Neil Gaiman
I was supposed to choose a “beach read” for July, possibly a romance novel, but instead, I found myself immersed in the fictional worlds of Neil Gaiman. I first encountered this author some years ago in an audio version of Gaiman’s Norse Mythology read by the author. I remember thinking, “Wow! Who is this guy?” Since then, I’ve read The Graveyard Book and, this summer, Stardust and Neverwhere. It’s unusual for me to read two books by the same author back to back, or even the same genre back to back, but I couldn’t help myself. Neil Gaiman’s prose is so clever and quirky, beautiful and thought jarring, I had to have more — immediately. First published in 1996, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is a wonderful trip down the rabbit hole and a showcase of phenomenal writing.
Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, an unlikely hero living an ordinary life in London. He has a job in securities, a beautiful (if controlling) fiancée, and friends to meet for drinks after work. What he doesn’t have is a friend who can conjure magical doors, a maze-dwelling monster he must battle, or two immortal psychopaths trying to kill him. All that changes, however, the night Richard stops to help an injured girl collapsed on the sidewalk. In a sudden reversal of what he has with what he never imagined, Richard must navigate the fantastical and dangerous world of London Below if he ever wants to regain his ordinary life in London Above.
In this story, Neil Gaiman grounds the magical, the perilous, and the profound in the mundane. He begins with the invisibility of homeless people living on the street and creates a whole invisible world beneath the streets on which they sleep. Gaiman knows how to pair the ordinary with the extraordinary (conventional life with supernatural society; history with mythology) in a way that doesn’t break the stride of his plot or stutter the rhythm of his story.
This book also illustrates that amidst a strange and impossible tale, it is essential that characters ring true. Though wildly imaginative, Neverwhere is peopled with believable characters — characters that are authentic, not idealized. Especially in the protagonists, their flaws inspired my empathy. Also worth noting is Gaiman’s skill in changing vocabulary and tone according to the character depicted. Bailey’s dialogue with Richard in Chapter 8 is an excellent example of this linguistic wardrobe change.
Gaiman is a wordsmith of the highest order. His descriptions are vivid and delightful. For instance, one of the villains is described as having teeth that looked like an accident in a graveyard (Chapter 1). The author wields personification, one of my favourite writing tools, with ease and accuracy, producing imagery that awakens the reader’s senses. In Chapter 1, Gaiman describes London as a city where the very old and the awkwardly new jostled each other, but not uncomfortably. A few paragraphs later, we’re told how Richard had noticed that events were cowards as they always ran in packs. This author does not waste words. He chooses them carefully and arranges them strategically, creating prose that is witty, honest, and perceptive.
Neverwhere is an adult novel, and there are certainly instances of violence and mature subject matter in its multifaceted narrative. However, there’s a wonderful inclusion of humour throughout — which, I’ve realized, is a key component in my favourite reads. Chapter 6 is an outstanding example of this. I’ve always loved Eustace’s journal entries in C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Likewise, this chapter’s inclusion of Richard’s “mental diary” is a brilliant and humorous way to convey plot details and progress the story efficiently. Throughout this novel, I laughed aloud as often as I caught my breath, sighed with empathy, or worried for my favourite characters.
By book’s end, Richard Mayhew, the accidental hero, has led the reader through a maze of trials arriving at one final decision to be made. What will Richard decide? Of course, the decision you must make is whether or not to read this book. If you love fantasy or folklore, or simply appreciate fine writing, your choice is obvious. Perhaps, Richard’s is too.
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This book review of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Author’s Preferred Text) is based on the 2015 hardcover edition (© 1996, 1997 Neil Gaiman; this version of text © 2005, 2009, 2015 Neil Gaiman) published by William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, U.S.A.) and on the April 2017 unabridged audiobook edition (© 1996, 1997 Neil Gaiman; this version of text © 2005, 2014 Neil Gaiman; ℗ 2007, 2017 HarperCollins Publishers) published by HarperAudio and narrated by Neil Gaiman.