Once Upon a Time ... Neverwhere Discussion

Being in an online book discussion is a first, here. It’s been rather odd to force oneself to read only so far along in a book that has already caught my imagination. Gaiman’s parallel world of London Below is just such a strange and dangerous place …

From the moment I read of the little old lady taking Richard’s hand and telling his fortune in the rainy street outside the Scottish pub with its cryptic dialogue and nice bit of foreshadowing, London has seemed this sinister place that’s drawing poor Richard Mayhew … What does she mean about doors and why must he watch out for the doors? And then Door falls in front of Richard on a sidewalk and his life is forever changed. What does her appearance mean for Richard? Is he part of a bigger story than getting a job, moving to London, making a name for himself in Securites, finding a beautiful and driven fiancée, et cetera? What’s this strange otherworld all about?

So many questions and Gaiman is drawing me (us) further into the story. Now, Chip has asked us more questions. So … to the questions!

1. What do you think of our two villains thus far, Messers. Croup and  Vandemar?

What a perfect pair of evil hounds are Croup and Vandemar … for that is what they remind me, two hunting hounds all properly tricked out, sniffing and snuffling their way through London Below and Above on the trail of our mysterious bedraggled Door and anything or anyone close to her. Richard Mayhew is reminded of a fox and a wolf when C&V push their way into his life, an apt comparison, too. They are indeed, on the hunt and that makes them all the more dangerous, but what’s really scary is that we just don’t know the full extent of it yet … and that’s all the more frightening and titillating. I’m intrigued by these two, but I wouldn’t want to run into them in a dark alley or anywhere else in my life here in New Hampshire Above!

2. Thus far, we’ve had a small taste of London Below and of the people who inhabit it. What do you think of this world, the space that lies within or somewhat overlaps the space ‘the real world’ occupies?

My initial  reaction is to look at all the inhabitants as and places as reflections of what’s out there on the streets of any real city … the underlife, as one says, that skim by busy work-a-day people as they hurry to and fro in the city. There are the rats and the buskers and the drunks and the drug dealers and the smarmy cons and the quiet ‘do-gooders’ … and there are the unkempt alleys and dark dives with doors that hang partially open and the smelly ‘publicways’ that are crammed with garbage cans and the detritus that the wind deposits … and and and. All this seems distilled by Gaiman in London Below.

3. What ideas and themes are you seeing in these first five chapters of Neverwhere? Are there any that you are particularly drawn to?

My intial thoughts are drawn to the old adage “No good deed goes unpunished.”  Richard’s life is forever changed because he stopped in his busy life and helped a stranger. It remains to be seen whether he will regain his comfy and predictable lifetrack with Jessica and the job in Securities. Another idea that has rattled around in my mind is the concept of one’s life being lived for a specific (or higher) purpose that is oftentimes not clear to us. I wonder if the doors that the old woman warns Richard of are pre-destined to be opened and entered … that the good and the evil that happens is balanced in such a way as to keep the world balanced … weird, I know, but it is what I’m thinking as I read further into this book.  That leads me to thinking about characters and how they are balanced thus far.

4. We’ve met a number of secondary characters in the novel, who has grabbed your attention and why?

The marquis de Carabas is a bossy Goth-type in my eyes, bold and no-nonsense, pragmatic and practical in meeting challenges, someone with a limited conscience and a wicked streak. I’m looking forward to learning more about his motivations and perhaps his backstory. Obviously, Hunter is intriguing. Any woman that can kick ass as efficiently as she, is a noteworthy character. For sheer likeability, though, Old Bailey is a hoot. Love his jovial way of hawking his junk and helping Richard out by swapping an old hankie for crucial information.

What’s more interesting to me is the measured way that Neil Gaiman reveals information about his characters and I find myself wondering how he developed their personalities and the overall culture of London Below …

" There was something deeply tribal about the people, Richard decided. He tried to pick out distinct groups: there were the ones that looked like they had escaped from a historical reenactment society; the ones who reminded him of hippies; the albino people in grey clothes and dark glasses; the polished dangerous ones in smart suits and black gloves; the huge, almost identical women that walked together in twos and threes, and nodded when they saw each other; the tangle-haired ones who looked like they probably lived in sewers and smelled like Hell; and a hundred other types and kinds …"          - page 74 - at the Floating Market.

What an incredible imagination he has to conjure this vision of the peoples of London Below. The description opens a floodgate in the reader, don’t you think?

5. As you consider, the Floating Market, what kind of things does your imagination conjure up?  What would you hope to find, or what would you be looking for at the Market?

Answering this question demands that I link myself to Richard’s predicament.  He’s stuck in London Below, as his life in London Above seems to have dissolved into the ether. So, he must prepare himself for survival in this brutal and strange world. As I am a practical person, my immediate needs would have to be met … food that is palatable (no stewed tomcat for me!), a form of clothing that would allow me to meld with the masses a bit more, and a good knife and flashlight … being defenseless in the dark is not my cup of tea … all these would be on my shopping list, so I’d be swapping out my London Above duds and anything in my pockets for these more practical things. I’d also be casing the Market for people that might be good sources of information and trustworthy souls that might help me along the way and with whom I might be able to live and work to survive. The practical side of me would be readying my psyche for the possibility that London Above is gone forever.

Chapters Six and on can’t come too fast! The Floating Market is interesting and all, but finding an angel looms and that should be even more mind-bending! I am constantly being amazed and drawn along by this book. Neil Gaiman has such an incredible way of opening his world of London Below in small parcels that hook me and have me constantly asking questions and wondering whether I step out bravely, or curl up in a fearful ball and wait for death or scurry into the dark and become just another rat in a maze.