Title: How To Talk To Girls At Parties
Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders, 2007
Genre: Science fiction, short story
Url: How To Talk to Girls At Parties
Rating: 6/10
Thoughts: The story starts with a couple of teenage boys heading to a girl's party. One of the boys is stressing out over how to talk to girls when the other remarks:
"They're just girls," said Vic. "They don't come from another planet."Knowing that this short story is a piece of science fiction, I immediately got a very strong suspicion that they won't be "just girls". A reader figures out it's not a typical party pretty quickly, but the protagonists are too busy trying to get in some smooching. It's an interesting juxtaposition of teenage and alien cultures, but to me the whole story felt a bit off. I couldn't quite get into it, nor do I feel I could put together the pieces of what Gaiman was showing in the story. To me the ending felt incomplete, and I ended reading it rather puzzled, feeling like I should have been told more of the story. Well, perhaps you can make more sense of it.
It is interesting that you had these feelings about this. When I first read it I had similar thoughts. I probably would have given it a 6 out of 10 as well. I was actually surprised that it was getting so much positive buzz. Then a friend, who liked it less than I did, suggested I listen to it on audio. I couldn't believe the difference in experiencing the story with Neil telling it. I think it had to do with the timing, his cadence, etc, but I was able to really 'hear' the story and it was a much, much more interesting story that way.
ReplyDelete