Stardust: Movie Vs. Book (spoilers)

Cafe Society
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Hi. When I saw Stardust the movie, I had only read Good Omens, which is Gaiman’s collaborative effort with Terry Pratchett. That was my introduction to both authors, actually. So I was expecting greatness.

I was not disappointed. The film was amazing – both times I watched it. Admittedly, the romantic bits made me weepy, and I thought it was funny, satirical, and the witch showdown at the end freakin’ rocked. It is one of the few films I’ve seen where the love story seemed very authentic to me. I think it is a gorgeous and inspiring film.

I received Stardust, the novel, as a Christmas gift, and naturally expected the book to be a million times better.

But honestly… it just sucked. It didn’t have nearly as much action, the description was threadbare, the dialog practically nonexistent, and many of the humorous bits in the movie didn’t even happen in the book. The love story seemed like a total joke, as there was practically zero transition between ‘‘I hate your guts!’’ and ‘‘I must have you now!’’ Tristran’s love for Yvaine seemed just as one-dimensional, to me, as his love for Victoria had been.

I also picked up Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. While that was better written, it was boring, dark, and humorless, so ultimately I quit about 30 pages in.

Since I also finished reading Pratchett’s Small Gods and absolutely adored it, I’m beginning to think maybe the reason I liked Good Omens so much was because of Pratchett, not Gaiman. My husband insists The Sandman graphic novels kick ass, so I’m a little confused.

Was I only let down because of the expectations I had due to the film? Has anyone here read the novel before they saw the movie? What was your reaction? Given my reaction to Stardust, should I bother with American Gods or his other works? Am I reading the wrong stuff by Gaiman or what?

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I don’t think Gaiman is a particularly able novelist. Stardust was at best mediocre and extremely overhyped. Glad to hear it was a good movie, that’s a surprise to me. American Gods was interesting but too long for its content, if that makes any sense. I recall it as a slow starter, but it picks up around the middle.

It’s odd because you would think someone who wrote graphic novels would have a very spare, powerful way with the English language, but (IMHO) it’s almost like without the restraints of the graphic format, he just went “blah blah blah” on the way to his point.

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For me it was the opposite. I actually read it (the illustrated edition) before I saw the movie and was disappointed by the movie.
In the book the world of Faerie is an interesting place. In the movie, it’s not even the world of faerie and feels generic. I also preferred the romantic development in the book.

I also read American Gods recently and really liked it. I liked the character of Shadow a lot.
I didn’t like novel version of Neverwhere much though. There’s a graphic novel of it, but I haven’t read it. I enjoyed the BBC miniseries when I got it through netflix, but it is kind of cheesy.

I’d recommend giving Sandman a try. It does get very dark and disturbing in places, so if that kind of thing bothers you then you might not want to read it. But it is excellent.

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You might just not like his stuff, but I’d say try something like Smoke and Mirrors, a collection of short stories written for different purposes. It gives you a sense of all the different sorts of things he writes.

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I loved Neverwhere, and the Sandman novels are pretty awesome. Some of his short stories are pretty inspired as well.

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So it is correct that there is some kind of graphic novel version out there somewhere? I’m wondering if maybe that’s where this guy shines.

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I’m with you on the Stardust thing. After watching the movie, I picked up the book, and after I finished it I thought, “that’s it?” What a let down of a book. It doubly sucks since I enjoyed Neverwhere, American Gods, Good Omens. I can’t really get into the Sandman stuff since I seem incapable of reading graphic novels in English, but I’ve heard many good things about those too. Even Coraline was good! What happened with Stardust? Maybe Gaiman realized it could have been better and that’s why the movie was so much more interesting?

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I’m the opposite, Olives. I’d read and loved the book Stardust, and just saw the movie this weekend. The movie was pretty darned good, but I remember the book being better. In fact, I can’t believe that I loved the book as much as I did (even attempting to tie my husband down and read it aloud to him) because fantasy ain’t my genre whatsoever. I cried at the end of the book.

Previously, I’d been in a reading dry spell for a long time, and picking up American Gods on a whim broke it. I couldn’t put it down, and it got me enjoying fiction once again, so I owe Gaiman a huge debt. (It was as if he’d reunited me with my first and best love—the written word!)

Having devoured American Gods, I went on to read more by Gaiman, which led me to some fantasy worlds I’d not otherwise explore. I’d definitely give American Gods another shot—I liked it better than Anansi Boys. The idea of American Gods is such a neat concept—damn, I wish I’d thought of it. I also liked Neverwhere, Coraline, Smoke & Mirrors, Fragile Things, Good Omens (now I must read more Pratchett).

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The original illustrated story by Gaiman and Charles Vess came out years before the text only novel…
It’s recently been re-issued in hardback: Amazon page

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I did think of it. Unfortunately I was a junior in high school and neglected to write it down. (D’oh.)

Gaiman’s novels aren’t to everyone’s taste, but I really like them, especially American Gods. Stardust is admittedly fluff - very light on plot and characterization.

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Saw the movie and liked it but thought it would have been a better film without the Robert De Niro character. I know it’s supposed to be HI-larious that he’s a tough guy who is secretly a pansy but that didn’t make me laugh. I think they were counting on it being funnier than it was because the actor was playing against type, but it didn’t work for me. It was funnier when he played Peter Pan on Saturday Night Live.

Anyway, a plot point question for those who have read the book. Towards the end of the film it becomes very important that the hero catch the Star before she crosses the wall out of fairy-land into the real world, lest she change into a rock. But wouldn’t carrying the rock back across the wall into fairy-land convert her back into a woman? Thus rendering the suspense of the situation moot? I don’t recall this point being addressed in the movie. Is it mentioned in the book?

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I thought Stardust the book was decent enough, though a rather light read, though there were definitely some pacing problems. I haven’t seen the movie yet. I will say that I thought American Gods was fantastic, though I read it years ago so I might be seeing it through rose-tinted lenses. I thought Neverwhere, the book, was also pretty good, but felt like Gaiman couldn’t decide how he wanted to portray the protagonist, so he tried to have it both ways. Anansi Boys was good, though not as good as American Gods. As for the short stories, I enjoyed Smoke and Mirrors quite a bit, but haven’t been as impressed with Fragile Things so far. That may be because I already read several of the stories on his website, though.

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I think I saw someone else recommend it, but I’d suggest you try Coraline as well. It’s actually supposed to be a children’s book, so it’s much shorter. I bought it for my daughter and read it first; since then it’s made it’s way onto my favorite books list. Neil’s also got some short fiction on the web that you might want to try just to see if you like his short stuff better. Here are some on his site. Snow, Glass, and Apples is another favorite of mine.

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I like Gaiman’s graphic novels a lot better then his text-only stories. As someone already mentioned, Stardust was a graphic novel (well, an illustrated story, same diff) and I think it worked a lot better that way. American Gods was alright, but seemed was an inferior rehash with the same themes as Sandman, IMHO (haven’t read Anasazi Boys yet). I couldn’t get through Neverwhere.

He also wrote two radio dramas for Seeing Ear Theater which I recomend. I think both stories were turned into later graphic novels as well.

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I think Gaiman is a so-so writer. I enjoyed American Gods a lot but thought Neverwhere was absolutely terrible. Anansi Boys was okay, and I think the consensus is that Good Omens was pretty much carried by Pratchett.

I enjoyed the movie version of Stardust a lot, but have no real desire to read the book version (especially after reading comments here).

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I enjoyed the movie, but I thought it was vastly inferior to the book. The whole DeNiro subplot was completely out of place, and the movie copped out to convention, ending with a blah, blah, blah big fight and then blah, blah blah, they went to be stars in heaven forever. How dull. The ending of the book was much better (the witch spent too much of her youth trying to get the star and ultimately was defeated because she was unable to do anything) and the very end was MUCH MUCH better and poignant that the fairy tale “happily ever after” ending the tacked onto the movie. I felt that Yvaine might very well have chosen her life with Tristran if she had been given the choice, but oh the price she paid! Spending her life after his death alone, immortal, high, high in a tower yearning for the sky that she was once part of and never would be again…much, much better than the Disneyfied crap the movie gave us.

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I guess it’s possible, and I don’t know the real answer, but when I was watching the movie, the fact that her hair turned into dust put images in my head of her turning into a crumbling rock on our side of the wall and being brought back, at which point she would be a jumble of random body parts and blood…

It was a text only novel with a few illustration plates here and there, hardly a graphic novel. If that’s a graphic novel, then so are Stephen King’s Dark Tower books and the Harry Potter series.

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Really? It was probably a decade or more ago I read it, but I recall it having illustrations on every other page or so. My memory could very well be faulty though.

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How do you figure?

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Anecdotally, I have a friend who had read a lot of Gaiman, including Good Omens, which she liked quite a bit. Upon giving her some Pratchett to read, she later remarked that it must have been Pratchett’s influence that made her enjoy it so much. I generally agree that Pratchett was by far the better influence on that book, but then again I’m a complete Terry Pratchett fanboy, so take my comments with that in mind.