Over the past year, I’ve participated in several of the
(non)challenges hosted by Carl over at Stainless
Steel Droppings. In that time, I’ve
had to pass on quite a few read-alongs that he has also hosted and which have
always looked amazingly fun. When I saw
that he had one planned for Neil Gaiman’s Stardust,
which is short and sounded fun, I thought it was not only a good chance to
hopefully redeem my opinion of Gaiman after a not so enthusiastic reading of The
Graveyard Book, and also the opportunity to participate in one of Carl’s
read-alongs as I’ve been waiting for so long to do.
So here is the first installment. As
Carl suggested, I’ve been listening to Gaiman himself read this one and
like I said in the case of The Graveyard Book, Gaiman does a fantastic job
reading his own work. Carl has also
suggested we take these questions as we please and I’m doing just that. I’m getting to this late after-all.
******
1. We have spent a
little time with Tristran and even less time with the star. What are your initial thoughts/impressions of
our two protagonists?
2. There are some very
interesting potential villains introduced in this first half of the book. Do any of them particularly stand out to you?
If so why or why not?
At
first I didn’t care much for any of the villains, but I became very interested
in the Witch Queen toward the end of Chapter 5.
Her goats were interesting and her chariot even more so, but what I
really appreciated was that we see her fooled so early in the story. She is still clearly a force to be reckoned
with and will no doubt cause some serious trouble for Tristan but she’s also
liable to be tricked when her guard is down too. It didn’t so much endear me to her as it did
to the storytelling itself. I like that
Gaiman’s villains can be pretty terrifying even when we see that they can be
tricked into paying too much for the milk (that is totally not a saying but I’m
going with it).
3. In Chapter Three,
just after the section with the brothers in Stormhold, Neil Gaiman gives us a
description of Faerie that includes "each land that has been forced off
the map by explorers and the brave going out and proving it wasn't
there...". What imaginary lands do
you then hope are a part of Faerie?
4. We do not get to
spend a great deal of time in the market but while there we are given a number
of interesting descriptions of the wares being bartered or sold. Which if any of them caught your eye, either
as items you would like to possess or ones you would most certainly hope to
avoid.
5. If you have read
much of Gaiman's work, particularly his short fiction, then you have come
across some rather graphic and disturbing portrayals of sex. Gaiman offers up something very different in
the way of a sex scene early on in Stardust.
What are your feelings of the scene either in general or as a contrast
to other Gaiman-penned scenes involving sex?
I
didn’t so much enjoy the sex scene per-se, but I did enjoy how emotionally
charged it was, without being graphic or disturbing as Gaiman’s other
portrayals have been. Instead, I came
away feeling very much a part of the fleeting yet strong and unspoken
connection between two people. It seemed
like something that shouldn’t be overlooked and felt real and important. In a world that was so quickly established as
something different than our own, their meeting seemed so real. Of course, anything Gaiman writes has an
essentially other-worldly quality but, and especially in contrast to the market
scene, this scene imparted a sense of grace and beauty that was shockingly
endearing.
6. I suspect Neil
Gaiman is influenced by a number of fairy and folk tales in Stardust. Are there any elements of the story that made
a particular impression and/or reminded you of other fairy stories you have
read or are familiar with?
7. And finally, which
of the many side characters introduce have caught your eye and why? Or what
else about the story thus far is of interest to you?
The
dynamic between Tristan and his father, Tristan and his mother, and between the
father and mother themselves was just great.
Gaiman really just hints at a quiet anxiety but even the nub he shows us
hints at a pretty complicated family dynamic that I really wish we could have
heard more about. The truth just seemed to hang about the air and though the
family put on pretty taciturn airs, all the little things apparently made a
huge impact on Tristan’s upbringing. Meanwhile,
his father’s acceptance and special attention only highlights what they were
all trying so desperately not to point out.
We didn’t get much of a look at the family, but what we did see was
fraught…in the most intriguing way.
Similarly,
I was, at least initially, very interested in what could have made Tristan’s
mother leave him at the Gates of Wall. I
think we’ll probably get a better flavor for the pressures and fears that lead
her to make such a difficult choice as we get further into the book, but maybe
not. In any case, it only contributed to
a very much understated sense of mystery surrounding Tristan that I was quite
thrilled with. Compared to Gaiman’s
other books I’ve read (just a few of them), this has been the most absorbing
beginning for me.
Of
course this is also where my only complaint comes in so far. I couldn’t help feeling there was something
missing in Tristan’s character. I didn’t
get the sense that his family life, excessive teasing, and his deep love for
Victoria didn’t make for the strong connection with Tristan that you might
expect. He seemed oddly impervious to
the weirdness and meanness, and the outright rebuffs Victoria deals him. You’d expect his reactions, or lack thereof,
to somehow manifest themselves as an extraordinary sense of determinedness or
other such capability. Instead he came
off rather uncaring and emotionally inept at times.
