The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

Hello fellow book lovers,

This is the second installment of my blog and I’ve just finished my second book for this little project. Now one note- rereading my last post it felt a bit more formal and “academic” then I would have really preferred. I think going forward I am going to strive for a bit more relaxed tone: less “English teacher” and more “book lover” ( and not that I have a problem with English Teachers: It was my dream to be one but unfortunately that fell through. C’est la vie)

For my second review, I read Martin Millar’s “The Good Fairies of New York”. This is a book that also came recommended to me from a friend but unfortunately sat neglected on my book shelf.  I was deciding what to read after finishing “American Gods” and happened upon it as I was reviewing some of my personal collection.

Martin Millar is a Scottish writer whose novels carry a lot of themes of urban decay and British sub-cultures.  I actually became a fan of Martin Millar with the books: The Lonely Werewolf Girl ( 2007) and Curse of the Werewolf Girl (2010)   Martin’s style is one that focuses  using irony, humor and invocative characters with an ever presence sense of “tongue in cheek-ness”.  In a sense, his novels are very Austinian (as in Jane Austin) in tone, but instead of polite and refined characters, you have punks and never do wells. You honestly feel like you should be listening to punk (as in the Sex Pistols and Ramones) while drinking tea and biscuits.  In the first two novels I read, I discovered he has a great skill in building up serious dilemmas and absurd situations to climatic explosive scenes, and seamlessly tying it all in a conclusion.  (Which is also very much like Jane Austen)

The Good Fairies of New York is actually one of his earlier works, published in 1992.  The tale focuses on the adventures of a group of Scottish fairies (Heather MacKintosh, Morag Macpherson, Padraig, Petal, Tulip and Maeve) who have all ran from Scotland to New York. Each fairy has their own reason for leaving their home lands: Petal and Tulip are fleeing their father due to a rebellion against him, Padraig is following Tulip and Maeve is along with them.  Heather and Morag have ran from Scotland for a series of crimes (for which of course they can’t be blamed for), including trying to start a fiddling style with Ramones songs, and the destruction of a fairy clan banner.  The novel focuses mostly on the interaction of Heather and Morag  and the humans Dinnie MacKintosh and Kerry.  Dinnie is described as “an overweight enemy of humanity” and “the worst violinist in New York” (Martin 1). Kerry is beautiful, an artist, a victim of Crohn’s disease   and a chronic shoplifter. Kerry is also obsessed with finishing a Celtic Flower Alphabet for a community arts competition to humiliate her ex-boyfriend Cal. 

The novel starts off with Heather and Morag fluttering into Dinnie’s apartment and promptly puking on the floor, assuring him that “fairy vomit is no doubt sweet-smelling to humans” (Martin 1). Dinnie attempts to chase away the two offensive fairies and only manages to really chase away Morag who ends up in Kerry’s apartment just across the street.  Where Dinnie attempts to badly earn his living by playing violin on the street, and chase Heather from his apartment, Kerry and Morag become shoplifting buddies and attempt to find the triple bloomed Welsh poppy for Kerry’s Alphabet. Things go completely awry in a variety of ways: First, the poppy for Kerry’s Alphabet is lost, stolen and lost again, which means Morag and Kerry spend a great deal of the novel just trying to recover it, and then only losing it once more.  Dinnie, also has an unrequited crush for Kerry, and is the owner of the famed “ MacPherson Fiddle”. Heather makes a deal with Dinnie: she helps him win Kerry, and he gives her the fiddle. Meanwhile, Morag also learns of the fiddle and attempts roughly the same idea (just without making an actual bargain with Dinnie). Mixed up in all of this we also have a Scottish civil war brewing over the fact Tala the King has turned their kingdom into an industrial community, with a rebellion attempting to place Petal and Tala on the throne.  There is also a series of battles with every nationality of fairy you can find in New York (essentially, if there is a culture in New York, they have a fairy community), the Scottish Macleod sisters who are seeking Heather and Morag for destroying their family banner, and a ghost named Johnny Thunder ( who is also Kerry’s musical idol) attempting to find his lost guitar.

It’s a lot to take in and admittedly, this novel was a hard sell at first: I appreciated Martin’s sense of humor and irony. I enjoy how he sets scenes and slyly comments on his own characters, making the reader see their absurdity. However the characters Dinnie and Kerry are difficult to like at the beginning of the novel:  Dinnie is just entirely unlikeable to start-he’s a rude, obese, untalented and lazy jerk. Kerry, is dreamy, kind,  and seeks to make the world beautiful, but she is also obsessed. Still, she’s a bit easier to sympathize with due to her disease.  The humor of the fairies (arguing over everything from fiddle playing, talent, beer, who did what to whom) plus the unfortunate series of events (fights with Italian, African American and Chinese fairies) carries the novel and once the story starts going, it’s a more enjoyable read.   Martin has a gift for weaving various plots points into one insanely chaotic but satisfying whole (I won’t give it away, but the poppy saves the day for –everyone- except for maybe King Tala).His skill also mimics an Austin novel in that as those had a tendency to have a whole host of characters and plot points that all came nicely together in the end.  However, I can tell this is still one of his earlier works:   The Lonely Werwolf Girl and The Curse of the Werewolf Girl each have better pace and sense of continuity then The Good Fairies of New York. There are points where you feel like the story is dragging a bit: the descriptions are great, the dialogue is hilarious, but you  almost feel like “ Okay, and then?”. However, by the end of the novel I ended up forgiving Millar. Because as unlikeable as the character start out, they become more likeable by the end. In a sense, Kerry and Dinnie find a bit of redemption in each other: Dinnie starts to become a more likeable human being and Kerry finds someone else to care about beyond herself and her vengeance against Cal. The fairies Heather and Morag are still complete trouble makers, but they at least do their best to make things right and the fairy community avoids war.

Now comes the question: Would I recommend this book?  Yes, but the warning of the pace being slow to start stands. I’d also recommend that if you want to get a full feel of Martin’s scope of talent, to immediately follow this novel up with The Lonely Werewolf Girl  and The Curse of the Werewolf Girl.  Also picking up some 70’s-80’s punk wouldn’t hurt while you are at it.

Until next time, Rock on!

Wayfarer.

Citations:

Millar, Martin. The Good Fairies of New York. Berkley. Soft Skull Press. 2006. Print

Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"

Neil Gaiman's American Gods



 To begin, let me start off by saying that this is my first time reading a Neil Gaiman novel. As a fantasy nerd, I knew who Neil Gaiman was, and had encountered his exquisite storytelling when watching "Mirror Mask" and reading a few of the Sandman comics. That being said, I'd never managed to actually pick up one of his novels. I inquired to a few friends what they would recommend and "American Gods" was one of the first and repeated responses, so it seemed I'd be remiss if I didn't take the suggestion.

 Now, in order to satisfy the Neil Gaiman fans that may happen to peruse this humble blog, I did of course enjoy the book. I really believe that it is an important work that will be preserved in the Western Canon. If it doesn't end up being part of the canon in two hundred years forward, then something is woefully wrong with the literary critics of the future. However, I can also understand why one friend of mine commented that the book seemed impenetrable, which I will explain later on in this post.

 For those of you who have not read this book (an error you should immediately correct), I'll attempt to summarize the rather winding plot, without giving a way too much. The novel starts with the main character, Shadow, who is released from jail after a three year sentence only to learn that his wife Laura has been killed in a car accident. As he is flying home, he meets a man by the name of Wednesday who offers him employment. After a few attempts to evade the man, Shadow agrees and finds himself under the employment of the god Odin; through his employment, he becomes involved in a war between the gods and myths of old (Anubis, Thoth, Easter, ect) and the new gods (Media, The Internet, Television). The story also moves between folklore like tales of a succubus like entity (Queen of Sheba) who consumes men with her sexual organs, and a few side stories including a taxi driving djinn and mystically joined African twin slaves. And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

 The story also traces the over all shifts in spirituality in the United States, from the very first worshipers of the land to the current age where people worship electronics and television. In place of temples, laces of power are the various tourists spots scattered about the United States (but not Disney World, as the power there is "twisted" (Gaiman, 119). Beyond that the novel also has highly sexual themes (Such as Wednesday/Odin sleeping with young virgins as a "pick me up"), a copulation scene between Bast and Shadow, and the aforementioned consumption of a man via sexual organs. The novel concentrates on the shifting  beliefs and how they change, fade and what reverberates in our idealogy. One of my favorite quotes from the novel is when Shadow states: "I would rather be a man than a God. We don't need anyone to believe in us. We keep going anyhow. It's what we do" (Gaiman,539). The quote is almost a bit ironic, for reasons I won't reveal (though you can likely read omnipresent Wikipedia to find out).

 As I said before, I found the book a masterful work, but it was not one that I could simply read through. I found myself reading a few chapters, and then needing to pause. I always ended up feeling that the previous sections I had read justified a bit of pondering of what I had just absorbed. There is almost an overwhelming amount of symbolism, allusions and imagery, thus its worth sometimes pausing,visualizing and mulling the meaning of what has conspired in the book. However, Gaiman also has a mastery of dialog, characterization, humor and emotion. I also can understand why in the study guide section provided in the edition I borrowed, Gaiman writes that he found Shadow a frustrating character to write. Shadow is in many ways, just that: a shadow. By Gaiman's own admission, Shadow is not one to share his emotions. He's a unique individual who keeps his thoughts and feelings close to his chest. He's suited for his task and placing in the novel, but he's a man that can be difficult to understand.

 With the combination of deep and intertwined layers of symbolism, imagery and a main character who is in himself complex, I can see why my peer felt the novel was not a "fun" read. "American Gods" gives the reader a great deal to consider and mull, and sometimes can seem inscrutable. I honestly can't do justice to all the of the allusions in this work in one simple blog post, but if I were in college, I would have had an easy twenty page paper to write. I freely admit to having to pick up my Norse mythology book to familiarize myself with some of the Nordic myths to fully comprehend the meaning behind certain actions and signs. I don't feel its necessary to understand the book to do so, but I honestly felt it would be a good idea to read a few quick articles on myths (Greek, Egyptian, American, Christian, ect) while reading this novel in order to get a full feel for the characters and their place in humanities spiritual evolution.

 I would easily recommend this book to anyone looking for a powerful, invoking novel that will give rise to a great deal of consideration of your own beliefs and paradigms of the world. And if your not, well, you should still read it anyways. That is it for now.

 Good reading,

 Wayfarer


 Citations: Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. New York: HaperCollins. 2001. Print

Raison D'Etre

Tonight I am commending my own meandering project of literary questing. As a 30 something English major, I have found career, childbirth and simply life in general has pulled me from two of my first loves: Writing and Books.

And I have decided that enough is more then enough.

I have loved books as long as I can remember, and I love all books. I'm far from a book snob: If I find it, there's at least a 10% chance I'll pick it up and read it. From Archie Comics (Remember the crossover with the Punisher?) to Faulker, I consume books with the voracity of pacman after a digital pellet.

Writing is my other long lost love. I used to be quite a prolific writer until somewhere writing and I had a "falling out". Ideas would come, and I just couldn't commit. Thus writing decided enough was enough and packed its bags. Now when I compose I seem to write a sentence with all the coherency of high-school term paper featuring "LOL".

With the realization of how I had ostracized two dear pursuits, came the question- how do I develop my literary and writing skills again?

The idea really came from my husband. He suggested I start a blog (which he also has done in his areas of interest) and on something that I enjoy. I considered briefly a blog on cooking but honestly, I don't think anyone needs to hear how I come close to incinerating my kitchen once a week. I also don't think that I could do justice to a "mommy" blog (though my son is amazingly hilarious). The only thing I've ever really been truly good at is understanding and reading books.

And thus I've decided to throw my hat into the multitude of blogs about reading, books, and criticism to see if perhaps I can coax my old loves back into my life.

My pursuit will be to simply find books- any books, and write about them. Honestly, thoughtfully and hopefully bring insight and spread my enjoyment of (or on occassion, possible loathing) the books I read. If you have a suggestion on a novel, short story, literary work I should read, old or new, let me know.

Currently, I am finishing up Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and then moving on to other selections as they present themselves to me.


I hope you enjoy my little adventure of creative and intellectual redemption.




Signed,

Wayfarer