I was not really into fantasy fictions. I love sci-fi, but pure fantasies? Not so much. Thanks to Jennifer’s book club, I was recently introduced to two of Neil Gaiman’s short fantasies, two among the best, of course, since every single one of his work is on the list of bestsellers. And I absolutely love them.
I had heard a lot about the writer. A couple of (I mean nearly 10) years ago the Science Fiction World magazine used an entire column to introduce him and his then new work The Graveyard Book. I even remember that he has a Chinese blog which I followed for a few months. He seemed like a fine guy who has a warm and relaxing smile on his profile picture. I tried to search for the book in school libraries and local bookstores, but I had no luck with that. Soon I forgot about the whole thing to focus on my college entrance exam and other stuff.
It was in 2008 or 2009 that I watched the Stardust movie, which I absolutely adored, and that’s when the name of the author, on whose novel this movie was based, rang a bell. I recollected my long overdue reading list, but it was not until the March of 2012 that I actually started reading his books. Call me a procrastinator LOL.
Now I’ve read two of Neil Gaiman’s short fictions, Stardust and The Graveyard Book. Every book I read makes me take a step forward to fall in love with him — I was kidding — his writing style. The way he depicts things is so smooth and effortless that sometimes I felt as if he was telling the story orally. Yet he pictures every scene so vividly that before I know it I was immersed into his imaginary world. The light of the star glittering, the whuthering of winds blowing through the woods, the reflection of moonlight bouncing around on the man Jack’s knife … and the mist of fog covering the graveyard, all and much more of these scenes are so real that they seem touchable within the range of the reaching-out of a hand.
I particularly love the scene at the beginning of Stardust where Tristan’s parents met and fell in love. My second favorite is where Tristan and Yvaine got on Captain Shakespeare’s flying boat. I like the way the movie scripted the boat part, btw, which made the Captain character much funnier (and I love him!). The ending of the book was a little disappointing though, since I thought after all they have been through Tristan would have figured out what he wanted, but he still went back to Victoria, and it was only after he found out she’s marrying another man that he came to Yvaine. Well well, please don’t blame me for wanting a perfect ending for a romance story! I still enjoy the whole book very much.
My favorite chapter of The Graveyard Book is the last one where Nobody grew up and could no longer see or hear his parents and old friends of the graveyard and decided to embrace the new life awaiting. It was such a sad moment when a grown child has to leave his home, and when he comes back in years, “it will still be a place, but it won’t be home any longer.” That almost made me burst into tears. True we will always be connected to the place we call home, and be missed by the loved ones who will love you back at any price, but sooner or later we have to accept that we cannot always share a life together… Luckily we are all courageous enough to lead the lives on our own.
The next of Neil Gaiman’s book on my list would be… hmm, American Gods. It was said to be the “best and most ambitious of Neil Gaiman’s novels yet”, and yes, I’m looking forward to it.
