Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

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	• Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.) Neil Gaiman Harper Perennial, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 84 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

What more can be said

I've had this book forever, and I go back to it from time to time and it is always a fond reacquaintance.

Neil Gaiman is most famous for his Sandman comics, and, more recently, his novels. His short stories are more varied than his novels, having more in common with his comic book work, which is natural considering the similarities between the mediums.

Anyway, these stories run the gamut between regular short stories, you know, the kind that tell a normal story with a twist at the end. Some of the others are more experimental, poems and stories that aren't really stories.

My favorite story of the entire collection is actually a hidden story, not marked on the table of contents. How a story is hidden in a book is a mystery that I will leave for you to discover, dear reader, but once you find it you will not be disappointed.

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A Mixed Bag

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, many of the stories included in this anthology lack the brilliance of some of the author's later stories like 'American Gods' and 'Neverwhere'.

Many of these stories are either hit or miss. Some of the best in this collection include 'Troll Bridge', 'The White Road', 'Bay Wolf', 'One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock' 'Murder Mysteries' and 'Snow, Glass, Apples' (quite simply, one of the most disturbing tales I have ever read. I will never think of Snow White in the same way.) These stories were all as good as Gaiman's later novels and display the unlimited creativity and dark wit that I have come to associate with him.

Some that I can think of that seem to be lacking something are, 'The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories', 'Looking for the Girl', 'Cold Colors' (a headache inducing tale, to be sure) 'Changes', and 'Tastings.' These just didn't seem to click for me.

In any case, there are certainly stories in here that warrant the purchase of the Mass Market Paperback version, not limited to the ones I listed. Neil Gaiman is one of our most interesting contemporary authors, and to miss out on some of the buried treasures contained here would be a mistake.

Not his best work, but certainly worth a read.

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Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of his short stories and poems. Like his other short story/poem collection titled Fragile Things, this book too has an introduction with commentary of each of the stories and poems contained within. For me, this introduction is the best part of the book because of his witty insight and inspirational motivations regarding each story. Within the introduction also lies another short story unmarked in the table of contents, a pleasant addition to the entire book.

Gaiman's approach to style is refreshing and full of lessons to one looking to learn the craft of writing. Many of the stories, to me, seemed unorthodox, a deviation to a path I thought I was beginning to understand. His methods are intriguing and entertaining, full of marvelous rewards. To review each story and poem is beyond the scope of this review but I will highlight a few short stories that appealed to me on many different levels.

The Price: An interesting piece about a seemingly stray black cat who turns out to be a guardian of sorts. The story moves in smooth and fluid motion to a surprise ending. Enjoyable, to say the least!

Troll Bridge: This more elaborate and compelling rendition of the old tale brings a sense of mystery and magic into the shadows of common places. Gaiman creates a feeling of anxiety in this darker version of the story but closes in the most uncommon of ways.

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: An American backpacker across Britain stumbles into a town never identified on any map. A step into the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos, Gaiman brings the unknown and surreal into beautiful clarity and keeps it practical.

Only the End of the World Again: Another step into Lovecraft's famous hidden town of Innsmouth but this time from the eyes of a detective. Uncovering a plot to raise the great Cthulhu, the investigator, cursed with lycanthropy, moves to thwart their plans. He discovers that not everyone in Innsmouth can be trusted or ignored.

Bay Wolf: A second tale of the Innsmouth werewolf detective who, while vacationing, it seems, in Malibu, is hired to stop some creature from stalking the beach and murdering the Barbie and Kens of this rich resort. More poem than short story it still reads well and entertains.

We Can Get Them for You Wholesale: A tale of a non-confrontational miser trying to live peacefully and without trouble suddenly finds himself hiring a hitman to solve a problem. But, saving money and getting the better deal turns out to backfire in way I didn't expect. A very good read.

Foreign Parts: This story brings to light an interesting idea about disease. A man somehow contracts a disease more commonly venereal but ends up having a far different reaction. Intriguing, and very interesting characterization.

Tastings: An erotic tale of a different sort of vampire. A male gigolo attends to a female client and reveals an interesting secret about himself, never realizing that he isn't the only one with such a secret.

Babycakes: A horrible piece of flash fiction that poignantly reminds us of the depth of depravity mankind could stoop to, implausible, but always having that little spark of "What if". Well done!

Murder Mysteries: The coup de grace of this entire book. The one sole reason I would have gladly paid the entire cover price for. Murder Mysteries tells of the waking of the angel Raguel whose purpose is to discover the truth of the death of another angel. Set in heaven long before the world and universe is created, or in actuality being created during this investigation, this tale drives home some very powerful ideas of God, Lucifer, and the celestial balance.

A couple other stories were remarkable, such as the poem Queen of Knives, and the story Mouse. I avoided reviewing most of the poems because of my general lack of comprehension with poem structure, meaning, and imagery. Again, Murder Mysteries alone justified my purchase of this book, the rest of the stories were entertaining and made the book that much more enjoyable.

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Meh.

This was what most anthologies are. A mixture of hit and miss. The short stories were generally quite good (with a few exceptions) and the poems were universally bland and uninteresting to me.

If you are a professional writer, and you are going to write poems, at least have them conform to some stylistic convention. They can't be the kind of thing that you find in the diary of every emo kid from SoCal to Michigan.

Buy it if you like his work, avoid it if you don't. The only exceptional story in this collection is Murder Mysteries, which is worthwhile to everyone. But reading the whole thing for thirty pages of value is...short-sighted. There are a lot of books in the world.

Harkius

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In the deft hands of Neil Gaiman, magic is no mere illusion . . . and anything is possible. In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders?where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks. Explore a new reality, obscured by smoke and darkness yet brilliantly tangible, in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.

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