Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Book of the Week: Stardust, Neil Gaiman
Tea of the Week: Green Tea with Superantioxidents from Yogi

Excerpt:
      “He straightened his shoulders, placed the crystal snowdrop in the top buttonhole of his coat, now undone. And, to ignorant to be scared, too young to be awed, Tristran Thorn passed beyond the fields we know . . .
        . . . and into Faerie,”(Gaiman 54)

What happens when you combine high fantasy and a plot-twisting romance?

You end up with Gaiman’s classic novel Stardust.
In the quiet village of Wall, nothing of the unexpected happens. No adventures, or quests are to be found here.
No sir, not at all.
I mean, until Tristran Thorn promises the love of his life, Victoria, that if he were to bring a fallen star to her, then they are to be wedded. But to do so, he must enter the mystical realm beyond the old stone wall. Faerie-where nothing is expected and where witches do the wicked and brothers are the kill’d.

I would highly recommend to read this novel because it gives a nostalgic feeling that makes your chest grow warm and fuzzy all over. It pulls you in and your mind is thrown into the world of Faerie, full of never ending and mystifying stories. And then you finish exploring the world with a different look on your life.

It gets you to think about life, for a main theme in this book is that things that people search for may be closer than they expected. And another, is that although this is a high fantasy book, it includes themes that can relate to our modern world. The theme of love conquers all is clearly shown, but this common theme is developed into deeper meanings throughout the plot. When it shows two characters that have lots of internal and external conflict, it also shows them supporting the other when times get hard. It shows them disagreeing, and arguing.

What I love is that he makes this type of love realistic. He doesn’t make them fall in love at first sight, nor does he make them a perfect happy couple, where they agree on everything. He makes their relationship realistic.

And romantic love, isn’t the only type of love that is shown. Gaiman writes the platonic love between friends in a manner that makes me wish I had it. He makes the characters so that none of them are completely evil, or completely good. He has the ability to make you pity a character, and then the next minute think that they are a complete idiot.

With this novel, the reader has to take note of small details, for some of them hint at the ending. And with all the different plot lines, it may get confusing, so read carefully, because the unexpected might just become expected within the lines of this novel.

Rant #1

I think everyone has those moments where you feel like you have no idea what to do, and your entire life is falling apart, and you think that no one likes you. And you think:

“No one else knows how I feel.”

And see the thing is, everyone gets that, but everyone has a different experience with it. Frankly, it’s like having the same sensation, but everyone has their own backstory about it. We all get a sense of hopelessness, and how nothing should matter. We question our existence in the world, and how we play a part in history. And I think, when this happens, people often think too broadly. With the pressure of society, and all, it’s a natural thing to think that we have to strive to be great. And we have to be better, and be bigger, and greater than those around us. We think too much about ourselves making big impacts in life, rather than noticing the small ones.

We should notice the small things we do. Like when your friend is upset, and they act like they aren’t. They keep saying:

“I’m fine!”

or they laugh it off. But somewhere in the back of your mind, or deep down in your chest, a heavy feeling is just dwelling there, waiting for you to notice it. And it just keeps growing until you do. And when you do it’s like a smack in the face, and you think to yourself:

“How did I not notice that before?”

And when you confront that friend, and ask them about it, and they open up about their life, and about their hardships. It’s that feeling you get, where you’re drawn closer to them, and you’re happy to feel that someone trusts you. Because let’s face it, everyone should know this (and if you don’t, shame on you), that friendship is built upon trust. And trust is the only thing that makes humanity last longer.

Not war, or fighting, or ambiguous actions.

It’s trust, because it gives a person a sense of feeling warm, and loved, and like they fit in, and it’s like life has a new meaning when a person’s perspective on life is widen, and it’s like things to them have gotten brighter.

So next time you feel like life isn’t worth the pain you’re feeling, and that you just want to disappear forever, and how no one cares about you, just stop for a second. And think about all the small things you have to live for. Like you still have to feed your cat, or maybe a book you want to read is coming out, and it’s the final book in a series. Maybe you love tea, so keep living, keep existing for that comforting mug of jasmine tea you drink every morning. Or how you have that one song you love. Just play it on repeat while you sit there thinking. Or start a new hobby and express yourself through writing, art, dancing, screaming into pillows, or whatever you love doing. It doesn’t matter whether the result is good or bad, because it only ends up being good if you enjoyed the process.

And next time you get that feeling that no one cares, remember that I care.

I don’t care about your gender, your sexuality, your race, your religion, or how you look, because we’re all human. And it’s only humane to feel pain, sadness, anger, and being unsure.

IT’S HUMANE TO FEEL EMOTIONS.

And I’m proud that you got up today. You got through another day, and that’s big, and I’m proud of you. You deserve to be happy, no matter how terrible you’ve been, because people change, they can learn for their mistakes. But it’s up to them to make good decisions, and if they don’t, they can always learn from it.

It’s a forgive and forget process.

and if you have a friend, or just someone that you can talk to, do it. It’ll make you feel better, I promise. No matter how much you think they’ll get annoyed, or how much they’ll hate you, because your mental health should go before anybody else’s.

And when you tell that friend, they’ll get that feeling of trust, or how close your potential is, and like I said before, their perspective of the world with widen, and they’ll feel a little love in the most dire of situations.

So if you just skipped through this stupid rant of mine, just take note of this.

Appreciate the small accomplishments you make.

Live and strive for the small things in life that you love.

It’s okay to be emotional, it’s only humane.

 

End of Rant.