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Loading... Neil Gaiman's How to Talk to Girls at Parties (edition 2016)by Neil Gaiman (Author)
Work InformationHow to Talk to Girls at Parties [Graphic Novel] by Neil Gaiman (Author)
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"Enn is a fifteen-year-old boy who just doesn't understand girls, while his friend Vic seems to have them all figured out. Both teenagers are in for the shock of their young lives, however, when they crash a local party only to discover that the girls there are far, far more than they appear!"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)741.5The arts Graphic arts and decorative arts Drawing & drawings Cartoons, Caricatures, ComicsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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In this graphic novel adaption of "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" which was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Short Story and won the Locus Award for Best Short Story, Gaiman conjures up an eerie coming of age story that is not only about the differences between the sexes (men viewing women as foreign creatures or "aliens") but could also be read as a parable for how to treat girls (i.e. don't take advantage of them because, because after all, you wouldn't want to make the universe angry). It is also a great story that investigates (like so many stories from Gaiman have a tendency to do) childhood memory and the loss of childhood innocence through the lens of the fantastical.
The story is pretty simple. It is about a couple of British 1970s teen-aged boys, Enn and Vic, who go to a party to meet girls, only to find that the girls are very different from the boys' expectations. But the story goes deeper than that. Enn, who doesn't really know how to interact with girls (or so he thinks) encounters three "alien beings" who attempt to express their loneliness, their thirst for knowledge, imperfection, fear of death, and need to communicate their stories. His friend, Vic is a more superficial, takes off upstairs with the girl Stella (Star), and he gets more than he bargained for-as the universe finds him lacking.
Enn's last meeting is with Triolet, who pours her story/poem into his being. This story in the form of a poem changes him. Enn can recognize and access the story inherent in the music playing in the house amidst the stars and the universe. Just then, however, Vic dashes up and says they have to leave. Triolet is disappointed that she doesn’t get to finish her poem, but Vic is insistent. Enn looks up the stairs and sees the disheveled Stella, whose eyes he would never forget
Thirty years later, as Enn is telling the story, he recalls that Stella's eyes looked like an angry universe.
The boys run for a long time, until Vic stops and throws up in the gutter. He begins to sob as he tries to explain what he’s experienced. Enn says he still can’t imagine what Vic saw that night that terrified him so badly. Enn tries to remember the poem Triolet told him, but he cannot.
What is interesting about this story is the fact that both the girls and Enn seem to be travelers and in search of something. Enn seems like he searching for deeper connections and meaning and so are the girls. In contrast, Vic was only concerned with a more primal connection and well, upset a superior being in the process.
The story happens only through the course of a few hours yet encompasses eons of extrapolated human nature. How does Gaiman do it?
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, the folks who adapted this story into its graphic form, as they manage to create a strangely unique place in the everyday world that Gaiman has created. The artwork manages to highlight some of the stranger but subtle parts of the story well through its playful use of watercolors.
Highly recommended. ( )