Fallin' Through The Cracks

I just finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and its soooo good. I haven't felt as excited about an author and book since I opened Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone at Terminal 1's bookstore 9 years ago!

Gaiman is a pretty famous writer and I felt rather sorry for myself that I have never heard of him nor read his books (despite being the reading type) before Kenneth lent me the book. He writes science fiction, fantasy and graphic novels and Neverwhere belongs in fantasy.

He reminds me of JK Rowling at times; in the way he creates a whole new reality that is so wonderfully out-of-this-world, yet still being believable at the same time. The premise is also interesting; about people who fall through the cracks of the world and end up... neverwhere. And how there is London Above and London Below and all the strange sorts of people who live and rule in the other world.

And how I came to actually like having the two evil guys Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar appear in the book because they have the best lines. Dark yet so funny at the same time! Usually bad guys are just really bad and evil but they were kinda like Heath Ledger's joker. Bad but so attention grabbing at the same time and you actually come to miss the parts when they don't appear. And how at times the dodgiest characters could turn out to be the most morally upright when it came to the crunch. And how the most benign and beautiful could be the most hideous.

It also makes me think more about the homeless people who live in the cracks of the world and its such a nice coincidence that not too long ago Kenneth showed me his architecture project where he thought up and built a cool model for a shelter/retail cart for the homeless folks in NYC. I was pretty impressed by it. And a few days ago, such a picture appeared on Sartorialist:

Sartorialist wrote: Usually people in this man's position have given up hope. Maybe this gentleman has too, I don't know, but he hasn't given up his sense of self or his sense of expressing something about himself to the world. In my quick shot I had noticed his pale blue boots, what I hadn't noticed at first were the matching blue socks, blue trimmed gloves, and blue framed glasses. This shot isn't about fashion - but about someone who, while down on his luck, hasn't lost his need to communicate and express himself through style.

Looking at him dressed like this makes me feel that in some way he hasn't given in or given up.