Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders

Neil Gaiman

The reviews of this book have been surprisingly mixed; "surprisingly" because there's a lot of really good stuff here. Sure, it's inconsistent, but when you put together a collection of ten years of an author's work, not everything is going to ring. I mean, think about it; what was the last single-author short story collection you read where everything was of absolutely top quality? With collections it's often a matter of perspective, and that's reflected in the reviews (Publisher's Weekly calls the collection "largely disappointing," while Library Journal gives it a starred review; considering those two often march in lockstep, you can see just how much a matter of perspective it is).

There is some wonderful, lovely stuff here. "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" stands out, perhaps, but one could just as easily choose "Bitter Grounds" or "October in the Chair" as the best of the stories in here. Or "Strange Little Girls." Or "Feeders and Eaters." Or... you get the picture.

Gaiman also includes some poetry here, and I usually cringe when I see the two mixed in an anthology that's mostly prose. Let's face it, most short story writers who dabble in poetry make a thoroughly awful job of it. But Gaiman realizes that where free verse is concerned, the rhythm's the thing, and as such, the stuff here is readable, at least. It's not great, timeless stuff, certainly not of equal stature with the prose pieces here, but it doesn't hurt the volume (in the way Stephen King's poems did in Skeleton Crew, for example).

If you're a Gaiman fan, you don't need my recommendation to pick this up. If you're not, you may be better served starting with the brilliant novel American Gods, or the ever-popular (and for good reason) Sandman series of graphic novels. But when you've gotten your head around Gaiman's narrative voice, come back here and get another dose of it; you'll like what you find.