Neil Gaiman Update
If you haven’t read any Neil Gaiman, you should. If you have, but wonder what all he’s up to, this post is for you.
Gaiman wrote two of the last three novels I’ve read, the children’s book Coraline and (his latest) the grownup book Anansi Boys. Both are excellent.
Coraline is a nifty little horror fantasy novel for children. The heroine, a plucky young girl who’s small for her age, determined, but easily bored. As the novel opens, Coraline (which, as Gaiman has revealed on his blog, he pronounces “Cora-Line,” but can also be pronounced “Cora-Leen”) has just moved into an old house which she shares with her parents and some idiosyncratic neighbors in the adjoining apartments. In the drawing room is a door that opens to a brick wall. Except when it opens (as it inevitably does) to a darkened hallway that leads to an alternate universe created by a malevolent being that tells Coraline she’s her “other mother” and tries to keep Coraline as her beloved plaything. It’s terribly creepy, but also charming and funny and it has some valuable messages that every parent would want their child to learn. I plan on reading it to my daughters as soon as we finish the bedtime book we’re reading at the moment. I think they’ll enjoy it.
Anansi Boys is something of a spin-off of Gaiman’s wonderful folk-fantasy epic, American Gods. Like American Gods the story revolves around some anthropomorphic deities who are trying to make their way in a modern world. This book is much smaller in scope, however, focusing on the African mythical trickster god Anansi, a minor character in American Gods andâ€â€Âmore particularlyâ€â€Âtells the story of his two male offspring. The story is set in present-day England, coastal Florida and the Eastern Caribbean. And it’s hilarious.
As I was reading , it struck me that this novel might lend itself to a movie adaptation better than any of Gaiman’s other books (with the possible exception of , which seems almost custom made for Tim Burton). In fact, by a few chapters into the book, I had already cast Don Cheadle as one of the main characters (with Thandie Newton as his love interest, I think). It got me wondering why none of Gaiman’s books have made it to the screen yet.
Coraline likewise appears to be in production as well, apparently as an animated movie, as the ubiquitous Dakota Fanning has been cast as the voice talent for the title character.
In addition, a screenplay Gaiman wrote, Mirror Mask, which appears to be thematically similar to Coraline, was debuted at Sundance last year, and is now available on DVD. I haven’t seen it, but it’s now on my Netflix queue. (Gaiman also, incidentally, wrote the English-language adaptation for Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, something I knew at one time, but had forgotten.) Gaiman also has a co-writing credit for the upcoming Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf movie (featuring Crispin Glover as Grendel: “Hey you! Get your damn hands off my bog!”)
Even if you aren’t someone who generally reads much fantasy (I’m not either), I’d recommend you try out Gaiman. He’s one of the best authors around, and his work transcends the genre.
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Posted on April 20, 2006, in Books, DVD, Film. Bookmark the permalink. 15 Comments.
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Most of the time I don’t like it when I’m reading a book and translating it into a movie in my head. It distracts me.
I don’t like fantasy much but you’ve got me interested.
Neverwhere and American Gods are also both great reads (albeit slightly flawed — the latter less so than the former).
But a must-read is Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett. A ripping good story, but also one of the funniest novels ever.
Don’t forget the comics. His Marvel alternate-universe in 1602 is brill.
Ronan, I really enjoyed both Neverwhere and American Gods. I think American Gods, in particular, is an amazing achievement. Good Omens was good too–lots of fun–but left less of a lasting impression on me.
Gaiman’s probably most well-known for his Sandman comics. I’ve read the first in the series, but haven’t really gotten into them beyond that.
I liked “Snow Crash” – I think that book would make a really cool movie. I didn’t like ”American Gods” so much.  The characters were compelling – but the story was, for me, meandering and difficult to digest.ÂÂÂ
Oops, my ignorance of science fiction/fantasy is showing. Gaiman didn’t write “Snow Crash” – Stephenson did.
I loved the Sandman series.
I also loved American Gods, which I listened to unabridged. Some nights I sat in my car for fifteen minutes, parked in front of my house. I think it helps tremendously if you were a myth nerd, like me.
Mirrormask was very good. The visuals were fantastic.
Elisabeth,
One of the things I loved about American Gods was that it was such a big, sprawling project, but it managed to come together and have a really cool plot structure and compelling twist ending. I remember thinking two-thirds of the way through, “this is really interesting, but I wonder how he’ll tie it all together.” Then Gaiman pulled it off and I thought, “Wow.”
So I guess I’m saying that I respectfully disagree. I thought the plot of American Gods was great.
FWIW, Allison preferred Anansi Boys because it’s much more straight-forward and intimate.
I used to work at a residential treatment center for troubled teenage girls while I was in college. I was assigned to do an “intervention” with the girl with the worst behavior problems in the whole house. I had to be her ‘nurturer’. I combed her hair and fixed her food and at night I tucked her in and read her stories. I chose Coraline, like any good therapist would do. By the time we were done with the book she was calm and rule-abiding. I’m just saying, I think it’s full of the Holy Spirit.
I guess I’m in the minority that prefers Neverwhere to American Gods. I thought the latter become a bit heavy-handed at the end.
I liked Neverwhere and American Gods quite a lot; I was a bit disappointed with Anansi Boys, which I found to be only okay. Coraline, now, there’s a book! How much menace can you pack into a children’s book? Gaiman seems to have found the answer…
My wife and I saw Mirrormask in the theater. We loved it. The story is almost but not quite a straightforward Alice-in-Wonderland thing, but the characters, visuals, and world created in the Wonderland sort of realm are amazing.
Amri, somehow that’s incredibly fitting. I honestly think that Coraline is a great book for teaching behavior, in a completely non-preachy way, to children. It’s hard to explain why, exactly.
Amen on Sandman, Jennifer.
I just got chastised for using Holy Spirit on this explicitly non-religious Kultureblog. So by Holy Spirit I meant that Coraline sends out really good secularly karmic energy.
Last Lemming, I also liked Neverwhere a bit more than American Gods. Both are a lot of fun, but I have to pick any book using the Marquis of Carabas as a character. And to me, somehow, although he pulled it off in the end, I thought American Gods tried to do slightly too much in one story.
Amri, I’m LMAO.
Neverwhere was also excellent (as a book). The BBC show was frustratingly bad.