Lindsey Reviews: Neil Gaiman “Trigger Warning”
Neil Gaiman
“Trigger
Warning”
HarperCollins
2015
This compendium is the latest
offering by renowned author Neil Gaiman; comprised of 25 poems and stories
which “explore the transformative power of imagination.” In his introduction, Gaiman cites the
inspiration for his tome from the fascination of the phrase “trigger happy”;
stating that as individuals, each of us has our own personal triggers which
evoke and bring to the fore, dark places in our minds which have previously
been quelled and accordingly, although many of his stories are set in our
modern world, they are punctuated with the ever shadowy presence of the
supernatural as he seeks to penetrate the veil between the two. Gaiman argues that rather than being destroyed
and desiccated, often our memories of unpleasant experiences are blotted and
just waiting for those triggers to be unearthed in our memories again...
What follows then is a myriad of
both verse and prose with varying plots and characters which veer from the
macabre to whimsical. Gaiman is a very versatile author and stylistically eases
beautifully into his poetry and stories which are in turn are bright and dark,
sad and happy, cruel and kind but guaranteed to keep the reader hooked. There is plenty for everyone in this volume;
from the retelling of old fairytales with a twist to the author’s spin on a
classic Sherlock Holmes tale. This is a book which can be devoured in one
sitting or dipped into at random.
A wonderful introduction to this
author, particularly if you are new to his work.
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