Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

The entire title of this book is Trigger Warning:  Short Fictions and Disturbances, which paints a very accurate picture of this book.  I loved these unique short stories by master story teller Neil Gaiman.  Although I made the mistake of taking this book camping, and a few of the stories freaked me out  . . . but would be perfect to terrorize your friends around the fire.  I also loved the variety from fairy tales, horror, Doctor Who to poems; this collection has a little bit of something for everyone.

I really appreciated that Gaiman wrote a great introduction which included the inspiration behind each story or poem.  I found myself often flipping back to this section after I read the story to get an even deeper understanding.

I am going to summarize a few of my favorite stories in this collection.

The Thing About Cassandra

A young artist is given odd news when his friends tell him that they ran into his first girlfriend, Cassandra.  The thing about Cassandra was that he made her up to impress his buddies.  Who is the mysterious Cassandra?  I originally read this story in Songs of Love and Death and I’ll admit I’m still pleasantly puzzled by the end.  I’m putting this book on my husband’s reading pile so I have someone to discuss the end with.

Down to a Sunless Sea

Down to a Sunless Sea is a gritty story of a mother waiting for her young sailor son to return.  One of my favorite quotes was “Nobody drinks it, neither the rainwater nor the river water. They make jokes about Thames water killing you instantly, and it is not true.”  I cannot resist a good water quality quote.

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

I loved this story.  I read it twice as the beginning made much more sense once all of the pieces of the story were put together.  A dwarf seeks young Calum MacInnes to help him find a mystical mountain with a cave of cursed gold to use for the “King across the seas” cause.  Or is this his true purpose?  I loved this take on revenge.

Orange

I liked the unique format to this story, which were only the answers to an investigator’s written questionnaire.

The Case of Death and Honey

This was a very interesting Sherlock tale of him trying to solve the ultimately mystery, how to defeat death.  I quite enjoyed it.

Click-Clack the Rattlebag

This story freaked me out.  It is a scary story about an old house and what lies within it.  I liked the format of a young boy telling the story leading up to the grand realization at the end.

Nothing O’Clock

This is a Doctor Who story set during the Matt Smith Doctor Who time period.  It was a perfect Doctor Who story – interesting, a bit of humor and a bit of horror on the situation of human race after the evil Kin try to take over Earth.

Diamonds and Pearls:  A Fairy Tale

I love fairy tales.  This modified version of Cinderella was unique and very interesting.

The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle is a modified fairy tale mash-up of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.  I thought it was an interesting take on both fairy tales and I loved the strong female protagonist.  I would love to read more of Gaiman’s fairy tales.

Black Dog

I need to read American Gods.  Even though I haven’t read it, I still enjoyed this tale.  Shadow is in a Pub in England and gets involved with a local couple.  The man is having health problems so he helps them out.  They are followed home by the local legend, a black dog.  Shadow digs deeper to solve the mystery of this superstition. 

Overall, I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection.  I liked how imaginative they were and very original.  I liked how they hopped from scary stories to fairy tales.  These were the type of stories I especially loved as a teenager and miss reading at times.  I need to look for more like this.  Any suggestions?

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow – Thanks!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the July pick for the FLICKS Book and Movie Club.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a lot different from most novels that my book club reads.  It is a fantasy novel with an ending that still has me puzzling whether I interpreted the book correctly or not.  

An unnamed narrator has returned to the place where he grew up to attend a funeral.  While there he finds himself drawn to a farmhouse at the end of the lane where his friend Lettie and her mother and Grandmother lived as a child.  He recalls that Lettie called the pond an ocean and then goes off into a remembrance of his seven year old self meeting Lettie and the adventure that he had that summer.  While with Lettie he brought a being from another realm to this world that is threatening to destroy him and his family.  Only with Lettie and her family’s help will he be able to defeat this foe.

SPOILER ALERT unfortunately, even though this was a very short book, no one in my book club read it besides myself, although one did start it.  I really wanted to discuss the ending.  Truthfully I found this book to be a bit odd, but yet the ending puzzled me and has kept me thinking in the weeks since I finished it.  Was the narrator imagining this world to cover up traumatizing events from his childhood, or is there a world that only children can believe in that he could no longer see as an adult?  If you read this book, what did you think?  SPOILER END

Overall, I’m glad I read this book for the ending that really has had me thinking, although I found the book a bit disturbing at times.  It looks like I need to pick better next time to get my book club on board with reading my choices!

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow – Thanks!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book is a unique and fascinating supernatural young adult novel. I read this book in a state of wonder, excited to find out what would happen next. It was a perfect read for the week of Halloween. I have had this book on my “to read” list after reading excellent reviews over the past two years and it was well worth the wait.


The Graveyard Book starts with the murder of a family. A small “baby barely a toddler” escapes the atrocity by getting out of his crib and wandering out to the night through the open front door. The killer, the man Jack, follows his scent to a graveyard, but he loses the trail and is escorted away by a mysterious man named Silas. A childless ghost couple, Mr. and Mrs. Owens want to care for the child, especially after the spirits of his family ask them to help the boy. After a spirited debate in the graveyard, it is decided that the Owens will raise the boy with the help of Silas as guardian. The boy is not old enough to know his own name and is christened “Nobody Owens” by the ghosts with a nickname of Bod.

The old adage is that it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case, it takes a graveyard. Young Bod has ghosts for playmates and has great adventures when he meets up with a group of ghouls and the cemetery’s lone witch. Leaving the graveyard is dangerous for Bod as his family’s killer has never been captured. Bod has unique experiences and escapades growing up in a cemetery, but the greatest one of all is the journey to discover his identity and to face his family’s murderer.

I immensely enjoyed reading this book. The premise sounds so strange I wasn’t sure what I would think of it. The book read as a modern myth, legend, or fairy tale. Each chapter was a unique adventure of its own, but overall the book built to a stunning conclusion and epic graveyard battle as the mystery of murder of Bod’s birth family was finally solved.

The setting of the cemetery was brilliant. I have always been fond of cemeteries. I think they are very peaceful and beautiful places. I’ve always liked to read the old names on the gravestones and wonder what the lives of the individuals who lived so long ago were like. I’m used to graveyards in the mid-western United States where an “old” gravestone can be dated 1840. Part of the allure of The Graveyard Book to me was that the history that went along with the graves was fascinating. The oldest grave in the cemetery is a Roman centurion, but even older is an ancient “indigo man” who lives inside the hill. I particularly liked the chapter on the witch, Liza Hempstock. It really told of a time when a woman could be accused for witchcraft and murdered because she stole someone else’s man. Liza was buried outside of the cemetery proper in the potter’s field.

The copy of The Graveyard Book that I read included illustrations by Dave McKean. I thought the illustrations really added to the mood of the book and I enjoyed starting each new chapter with a new picture.

Although the book starts with my own worst nightmare, a family murdered in their sleep by a stranger, I thought overall the book was a positive book. It was not overly violent or gross, but did have plenty of adventure, history, and mystery.

A Facebook quiz told me that Neil Gaiman was my literary match. I had no idea who Neil Gaiman was, but soon discovered I had many friends who were fans and highly recommended his works. I’ve enjoyed reading his blog over the past year or so and I really enjoyed reading The Graveyard Book. It was the first Gaiman book I’ve read, but will definitely not be the last.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library