaiman's book I read it was Stardust, one of the worst book I've ever read. Anyway, I try to give to Gaiman a second chance and this time I didn't remain disappointed. On the whole it's a good book, but I'm not really enthusiastic. Gaiman's characters are a do-goodery, boredom fair, without Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar it would have been just another cloying book. I think Gaiman lacks the right dose of malice, he's up to telling nice stories but he's totally unable to tell stories able to involve the reader in strong passions and emotions, they are just nice stories. I continue to think that Gaiman is a really overrated writer.

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Howling Black said on Apr 11, 2010 | Add your feedback

Mind the gap

Lo stile ha qualche ingenuità che probabilmente il Gaiman più maturo avrebbe evitato (descrizioni ed espressioni ripetute con un po' troppa insistenza, parti raccontate più che mostrate). Per di più, non si può dire che la storia in sé sia il massimo dell'originalità (d'altra parte, Gaiman stesso no ... (continue)

Lo stile ha qualche ingenuità che probabilmente il Gaiman più maturo avrebbe evitato (descrizioni ed espressioni ripetute con un po' troppa insistenza, parti raccontate più che mostrate). Per di più, non si può dire che la storia in sé sia il massimo dell'originalità (d'altra parte, Gaiman stesso non fa lo sforzo di nascondere i riferimenti al Mago di Oz), così come non brillano per novità o caratterizzazione i personaggi (anche se, personalmente, ho adorato il Marchese di Carabas).
Ma a fare da protagonisti in questo romanzo, in fondo, non sono gli umani. Non il giovane che scopre una realtà diversa e ne viene cambiato, non la ragazza dai misteriosi poteri in fuga dai due pericolosi assassini, non la cacciatrice in cerca della preda della vita, né il più classico fra i classici imbroglioni che fa loro da guida. La vera protagonista è Londra, la città familiare ai più e la città nascosta sotto la superficie. La città che si rivela negli angoli, fra le crepe, nelle carrozze buie, dietro i "pittoreschi" nomi delle fermate della metropolitana, e nello spazio scuro fra il treno e la banchina.
Gaiman è come sempre immaginifico, e un maestro di ambientazione. Gli perdono volentieri qualche scivolata nella narrazione.

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Sonia Gabriev said on May 31, 2012 | Add your feedback

oh god, no

Overrated, predictable piece of shit.

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Adhara said on Mar 8, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

I love doors. Anything that leads to possibilities.

L'omaggio di Gaiman alla "sua" Londra. Una meraviglia.

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Blowersdaughter said on Feb 26, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback