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A review by bigdreamsandwildthings
The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman
4.0
“Honesty matters. Vulnerability matters. Being open about who you were at a moment in time when you were in a difficult or an impossible place matters more than anything. Having a place the story starts and a place it’s going: that’s important. Telling your story, as honestly as you can, and leaving out the things you don’t need, that’s vital."
I read this for a class I'm taking on writing for children, so I'm going to post the review I wrote for class as my review here as well. I enjoyed this, despite not being a great lover of nonfiction. I think Gaiman could write a how-to manual on flossing and I'd read it and be completely absorbed in his words.
Whether you’ve read one of Neil Gaiman’s many books, seen his work as a movie or a television show, or stumbled across an article written from his journalism days, the man is clearly a prolific creator, and The View from the Cheap Seats provides insight into his influences as well as hints at how he has lived such a creative life. It’s a book about writing, about reading and libraries and bookshops, but it’s so much more: it covers the world of comics, children’s literature, and SF (science fiction or speculative fiction, depending on your preference). It delves into music and movies and their influence on his life. It provides insight into Neil as a human, rather than just Neil as an author, particularly in the sections of his writing about his friends and fellow creators. Essentially, it’s a book about life, and Neil writes it as beautifully yet approachably as he does the rest of his fiction.
As it is written in Gaimanesque style, this collection kept me up late, wanting to read on, to be absorbed into his worlds even if they aren’t the usual fantastical ones. The essays are collected into sections, ranging from “Some Things I Believe” to “Make Good Art” and include content that ranges from introductions to books by other authors to personal essays to newspaper articles to speeches he’s given. His style is interesting, flitting from flowery purple prose to grounded, simple words within the span of a paragraph, and the variation and unexpectedness of it kept me engaged. In terms of content itself, there were some essays in the collection that I did not connect with, simply because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter. However, because of his style, I was still able to read and enjoy them and to take something from each one, whether an anecdote about the subject or a tidbit about writing or life itself. Gaiman is witty and sincere, and his nonfiction comes across as whimsical yet grounded. I particularly enjoyed the first section of the book, “Some Things I Believe”. This is not a book with hard-hitting writing tips, but it is inspiring, well written, and entertaining, and really, what more could a person ask for from a book of nonfiction?
I read this for a class I'm taking on writing for children, so I'm going to post the review I wrote for class as my review here as well. I enjoyed this, despite not being a great lover of nonfiction. I think Gaiman could write a how-to manual on flossing and I'd read it and be completely absorbed in his words.
Whether you’ve read one of Neil Gaiman’s many books, seen his work as a movie or a television show, or stumbled across an article written from his journalism days, the man is clearly a prolific creator, and The View from the Cheap Seats provides insight into his influences as well as hints at how he has lived such a creative life. It’s a book about writing, about reading and libraries and bookshops, but it’s so much more: it covers the world of comics, children’s literature, and SF (science fiction or speculative fiction, depending on your preference). It delves into music and movies and their influence on his life. It provides insight into Neil as a human, rather than just Neil as an author, particularly in the sections of his writing about his friends and fellow creators. Essentially, it’s a book about life, and Neil writes it as beautifully yet approachably as he does the rest of his fiction.
As it is written in Gaimanesque style, this collection kept me up late, wanting to read on, to be absorbed into his worlds even if they aren’t the usual fantastical ones. The essays are collected into sections, ranging from “Some Things I Believe” to “Make Good Art” and include content that ranges from introductions to books by other authors to personal essays to newspaper articles to speeches he’s given. His style is interesting, flitting from flowery purple prose to grounded, simple words within the span of a paragraph, and the variation and unexpectedness of it kept me engaged. In terms of content itself, there were some essays in the collection that I did not connect with, simply because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter. However, because of his style, I was still able to read and enjoy them and to take something from each one, whether an anecdote about the subject or a tidbit about writing or life itself. Gaiman is witty and sincere, and his nonfiction comes across as whimsical yet grounded. I particularly enjoyed the first section of the book, “Some Things I Believe”. This is not a book with hard-hitting writing tips, but it is inspiring, well written, and entertaining, and really, what more could a person ask for from a book of nonfiction?