Short story collections are tricky. At their best, each story flows into the next, telling a different story but with an interconnectedness that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts. I adore Neil Gaiman's fiction. I find it clever, full of subtext and extremely inventive. Having said that, this collection didn't work that well for me. Individually I enjoyed all of the stories and a couple pulled me into their world (at least for a short time). I found myself thinking about them afterwards but...(don't you hate that word?) the flow wasn't there for me. The transition from one story into the next wasn't seamless and I could put down the book without having that pull to get back to the next story.
This is still a great collection and does include another Spider tale (yeah!) so for fans is well worth reading. It probably won't make my notable final list although the other committee members may disagree with me. (Silly committee members.)
No comments:
Post a Comment