Hits and Misses in Fiction

[rj_anderson]

sartorias aka Sherwood Smith has a fascinating discussion going over on her LJ about when you only like one (or, if they're prolific, two or three) of an author's works and bounce off the rest. So far the responses have mostly been people commisserating and sharing which authors and which books affected them this way, but there's also been some discussion

Comments

[rj_anderson]

I'm with you on Gaiman. I found Stardust a pleasant read, though it didn't grab me enough to want to buy it or read it again, and Neverwhere struck me the same way. The only Gaiman-penned thing I've really loved was "The Doctor's Wife", which makes me wonder if I like him better as a scriptwriter than a novelist.

And I look forward to starting Dark Days Club soon!

[sartorias]

My theory is that first, Gaiman is a visual writer, and second, that he doesn't have much depth. But he's aware of what the current culture thinks is hip or cool or deep, and so hits it for his millions of fans.

Both my kids as young teens loved the Sandman comics, then lost interest in him.

[kerravonsen]

huh. (scratches head)
I LOVED the Sandman comics. To me, they were thoughtful and evocative, though also too gory in places.
Here we get the "looks like you didn't read/view the same work as I did" phenomenon.

[sartorias]

Yeah, I loved them too--really thought he never surpassed them.

Weird, how works can align and then zoom off for people.