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Fragile Things
Written by Neil Gaiman
Narrated by Neil Gaiman
Book Actions
Start Listening- Publisher:
- HarperAudio
- Released:
- May 11, 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780061229954
- Format:
- Audiobook
Description
A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it.
In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters.
In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder.
Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares.
In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an exclusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird.
Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
Fragile Things
Written by Neil Gaiman
Narrated by Neil Gaiman
Description
A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it.
In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters.
In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder.
Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares.
In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an exclusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird.
Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.
- Publisher:
- HarperAudio
- Released:
- May 11, 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780061229954
- Format:
- Audiobook
About the author
Related to Fragile Things
Reviews
3.5
I think at some point I would like to read this physically, since I retain them better when I'm reading visually than when I'm listening, but I will always listen to Neil reading, always. :)
I'm counting this in for Award Winning Challenge as a couple of the stories in this collection are award winners or mentions.
Study in Emerald
short story : 2004 Hugo W
novelette : 2004 Locus W
The Monarch of the Glen
novelette : 2004 Locus/2
A Study in Emerald - Wow! I don't know if I've ever read a better short story in my life. Written for an anthology of stories where the world of Sherlock Holmes meets the world of H.P. Lovecraft, Gaiman's take gives The Ancient Ones the sanity-crumbling horror I'm used to and gives Holmes the brilliant see-everything-at-once deductive skills that we expect. A best-of-both-worlds story that's scary, thrilling, and surprising.
The Fairy Reel -
October in the Chair
The Hidden Chamber
Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire
The Flints of Memory Lane
Closing Time
Going Wodwo
Bitter Grounds
Other People
Keepsakes and Treasures
Good Boys Deserve Favors
The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch
Strange Little Girls
Harlequin Valentine
Locks
The Problem of Susan
Instructions
How Do You Think It Feels?
My Life
Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot
Feeders and Eaters
Diseasemaker's Croup
In the End
Goliath
Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louisville, Kentucky
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
The Day the Saucers Came
Sunbird
Inventing Aladdin
The Monarch of the Glen
As far as the stories go, some of them I loved, some left me thoroughly confused, some I found boring, and one left me speechless (in the best way)
Noteworthy stories include:
A Study in Emerald
Forbidden Brides (which may need to be read more than once)
Other People (this may be the best short story I've ever read)
Goliath
Sunbird
The Monarch of the Glen
However, it wasn't really Gaiman's writing that the problem. I think the problem solely lies with the fact that I'm not a huge fan of short story collections. I do like short stories as a genre of writing, but I think when you collect them into a single text, they seem to lose some of their charm for me. Perhaps this is because I was trying to read the collection like you would a novel and simply could not get into a reading rhythm. I also found myself searching for a clear connection between one story to the next story of poem, and wasn't really finding any, which I think is part of what made getting into a reading rhythm more difficult. I found that when I picked up another book to read and would take longer breaks between the stories in Fragile Things that I actually enjoyed the book more.
Some of the short stories were just okay for me, while some of them I absolutely loved, especially "October in the Chair", a story in which the months of the year are personified, "Bitter Grounds", "Strange Little Girls", and "Pages of a Journal Found in a Shoebox...". Overall, I enjoyed the poetry more than I did the stories as a whole. "The Fairy Reel" was, I think, my favorite poem. I say "I think" because it's difficult to choose which poem I actually liked the most. What I found with all of the writing is that Gaiman is a master of word play, and that there are little bits and snippets of every story or poem that are little jewel-like treasures that keep singing through my head at the most mundane moments of my day (i.e. washing dishes or loading the washing machine.) I think I'll have to go back and reread this collection again soon.
Two of the parts of the book that I also enjoyed were the introduction to the text and the "Conversation with Neil Gaiman" that came at the end of my edition. Introductions are tricky little elements, I think. Often, I read an introduction to a text and wonder "Why did I bother?". But that wasn't the case with the introduction to Fragile Things. I found myself really interested in Gaiman's explanations of how each piece came to be or why it was written. "Strange Little Girls", for instance, was originally written to accompany Tori Amos' CD Strange Little Girls. So, this collection of 12 very short stories appeared as lines scattered throughout the CD booklet. "Harlequin Valentine" was a story inspired by the ticket-seller in a piece, a Ferris wheel, by Lisa Snellings-Clark and sculptor and artist.
The "Conversation with Neil Gaiman" included at the end of my edition was also equally interesting as Gaiman addressed questions such as which of the pieces in this collection was his favorite and further explored how some of the pieces were written in addition to answering some questions about his writing and writing process in general.