Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

Basic book description

Fragile things is an anthology of short stories and poems written by Neil Gaiman. They include a diverse collection of horror stories including:

• A study in emerald ( a bit like Sherlock Holmes)
• October in the chair (a boy befriends a ghost)
• Forbidden brides of the faceless slaves in the secret house of the night dread desire (when brides are not for humans)
• The facts in the case of the departure of Miss Finch (circus of horror)
• Harlequin Valentine (a mischievous being loses his heart)
• The problem of Susan (what really happened to Susan from Narnia)
• Feeders and eaters (the horrific fate of a good man)
• and many more...

What I liked about this book

This book was actually bought for me by my friend Aini during her trip to BookExcess (I just told her I wanted 3 books and left it totally up to her to choose).To be quite honest, I am not a fan of horror stories. This genre always tends to either leave me with the heeby-jeebies or just fails to pique my interest.  However, this book was sort of an exception to that rule. The horror element in each story was subtle and more cunningly infused into the plot. Some of them left me with a sense of dread somewhat akin to the sensation one feels after watching a good horror movie alone at night. Creepy! My favourite stories are "How do you think it feels? and Feeders and Eaters.

What I disliked about the book

Unfortunately, I was not able to appreciate his poetry. Some of his stories were very abstract and seemed not to have a definite directionality, with unsatisfactory conclusions. Like any collection of short stories, some were diamonds and others were lumps of coal. Thankfully, more of the former.

A quote I liked from the book

"There are some as are what they are. And there are some as aren't what they seem to be. And there are some as only seem to be what they seem to be."

Rating: 3.5/5