Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders Book

Here's what the introduction says about Fragile Things:

"It seemed like a fine title for a book of short stories. There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts."

It all feels like a desperate attempt to release a collection of unrelated stories into the world. They are all very unique and individual with a title that could be applied to a number of different short story books instead of this one.

So the book that has been sold to us feels like a very different thing to the one I read. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it quite embodies the model awkwardly proposed. I had very similar feelings when I read Gaiman's more recent collection Trigger Warning. The stories were quite good, but very few had anything to do with the idea of a "trigger" that sets the story in motion and reveals the horror lurking in wait. They were just stories.

And Gaiman's stories are full of possibilities. They are all so random and based upon chance encounters, and that's what drives them forward: I just didn't know what to expect from story to story. A man can walk into a diner and bump into a man he hasn't seen for ten years who has a very dark and twisted tale to share. A boy can walk down the street and see a ghost in the lamplight or another can wake up and find himself in hell. There's just no filter to the possibilities. They can go anywhere and be anything

So in terms of entertainment value (and the ability to keep things fresh and interesting across pieces) this scores very highly. No two stories are the same and none really follow a particular pattern or system. The idea of grouping them under a title seems a little absurd. A few of them, though, did feel like they belonged in the same world as American Gods. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he wrote some of them at the same time as working on his magnum-opus; there are certainly parallels.

As with all short story collections (especially inconsistent ones) there are good stories and then there are bad stories often involved. With this some stories remain open and then there are some that are weird to the point of being nonsensical. This is very much a mixed bag. I really enjoyed a few then there were others that just left me feeling confused as the story didn't seem to do anything.

I think Gaiman is a much better novel (and graphic novel) writer than he is a short story writer. This is worth reading if you're already a big fan of his, but if you're looking for really a decent collection of short stories I can think of much better places to look.