This week is another where not all the short stories are in the edition of the book that I have. This is the third week in a row! Last week, I didn't really worry too much about it, mainly because I was running very late with my reading. This week I tried to find it but couldn't! One day I might try and get hold of Smoke and Mirrors which apparently does have the missing story in as long as I get the UK version and not the US one.
My Life - This story made me laugh, mainly because it reminded me of someone I know, and I am sure that lots of other people know people like this too! If you say that you had a car accident and had to get your door replaced, they not only had an accident where they broken bones, but every door in the car had to be replaced and the accident happened because a plane fell from the sky. And if you say that you were on a plane that fell from the sky, they were on a plane that did that but they crashed because it was hit by space junk burning up on reentry. It doesn't matter how out there the story you tell is, they always have experienced more, hurt more, felt more....always just more!
Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot - This is the story that I couldn't find for this week's reading. To be honest, I am a bit disappointed because it sounds like fun.
Feeders and Eaters - The motif of someone maintaining their youth by taking it from another is quite common in stories. Gaiman takes this and starts out with a quite harmless take on it. A man visits a cafe where someone he knows recognises him. But the Eddie Barrow who our storyteller meets that night doesn't look anything like the Eddie Barrow that he used to know. When Eddie tells his story, we are back in the macabre imagination of Neil Gaiman, a world where once fresh meat would do to maintain the body of an old woman, but gradually it is nowhere near enough. Only really fresh will do.
It is hard for me to say if I liked this story or not. It was gripping, and I had to keep turning the pages to see what happened. The pacing was excellent with just enough details revealed until the moment when you realised where the story was going, but yes, gruesome!
Disease Makers Croup - I tried to read this on Friday night. It was late, I was tired, and I have no idea what was going on. I reread the introduction on Saturday and wasn't much more enlightened. I suspect that because it was written to match a specific theme for a specific collection it loses something when you take it out of that context.
If you want to listen to the stories that all five contributor's came up with, then just click on the following link. The other authors who have written a short story are Dave Eggers, Jeanne Darst, Wendy McClure and Fiona Maazel
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=448&act=2
Neil Gaiman's story begins at around just after 53.45 if you just want to listen to that one.
Okay, wait... I am now thinking that I have read Fifteen Painted Cards before. I thought it seemed familiar, but it never occurred to me it would be in another one of his collections. It's too bad you couldn't read it. I actually liked it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Disease Makers Croup is just not my cup-of-tea. I am not sure what is going on with it, but it didn't do very much for me!
Feeders and Eaters sounds like a very interesting story, and once again confirms to me that I need to read this collection! I bet you must be so frustrated that you don't have all the stories. I know I would be!
ReplyDeleteI agree about Diseasemakers Croup. It didn't really do much for me, especially in this collection. It didn't fit with any of the other stories, and didn't seem to have that supernatural feel that the rest of the stories did. :/
ReplyDeleteDiseasemaker's Croup makes more sense if you listen/read carefully to the point where the narrator mentions symptoms because as he goes along it is obvious he is developing just those symptoms. Not one to read when tired. Works well when you hear Gaiman reading it but it still isn't one that I am overly fond of.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to say one "likes" a story like Feeders and Eaters considering the subject matter, but if you are simply assessing it as a horror story it is a very, very good one. Just the right amount of stuff to be disturbing and yet devoid of the excessive sex and gore of some of Gaiman's other horror stories in this collection. I like it.
So sorry you weren't able to read the Vampire Tarot story as it is really clever. I hope you can track it down at some point.
My Life is just too fun. And yes, we do all know those kind of one upsmanship people, don't we. Although I suspect that no one would even try to one up him!
Thanks for the link for This American Life. I love that show.
I agree that it's hard to say whether or not one "likes" Feeders and Eaters because of the whole cannibalism/eating people/kitties/etc. thing that Gaiman has going on, but at the same time I think that it's superbly done.
ReplyDeleteIf you do ever have a chance or come across it, I think you'd like the Vampire Tarot story. It must be incredibly frustrating to have fewer stories in the UK edition...
I agree that it's hard to say whether or not one "likes" Feeders and Eaters because of the whole cannibalism/eating people/kitties/etc. thing that Gaiman has going on, but at the same time I think that it's superbly done.
ReplyDeleteIf you do ever have a chance or come across it, I think you'd like the Vampire Tarot story. It must be incredibly frustrating to have fewer stories in the UK edition...