Neverwhere

I've been intrigued by the works of Neil Gaiman ever since viewing the animated movie Coraline. I was vaguely aware of Gaiman as a name dropped by my more hip acquaintances, but I was never exactly sure what kind of novels he wrote. Well, now I have read Neverwhere and I still am not sure what kind of novels he writes.

The back of my copy states, "Gaiman is a master...nobody in his field is better than this." That may be so. I have no way of knowing because I still have no idea what his field actually is. I think the inside cover says something about urban fantasy. The style was unfamiliar to me, which was both disorienting and kind of enjoyable. I never did figure out who his target audience was. It didn't read like most popular adult fiction, but it definitely isn't artsy, and while I was reminded of young adult lit, it didn't read like that either.

The story follows Richard Mayhew, a likeable but somewhat boring office worker with a hen-pecking fiance. Throughout most of the narrative, I found myself feeling sorry for the protagonist, but very much wanting him to grow a backbone.

Neverwhere is escapist, as all good fantasy is. The overall premise is that there is an alternative, invisible London that is unknown and unseen by everyday folk. While parallel worlds are the bread and butter of the fantasy genre, Gaiman's is certainly original: a sort of anarchic/feudal society highly reminiscent of Arthurian legend, but with perhaps some campy sci-fi thrown in... It is an original mix of things. I was strangely reminded of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

The story is interesting enough, but as often happens with creative ideas, Gaiman spends so much time crafting his world that he gets lazy with the plot, especially the ending. Even more frustrating is the fact that we never learn all of the details of this imaginary world. We are left to guess and surmise at many important details, which may be intentional, but seemed lazy to my mind. Overall, the world was engaging, but the story was not crafted particularly tightly. Gaiman paints brief portraits of characters that we are supposed to care about, but since he doesn't take the time to firmly establish their personalities or relationships, they seemed two-dimensional to me and I had a difficult time caring about anyone but the two leads. Not nearly enough time is spent with the novel's female protagonist, who had a great deal of potential.

Still, Neverwhere plays with some interesting themes, ones that draw readers of fantasy to the genre. There's a strong sense of "Is this all there is to life?" and the overall question Gaiman is asking seems to be "What if there was something more? What if there were another world you could step into? Would you do it?" It's a fun question to play with, and made the novel worth reading for me. I suppose I'll have to read some more Gaiman, just to see what he's really about.