Neverwhere

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is an enjoyable story that flows smoothly and kept my attention. I wouldn't say Gaiman exhibits the best writing ability under the sun in Neverwhere, but he is certainly able to move a story along. This isn't great literature, but it is a perfect novel to read for sheer entertaining escapism. As described on the back cover: "Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart - and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a young girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed - a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city - a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known..." Neverwhere was originally published in 1997. My paperback copy is 370 pages. I recommend it with a rating of 3.5

Quotes:

"You've a good heart....Sometimes that's enough to see you safe wherever you go....But mostly, it's not." pg. 4

"Can I ask a question?" said Richard.

"Certainly not....You don't ask any questions. You don't get any answers. You don't stray from the path. You don't even think about what's happening to you right now. got it?" pg. 47

"Whatever madness was happening that day was really happening. It was no joke, no trick or prank." pg. 61

"...Richard began to understand darkness: darkness as something solid and real, so much more than a simple absence of light. He felt it touch his skin, questing, moving, exploring: gliding through his mind. It slipped into his lung, behind his eyes, into his mouth..." pg. 102-103

"What a refreshing mind you have, young man....There really is nothing quite like total ignorance, is there?" pg. 143

Mr. Vandemar showed them his teeth, demonstrating his sunny and delightful disposition. It was unquestionably the most horrible thing that Richard had ever seen." pg. 176

"With cities, as with people...the condition of the bowels is all-important." pg. 259