Our discussion of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
October 30, 2015
On Wednesday, October 28th, we met to discuss Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Here are some highlights of the discussion:
We had a lot of questions about the character of Richard – why was he able to kill the beast and survive the ordeal? Why did he make the decisions he did? Some of our thoughts were:
- He had the capacity to kill the beast and to help Door – that is why he was chosen to find her.
- Richard was on a quest, he came of age and matured in the end. He was the wise fool or innocent heart.
Specifically on Richard’s decision to return to London Below:
- London Below was like hell and was not romantic or real. It was too grim, dangerous and full of poverty to explain anyone ever wanting to return there. No one was making things except the blacksmith - everyone else was just bartering lost or discarded things. Just because colorful adventures went on Below, doesn’t mean it would be a good place to live.
- Richard could have chosen to live an unconventional life Above. Some hoped he would transform his life Above after he got back and felt that the last chapter seemed tacked on to prepare for a sequel (we’re still waiting!).
- Others felt that Richard’s life was very empty in London Above which made it possible for him to choose Below. Perhaps once his eyes were opened and he knew magic existed, he couldn’t go back to a mundane existence?
Other characters:
- Jessica was very unpleasant – she was trying to change Richard. She was the model for London Above – with “normal” goals like getting ahead at work, getting married, etc. vs. London Below which was dirty, creative, and dangerous.
- We wondered how old Door was supposed to be? Mid-teens or was she thousands of years old?
- We loved Croup and Vandemar – they seemed to symbolize mythological characters like Pain and Panic in Greek legend or Orpheus in the Underworld. They were iconic figures like those in the Kraken by China Miéville or Jack in the Graveyard book. A nice touch was having Croup eat the ancient Chinese pottery.
- The Marquis was crucified and rose from the dead, but he wasn’t much of a Christ-like figure.
Neil Gaiman
- Gaiman looks at the world just a little off-kilter, but not Stephen King off-kilter.
- The story was like stories of Fairy where nothing is real – everything is an illusion. This was a fairy tale and a model for urban fantasy where old myths are placed in a modern setting.
- The book was well-written with cool stuff like hidden alleyways.
- Gaiman seemed to be commenting about the treatment of the homeless by having the citizens of London Below “who had fallen between the cracks” be almost invisible to people in London Above and by having the ordeal that Richard underwent be in the guise of a delusional person on a subway platform.
Other comments:
- What was the meaning of the phrase/oath, “temple and arch” that the characters kept saying?
Please add any additional thoughts or comments you may have about Neverwhere. We gave this title the codes CTY, QUE, LEL, MYT, and FAIR with an average rating of 4.3.
Comments
I am awed by the
I am awed by the characterizations. What a joy to read these dynamic characters. Normally I find character and scene narratives aggravating but in Neverwhere's case, I found them just right.
Agree that the return to London Above came across as contrived. a nice twist would have been to end the novel at the scene where Door asks Richard if he is ready to return -- leaving the reader to guess whether Richard would have returned or have stayed.
As far as Richard returning to the "London Below [that] was like hell" as per the comment above, I'm reminded of an author describing her tours in the Antarctic. As I recall she commented something along the lines that for the first tour you go for the adventure, the second for the money and every one after because you don't fit anywhere else. That is how I see Richard returning as he did not fit in London above.
What a wonderful read. Thanks.
Richard
I thought the ending was wonderful. I very much think both of you are on to something. It is an analogy to how we treat the homeless, and yeah, Richard doesn't fit in anywhere else. He didn't fit in Above to begin with. He was Stranger in a Strange Land before he was Stranger in a Strange Land to begin with but in many ways that describes many of us - many that feeling like going through the motions is wrong but we can't stop. So when the kind hearted Richard realizes that Below makes him fit, makes him stronger, makes him mean something.... It's natrual for him to want to go back. And he has a big heart - not only would he care for these people he would thrive among them because of that.
It also ties into the ordeal. I don't have an awe inspiring idea as to why he survived - I think he survived because he was simply still caught between two worlds. And he was relatively new. The confusion made him able to hold off just long enough - unlike the others who would have been below for much longer and have a much stronger and heartbreaking reaction to the same type of torcher. And once he makes it out he realizes, as does Hunter, he has changed. The confidence by itself changed him, and it stuck with him and he didn't feel it when he went back above, at least not really FEEL it. You can't go from slaying demons to climbing the corporate ladder and have it be comparable to your ego.
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