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A review by shannenlc
The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction by Neil Gaiman
Disclaimer: I don't rate non-fiction.
I've read three of Gaiman's books prior to this - Coraline, The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane - and haven't loved any of them. But time and time again I find myself returning to Gaiman because he's so beloved in fantasy circles, and since his stories don't always seem to be a big hit for me I wanted to give his non-fiction a go instead.
This collection comprises of primarily speeches and other pieces of miscellaneous writings on various topics that you'd expect Gaiman to discuss such as literature, publishing, sci-fi, fantasy, children's books and more. Gaiman is a beautiful writer and has a beautiful way with words. I resonated deeply with so many of the sentiments in this collection, particularly around the value and enrichment of literature and libraries.
However, I do think that I wasn't able to get the most out of the collection because I'm not a huge Gaiman fan and there were a lot of things in the book that I wasn't interested in. I skipped a lot of the chapters and focused on reading what appealed to me, and the ones that I read were great, but the majority of the book didn't appeal to me. So whilst I appreciate Gaiman as a writer and liked hearing his thoughts on literature, I wasn't the intended audience for this book. I would highly recommend it for Gaiman fans or anyone that loves Gaiman's work, because I think it would work a lot better for those people than it did for myself.
Ideas, written ideas, are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our ideas from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history. We lose much of what makes us human. And fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gift of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.
I've read three of Gaiman's books prior to this - Coraline, The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane - and haven't loved any of them. But time and time again I find myself returning to Gaiman because he's so beloved in fantasy circles, and since his stories don't always seem to be a big hit for me I wanted to give his non-fiction a go instead.
This collection comprises of primarily speeches and other pieces of miscellaneous writings on various topics that you'd expect Gaiman to discuss such as literature, publishing, sci-fi, fantasy, children's books and more. Gaiman is a beautiful writer and has a beautiful way with words. I resonated deeply with so many of the sentiments in this collection, particularly around the value and enrichment of literature and libraries.
However, I do think that I wasn't able to get the most out of the collection because I'm not a huge Gaiman fan and there were a lot of things in the book that I wasn't interested in. I skipped a lot of the chapters and focused on reading what appealed to me, and the ones that I read were great, but the majority of the book didn't appeal to me. So whilst I appreciate Gaiman as a writer and liked hearing his thoughts on literature, I wasn't the intended audience for this book. I would highly recommend it for Gaiman fans or anyone that loves Gaiman's work, because I think it would work a lot better for those people than it did for myself.