Call number
Genres
Publication
Vertigo/DC Comics (1993), Paperback
Pages
192
Description
THE SANDMAN: A GAME OF YOU tells a fascinating tale of lost childhood dreams and the power that they can wield over reality. Since she was a child, Barbie has dreamed of a world in which she was a princess. But after separating from her husband, she has ceased to dream, and her fantasy kingdom has been savagely overrun by an evil entity known as the Cuckoo. Now, as elements of her fantasy world cross over and begin to drastically affect reality, Barbie and her friends venture into the realm of dreams to save its peaceful inhabitants. But against the power of dark and dying dreams, even the combined might of a witch, two lesbian lovers, a transsexual, and a decapitated talking head might not be enough to save two different planes of existence.… (more)
Media reviews
A Game of You is the least popular of all The Sandman installments, yet Gaiman considers it his favorite. When it was first published, a story in which Morpheus barely appears, in which half the action takes place in a Disney-on-acid world of talking animals and a villainous Cuckoo, a quest that
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features the most MacGuffiny MacGuffin ever, and stars one heroine in search of an identity, two lesbians, one trans-woman and a Bronze-age witch...well, let’s just say that the heroes of Comic Book Men, had they been filming in 1992, wouldn’t quite know what to make of it. Show Less
I have great admiration for the genius of this series, for the themes, for the storytelling, and the way they are combined; however, of all THE SANDMAN trade collections, it is the one I find least enjoyable as a reading experience.
In reviewing this collection, as masterful as it is, I feel I
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have to dock it half a star because so many readers do not enjoy reading it. But how many books that I don’t enjoy reading am I willing to give four-and-a-half stars? Not many, if at any at all. Leave it to Gaiman to make me praise in a long review a story that I wasn’t even looking forward to re-reading! Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1993-05-04
Physical description
192 p.; 10.2 inches
ISBN
1563890895 / 9781563890895
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User reviews
LibraryThing member -Eva-
In which Morpheus, the Dream King, the Sandman, won't even appear until the very end - another installment in the series that makes the very brave move of hardly including its main character. Not only that, the majority of the story doesn't even take place in the real world - most of the action
Although about many different things - friendship, loyalty, and what it entails to be female - the main theme in this installment is the question of identity and most, if not all, of the characters are different than they appear to be, whether by choice or by nature. Its main character is after all Barbie, whose ex, Ken, has left her for a woman called Sindy (the name of the British version of the Barbie-doll), so it should be assumed that the character would have no depth to her at all, when in fact, she has created a dreamworld so vivid it affects the real world more than any dream should.
Since they all are, I needn't point out that this is one of my favorite installments. Fairy tales will easily win me over and this one has the princess, the quest, the betrayal, and some sort of happy ending, although not perfect - it wouldn't fit the story if it was. It also has one of the saddest moments ("My princess? I came for you..."), one of the loveliest ("Do you know how much a baby is going to cost us?"), and one of the funnier ("New age? No. Quite the opposite, really."). I do appreciate that the magic in this one isn't nice or clean, but rather nasty and bloody, and that it does have real repercussions for all involved, which does raise the stakes quite a bit. Overall an extremely enjoyable story for its introduction of a group of characters that I feel the richer for having been introduced to.
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takes place in a dreamer's mind. Barbie's childhood fantasy of being a princess in a faraway land turns out to be not a fantasy at all and when the Cuckoo threatens to take over, the princess' loyal friends call her back into their world to deal with the threat.Although about many different things - friendship, loyalty, and what it entails to be female - the main theme in this installment is the question of identity and most, if not all, of the characters are different than they appear to be, whether by choice or by nature. Its main character is after all Barbie, whose ex, Ken, has left her for a woman called Sindy (the name of the British version of the Barbie-doll), so it should be assumed that the character would have no depth to her at all, when in fact, she has created a dreamworld so vivid it affects the real world more than any dream should.
Since they all are, I needn't point out that this is one of my favorite installments. Fairy tales will easily win me over and this one has the princess, the quest, the betrayal, and some sort of happy ending, although not perfect - it wouldn't fit the story if it was. It also has one of the saddest moments ("My princess? I came for you..."), one of the loveliest ("Do you know how much a baby is going to cost us?"), and one of the funnier ("New age? No. Quite the opposite, really."). I do appreciate that the magic in this one isn't nice or clean, but rather nasty and bloody, and that it does have real repercussions for all involved, which does raise the stakes quite a bit. Overall an extremely enjoyable story for its introduction of a group of characters that I feel the richer for having been introduced to.
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LibraryThing member gbill
A tight story blending reality and a recurring dream, the great art one comes to expect in this series, humor, a really gross part that I won’t describe, and an understanding and acceptance of transgender people that was ahead of its time in 1991-1992.
LibraryThing member xicanti
Barbie, a fairly minor character from The Doll's House, takes centre stage as her dream world comes back to haunt her.
Many people dislike this volume. I can see where they're coming from; Gaiman isn't dealing with the most palatable of themes here, and I'm sure that fantasy/horror readers are
Personally, however, I feel that this is one of the stronger volumes in the series. Characterization isn't always Gaiman's strong point, but he's done some wonderful things here. I found it very easy to feel for these people. Barbie, unable to dream since her encounter with the dream vortex; Hazel, seemingly tough but so unworldly that she knows next to nothing about pregnancy; Foxglove, haunted by an old lover with whom the reader is already acquainted. The story comes alive through them, and for the first time we begin to get a feel for how tightly all the mortals who wander into Dream's world are connected.
Most of all, though, I love Wanda. I recall reading that the creative team received hate mail when she debuted in the first issue of this story arc. Readers were deeply offended that Gaiman would include a transsexual character. But by the time A Game of You had wound to a close, those same readers were writing in to say how much they loved her. While Gaiman does deal with some issues surrounding her transsexuality, he treats Wanda as a person above all else. She's just a normal girl who happens to have been born in a man's body.
So I love this one. I, like many others, can't say I'm entirely comfortable with the theme, but I love the execution. And I don't think Gaiman treats the resolution as either a negative or a loss. It's simply a shift, a change in Barbie's world.
Highly recommended. This one is very stand-alone, too, so you don't have to have read the rest of the series in order to enjoy it. I do recommend, however, that you pair it with Death: The Time of Your Life. It features Hazel and Foxglove, and it deals with many similar ideas.
Many people dislike this volume. I can see where they're coming from; Gaiman isn't dealing with the most palatable of themes here, and I'm sure that fantasy/horror readers are
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particularly likely to find the resolution distasteful. Personally, however, I feel that this is one of the stronger volumes in the series. Characterization isn't always Gaiman's strong point, but he's done some wonderful things here. I found it very easy to feel for these people. Barbie, unable to dream since her encounter with the dream vortex; Hazel, seemingly tough but so unworldly that she knows next to nothing about pregnancy; Foxglove, haunted by an old lover with whom the reader is already acquainted. The story comes alive through them, and for the first time we begin to get a feel for how tightly all the mortals who wander into Dream's world are connected.
Most of all, though, I love Wanda. I recall reading that the creative team received hate mail when she debuted in the first issue of this story arc. Readers were deeply offended that Gaiman would include a transsexual character. But by the time A Game of You had wound to a close, those same readers were writing in to say how much they loved her. While Gaiman does deal with some issues surrounding her transsexuality, he treats Wanda as a person above all else. She's just a normal girl who happens to have been born in a man's body.
So I love this one. I, like many others, can't say I'm entirely comfortable with the theme, but I love the execution. And I don't think Gaiman treats the resolution as either a negative or a loss. It's simply a shift, a change in Barbie's world.
Highly recommended. This one is very stand-alone, too, so you don't have to have read the rest of the series in order to enjoy it. I do recommend, however, that you pair it with Death: The Time of Your Life. It features Hazel and Foxglove, and it deals with many similar ideas.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
SPOILERS
In Volume 5 of the Sandman series, we are taken in a different direction as it steps away from mythology and offers only one story for the whole book. We rendezvous with some characters that have showed up previously and follow a confused Barbie into her dream world. We are also introduced
I loved the story of Barbie’s dreamland, how she came there as a child and now has to return to try and set things right. This seems to be recurring theme in the Sandman, real life characters coming to their inner dream world to wage battle. In A Game of You, “The Cuckoo” is Barbie’s nemesis and is a clever invention and one that we can all identify with (don‘t we all feel as if somewhere in our dreams the child we used to be dwells?). This book with it’s female leads and princess dream concept felt very feminine and fresh, yet this is a dark and at times violent tale.
Gaiman often gives the reader a nod and a wink with a reference to a past event or character. He keeps his readers on their toes and I love the feeling of satisfaction when you do recognize something from a previous book. I hesitate to say this issue is my favorite, but for me, this one stands beside The Doll House as two of the best (so far).
In Volume 5 of the Sandman series, we are taken in a different direction as it steps away from mythology and offers only one story for the whole book. We rendezvous with some characters that have showed up previously and follow a confused Barbie into her dream world. We are also introduced
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to some new, and fabulous characters, a drag queen, a lesbian couple, and a pair of seriously strange neighbours. I loved the story of Barbie’s dreamland, how she came there as a child and now has to return to try and set things right. This seems to be recurring theme in the Sandman, real life characters coming to their inner dream world to wage battle. In A Game of You, “The Cuckoo” is Barbie’s nemesis and is a clever invention and one that we can all identify with (don‘t we all feel as if somewhere in our dreams the child we used to be dwells?). This book with it’s female leads and princess dream concept felt very feminine and fresh, yet this is a dark and at times violent tale.
Gaiman often gives the reader a nod and a wink with a reference to a past event or character. He keeps his readers on their toes and I love the feeling of satisfaction when you do recognize something from a previous book. I hesitate to say this issue is my favorite, but for me, this one stands beside The Doll House as two of the best (so far).
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LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
Another single story line, but this time taking us in a completely new direction. Dream is only featured briefly in this tale set on a small skerry in the dream archipelago, where a small spark of resistance stands against the mighty Cuckoo. Barbie from “Doll’s house” is the one doing the
It could be because Stephen Delany’s rather analytic foreword (as usual: best to save that for after reading) is setting my thoughts on new paths, but it seems to me this is the first time we see a Sandman story play on a major theme without really pointing it out. So many of the storylines and anecdotes here deal with transition, change, taking control of your own identity: from Wanda’s transsexualism to Barbie’s constant changing of her face to Hazel having to embrace a new aspect of womanhood to the Cuckoo finally leaving nest. But also the difficulties that come with that, and how easy it is to get stuck in between or in imitation: Wanda’s unfinished sex change, Thessaly’s refusal do dismiss dead George, the Weirdzos’ backward imitation of Hyperman; and again, the Cuckoo. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the scariest, most uncontrollable creatures of the Land are called “tweeners”.
This is a solid installment in the Sandman series, if perhaps not my personal favorite. Thessaly is probably my favorite character here – the very definition of anti-heroine with an unashamed personal agenda of revenge, in rabbit slippers! The ending feels a bit clumsy though (not the funeral bit, which is sad and wonderful, but the exposition to tie up all loose ends). Some of the things planted here, like Alianora who created that dream skerry, I can’t remember how (or if) they play out later in the series. Very eager to continue.
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dreaming (we saw a glimpse of this The Land aldready in that book), while living in a new collective building. In New York this time, but populated by equally unusual companions. The lesbian couple are less gothic this time though, the transvestite is transgender – and the guy in the attic is less jovial.It could be because Stephen Delany’s rather analytic foreword (as usual: best to save that for after reading) is setting my thoughts on new paths, but it seems to me this is the first time we see a Sandman story play on a major theme without really pointing it out. So many of the storylines and anecdotes here deal with transition, change, taking control of your own identity: from Wanda’s transsexualism to Barbie’s constant changing of her face to Hazel having to embrace a new aspect of womanhood to the Cuckoo finally leaving nest. But also the difficulties that come with that, and how easy it is to get stuck in between or in imitation: Wanda’s unfinished sex change, Thessaly’s refusal do dismiss dead George, the Weirdzos’ backward imitation of Hyperman; and again, the Cuckoo. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the scariest, most uncontrollable creatures of the Land are called “tweeners”.
This is a solid installment in the Sandman series, if perhaps not my personal favorite. Thessaly is probably my favorite character here – the very definition of anti-heroine with an unashamed personal agenda of revenge, in rabbit slippers! The ending feels a bit clumsy though (not the funeral bit, which is sad and wonderful, but the exposition to tie up all loose ends). Some of the things planted here, like Alianora who created that dream skerry, I can’t remember how (or if) they play out later in the series. Very eager to continue.
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LibraryThing member clfisha
Volume 5 in the iconic Sandman and we return to a single(ish) story. A story of identity and inner worlds. The right to exist on your terms and sometimes the cost. Dream hovers at the edges, his realm is after all where most of the actions lies; a typical fantasy dream world fighting for survival
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against its all-consuming impostor the mysterious Cuckoo. Playing with tropes & myths, weaving in past and future plot strands are all here as expected and whilst story is good the stars of the show though are the characters. Barbie (who we have met before), the fantastic full of life Wanda and the deliciously hard ball witch Thessaly. It's a refreshing overtly female cast too (yes I include transgender Wanda in that) and whilst the some of what Gaiman was trying to say doesn't quite work but the story and its ideas still work very well. The artwork/printing still is sadly still below par though. Show Less
LibraryThing member tiamatq
So this book gets mixed reviews, obviously. I'm a Sandman nut, and I really enjoyed it. Yes, it doesn't jive with most of the traditional volumes - but it's also just as important to the storyline as any of the other books. So if you want to get the full impact of the Sandman storyline, read this
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book! It's considerably dark, like a fair amount of Sandman, and has some of that fun horror of the earlier volumes mixed in. Also, if you want to enjoy and understand the characters that show up in the Death spin offs, you gotta read A Game of You. I think it's an often misunderstood book - give it a chance. Show Less
LibraryThing member reconditereader
Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is one of the finest examples of storytelling I've ever seen, graphic or otherwise. The collection A Game of You is about identity and about what happens to the worlds we create as children.
LibraryThing member cromanelli927
SPOILERS AHEAD!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
I wrote myself a note last night to remind myself that the introduction to A Game of You really irritated me. I wish I had not. Though Samuel R. Delany did initially irritate me because he writes in his introduction to move on and finish the story before reading
I was most struck by the idea that Barbie (yes, Barbie formerly married to Ken--yuck!) is our protagonist. I am one of those short, plump, annoying moms who really doesn't want her daughters to play with Barbie because she represents unnatural and unhealthy standards for beauty. They say that if she were alive, she would be seven feet tall with a whopping thirty-eight inch bust (haha---smaller than mine), but it towers over an eighteen inch waist (definitely smaller than mine). A "perfectly proportioned female" would have ten inches difference between bust, waist, and hips (34, 24, 34) supposedly. Barbie, on the other hand, would not be able to stand or walk; she'd fall over at the waist, weighed down not by her expansive intellect, but her crazy long blond hair. Obviously, she is an ideal role model for young children. But, for Gaiman, Barbie is actually only consistent with her childhood toy theme on the surface. The first panel in which she appears shows her half naked in bed, but we learn that she has an interesting group of friends. She is the sweet Barbie the doll makers want her to be, but she is also best friends with a transsexual, strangely insecure about her face (she's always drawing on it), and she is obviously repressed in many ways.
It's hard for me to write a sentence summary of what this story was really about because I'm not sure exactly what happened. Barbie's dreamworld was in trouble from the Cuckoo, but this trouble had something to do with Barbie and Rose Walker (see A Doll's House). I was initially frustrated that Barbie was the princess of her realm (don't we get enough of Barbie's awesomeness in the pink aisle of Toys R Us?) but it wore off as the subtle hints showed how powerless and ridiculous she was in that function. Her realm is icy cold, and she has nothing on but a ball gown. She is also at the mercy of her friends/subjects because she has no idea where she is going. After losing, or being betrayed by, all her friends, she is eventually taken to the Cuckoo who turns out to be.........I don't know. I still don't know and I finished the book. There were some really cool parts of this confrontation though. As Barbie approaches the Cuckoo's Citadel, she realizes that it's her old house in Florida. I have to admit that I was really afraid to find out who the Cuckoo was at this point; I have this idea for a book of my own. But I need not have worried, the Lacanian/Freudian psychoanalysis was really quite straight forward. At least in appearance alone, the Cuckoo was Barbie's younger self. I could go on about her public self versus her private self, but I am more interested in the type of analysis Delany did in his introduction than the individual psychoses of a character based off of a plastic goddess. There was some part of her that she repressed and that part took over her dreamworld. But, that's not all there is to it. The Cuckoo was also something outside of Barbie, something like an actual cuckoo...a possessing force or something. When Dream shows up at the end, he speaks of her "kind," but no one ever really says what her "kind" was. The same is true for Thessaly, who is apparently some sort of witch but we never find out which coven or clan she belonged to or anything.
I could spend a great deal of time talking about Wanda, Hazel, Foxglove, and Thessaly too, but I really wanted to mention how interesting Dream's reaction to the whole ordeal is at the end. I think there is something very attractive about Dream. He acts like a god. I know that sounds weird because we really don't have many references for what a god acts like except what we get from mythology and religion and he really doesn't act like any of those gods. He has his own sense of morality and it's so logical that it is hard to resist. Barbie wants him to punish the Cuckoo, but he seems to feel sorry for her. Dream offers her one "boon," but she obviously has to get herself and her friends home, so she can't recreate her dreamworld or anything. I need to think more about how to explain this, but Dream is just so calm and detached. I don't understand why what the Cuckoo has done is not evil, but what Thessaly, Hazel, and Foxglove have done is evil, and yet, I feel like if I asked Dream, he could explain it. Don't get me wrong, this isn't some religious fantasy. I don't feel safe because the world is in Dream's hands or anything. I just think he's cool and godlike. I like Death for a lot of the same reasons, but Death is really nice. I always look forward to her showing up because she's sweet to the other characters. You never really know if Dream is going to be nice or not. He wasn't very sympathetic to Barbie, but he doesn't lose his temper, and he's not mean really. I'm not doing a good job of this. The point is I think Dream is kinda attractive as an Endless...thingy. :)
Best part of this book was the sheer femininity of the whole thing. I really enjoyed one of the last scenes where Barbie tells Wanda what it was like to go into a comic book store. I've only ever been into a comic book store once, and the people there were super nice! But, I thought it was cute that the guys weren't nice to Barbie at all. They made fun of her breasts, and she said they must have taken "unhelpfulness lessons." It makes me wonder if I just got lucky. I would have been more nervous the first time, but I had my kids with me. Luckily though, if I need to go into a comic book store, I can take someone with me to show me the ropes. The really funny part was when Barbie told Wanda she wished she was there because Wanda would have said something to the guys. I have mixed feelings about this. It seems like it would be nice to have someone stick up for you when guys pick on you, but on the other hand, is it really worth it? What was hurt? Her pride. Besides, the guys in the comic book store probably wanted her. Immature way of showing though.
For a guy, Gaiman really does capture women pretty well. Barbie is fairly complex, as are Hazel and Foxglove. Thessaly is cool (weird and scary, but cool), but I don't think she's really human, so I don't think she counts. Gaiman seems like he would be a really cool person to talk to. Perhaps.
I wrote myself a note last night to remind myself that the introduction to A Game of You really irritated me. I wish I had not. Though Samuel R. Delany did initially irritate me because he writes in his introduction to move on and finish the story before reading
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his thoughts (why on earth don't you put it at the end then!), when I did get back to his thoughts this morning, I found them to be really on point and fabulously written. Once again I find a short but extremely poignant bit of fantasy criticism at the beginning of a graphic novel! Delany writes, "the key to this particular fantasy world is precisely that it is a fantasy world where the natural forces, stated and unstated, whether of myth or of chance, enforce the dominant ideology." It seems like he is truly disparaging Gaiman's work until he says, "And it remains just a nasty fantasy unless, in our reading of it, we can find some irony, something that subverts it, something that resists that fantasy," and this is precisely what we find. Irony is definitely the dominant characteristic of A Game of You.I was most struck by the idea that Barbie (yes, Barbie formerly married to Ken--yuck!) is our protagonist. I am one of those short, plump, annoying moms who really doesn't want her daughters to play with Barbie because she represents unnatural and unhealthy standards for beauty. They say that if she were alive, she would be seven feet tall with a whopping thirty-eight inch bust (haha---smaller than mine), but it towers over an eighteen inch waist (definitely smaller than mine). A "perfectly proportioned female" would have ten inches difference between bust, waist, and hips (34, 24, 34) supposedly. Barbie, on the other hand, would not be able to stand or walk; she'd fall over at the waist, weighed down not by her expansive intellect, but her crazy long blond hair. Obviously, she is an ideal role model for young children. But, for Gaiman, Barbie is actually only consistent with her childhood toy theme on the surface. The first panel in which she appears shows her half naked in bed, but we learn that she has an interesting group of friends. She is the sweet Barbie the doll makers want her to be, but she is also best friends with a transsexual, strangely insecure about her face (she's always drawing on it), and she is obviously repressed in many ways.
It's hard for me to write a sentence summary of what this story was really about because I'm not sure exactly what happened. Barbie's dreamworld was in trouble from the Cuckoo, but this trouble had something to do with Barbie and Rose Walker (see A Doll's House). I was initially frustrated that Barbie was the princess of her realm (don't we get enough of Barbie's awesomeness in the pink aisle of Toys R Us?) but it wore off as the subtle hints showed how powerless and ridiculous she was in that function. Her realm is icy cold, and she has nothing on but a ball gown. She is also at the mercy of her friends/subjects because she has no idea where she is going. After losing, or being betrayed by, all her friends, she is eventually taken to the Cuckoo who turns out to be.........I don't know. I still don't know and I finished the book. There were some really cool parts of this confrontation though. As Barbie approaches the Cuckoo's Citadel, she realizes that it's her old house in Florida. I have to admit that I was really afraid to find out who the Cuckoo was at this point; I have this idea for a book of my own. But I need not have worried, the Lacanian/Freudian psychoanalysis was really quite straight forward. At least in appearance alone, the Cuckoo was Barbie's younger self. I could go on about her public self versus her private self, but I am more interested in the type of analysis Delany did in his introduction than the individual psychoses of a character based off of a plastic goddess. There was some part of her that she repressed and that part took over her dreamworld. But, that's not all there is to it. The Cuckoo was also something outside of Barbie, something like an actual cuckoo...a possessing force or something. When Dream shows up at the end, he speaks of her "kind," but no one ever really says what her "kind" was. The same is true for Thessaly, who is apparently some sort of witch but we never find out which coven or clan she belonged to or anything.
I could spend a great deal of time talking about Wanda, Hazel, Foxglove, and Thessaly too, but I really wanted to mention how interesting Dream's reaction to the whole ordeal is at the end. I think there is something very attractive about Dream. He acts like a god. I know that sounds weird because we really don't have many references for what a god acts like except what we get from mythology and religion and he really doesn't act like any of those gods. He has his own sense of morality and it's so logical that it is hard to resist. Barbie wants him to punish the Cuckoo, but he seems to feel sorry for her. Dream offers her one "boon," but she obviously has to get herself and her friends home, so she can't recreate her dreamworld or anything. I need to think more about how to explain this, but Dream is just so calm and detached. I don't understand why what the Cuckoo has done is not evil, but what Thessaly, Hazel, and Foxglove have done is evil, and yet, I feel like if I asked Dream, he could explain it. Don't get me wrong, this isn't some religious fantasy. I don't feel safe because the world is in Dream's hands or anything. I just think he's cool and godlike. I like Death for a lot of the same reasons, but Death is really nice. I always look forward to her showing up because she's sweet to the other characters. You never really know if Dream is going to be nice or not. He wasn't very sympathetic to Barbie, but he doesn't lose his temper, and he's not mean really. I'm not doing a good job of this. The point is I think Dream is kinda attractive as an Endless...thingy. :)
Best part of this book was the sheer femininity of the whole thing. I really enjoyed one of the last scenes where Barbie tells Wanda what it was like to go into a comic book store. I've only ever been into a comic book store once, and the people there were super nice! But, I thought it was cute that the guys weren't nice to Barbie at all. They made fun of her breasts, and she said they must have taken "unhelpfulness lessons." It makes me wonder if I just got lucky. I would have been more nervous the first time, but I had my kids with me. Luckily though, if I need to go into a comic book store, I can take someone with me to show me the ropes. The really funny part was when Barbie told Wanda she wished she was there because Wanda would have said something to the guys. I have mixed feelings about this. It seems like it would be nice to have someone stick up for you when guys pick on you, but on the other hand, is it really worth it? What was hurt? Her pride. Besides, the guys in the comic book store probably wanted her. Immature way of showing though.
For a guy, Gaiman really does capture women pretty well. Barbie is fairly complex, as are Hazel and Foxglove. Thessaly is cool (weird and scary, but cool), but I don't think she's really human, so I don't think she counts. Gaiman seems like he would be a really cool person to talk to. Perhaps.
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LibraryThing member Crowyhead
While this story arc is linked to the rest of the series, it is also one of the most self-contained of the story arcs and stands alone very well. Barbie, who was a marginal character in A Doll's House, has separated from her husband and is living in a small New York apartment building with a cast
This has always been one of my favorites, because I love the interaction between all the characters. Hazel and Foxglove are particularly great, and I kind of wish Gaiman had seen fit to give them a starring role later on. Ah well...
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of rather odd characters. There's Wanda, a transwoman who is Barbie's best friend and protector; Hazel (who might be pregnant) and Foxglove, the punk lesbian couple; Thessaly, a bespectacled witch; and George, the recluse who lives on the top floor. When Barbie is drawn back into the dream world she visited every night as a child, the other women must figure out how to protect her and bring her home. Meanwhile, Barbie is on a quest to save the kingdom from a mysterious adversary known as The Cuckoo.This has always been one of my favorites, because I love the interaction between all the characters. Hazel and Foxglove are particularly great, and I kind of wish Gaiman had seen fit to give them a starring role later on. Ah well...
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
An explanation of the two stars: this is not to do with the quality of writing or drawing, but for my taste and the content of the book. It was simply a much darker tale than I enjoy delving into, and I never would have bothered to finish it if Gaiman was not an excellent story teller. The stars in
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my reviews reflect my feelings on finishing a work, not just the quality of the work. I felt pretty bad when this was done. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mary_Overton
A "skerry" is "a rugged, insulated sea-rock or stretch of rocks, covered by the sea at high water or in stormy weather; a reef."
The world of Dream is enormous and scattered with countless skerries, each one a setting for a thousand dreams. Morpheus is alerted that "One of the skerries is dying
The Sandman responds, "Do about it? The Skerries are distant islets in the shoals of dream. They live, they die. They come and go. Why should I do anything about it?"
Here is a story for all the grown-up little girls who once played with Barbies. Meet a dream-world Barbie on a dying Skerry, accompanied by her gender-confused guardians. According to an oracle speaking from the face of a dead man, the Moon does not acknowledge cultural choices about gender. "Gender isn't something you can pick and choose as far as Gods are concerned."
The world of Dream is enormous and scattered with countless skerries, each one a setting for a thousand dreams. Morpheus is alerted that "One of the skerries is dying
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..." His companion crow, Matthew, asks, "So what are you going to do about it, Boss?" The Sandman responds, "Do about it? The Skerries are distant islets in the shoals of dream. They live, they die. They come and go. Why should I do anything about it?"
Here is a story for all the grown-up little girls who once played with Barbies. Meet a dream-world Barbie on a dying Skerry, accompanied by her gender-confused guardians. According to an oracle speaking from the face of a dead man, the Moon does not acknowledge cultural choices about gender. "Gender isn't something you can pick and choose as far as Gods are concerned."
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LibraryThing member heidilove
the sandman series only gets better the more you read.
LibraryThing member ragwaine
Cool ideas, kinda slow after fourth chapter. Dark, funny.
LibraryThing member deslni01
A Game of You, the fifth volume in Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe is an arc about a girl named Barbie - who made a brief cameo with her husband Ken in A Doll's House - and her current state of dreaming.
Unlike most of the other volumes, Morpheus does not play much of a role in this work. He shows up
A Game of You is a thought provoking addition to the Sandman series and remains dark - and sad - even though it deviates from the horror that is characteristic of some of the earlier volumes.
Unlike most of the other volumes, Morpheus does not play much of a role in this work. He shows up
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at the very beginning and the end, to take care of business in Barbie's dreamworld. The story also touches dramatically on identity, as many of the characters are struggling with it in their lives.A Game of You is a thought provoking addition to the Sandman series and remains dark - and sad - even though it deviates from the horror that is characteristic of some of the earlier volumes.
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LibraryThing member RogueBelle
Not one of my favourite volumes, if only because it's a little uneven. I really adore certain aspects, but in places this volume seemed to wander. Still worth the read, though -- it sets up some characters for later importance.
LibraryThing member iftyzaidi
Two of the greatest strengths of the Sandman books are on display here. Firstly the way that Neil Gaiman takes an archtypal story arc (the quest to save a princess from an evil ussurper) and makes it so completely new, fresh and uncanny. One really doesn't know what to expect and is constantly
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surprised by the way the story unfolds. Secondly, the vividness of the characters, particularly the secondary characters. They immediately take on a life of their own and stick in ones mind. Overall, this isn't the best of the Sandman books, but its still a great read and yet more proof of why the Sandman is such an outstanding series. Show Less
LibraryThing member librarianbryan
I'm revisiting this series after a discussion of
LibraryThing member krau0098
I love the Sandman series so far and this book was no exception. Gaiman has a way of telling dark stories that are very creative and really expand your mind and make you think.
Barbie's best friends are a drag queen named Wanda and two lesbians that live in her apartment building. Barbie seems to be
The artwork in these books is great. The story is amazing. You really feel for all of the characters and relate with them. The plot pulls you through as you wonder what the next page will bring. Full of creative ideas, intriguing thoughts, creative worlds, and of course the God of Dreams; this was another amazing installment to the Sandman series. I love these stories; they always open your mind to new possibilities and wonders. Not to mention that in general the stories are just well told with a deep mythos behind them.
I look forward to reading the next Sandman Volume.
Barbie's best friends are a drag queen named Wanda and two lesbians that live in her apartment building. Barbie seems to be
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dragging a bit because she never dreams. She remembers dreaming as a child; wonderful vivid dreams, but those times are long past. When a creature from her dreams dies in front of her on the street and gives her a treasure, Barbie lapses in to a permanent dream state that leads her back to her childhood dream-land where she is a princess and must save the dream land from the Cuckoo. Barbie's friends walk the path of the moon in a effort to save her. In the end nothing is quite as it seems and Barbie's friends' efforts may have put the real world at risk.The artwork in these books is great. The story is amazing. You really feel for all of the characters and relate with them. The plot pulls you through as you wonder what the next page will bring. Full of creative ideas, intriguing thoughts, creative worlds, and of course the God of Dreams; this was another amazing installment to the Sandman series. I love these stories; they always open your mind to new possibilities and wonders. Not to mention that in general the stories are just well told with a deep mythos behind them.
I look forward to reading the next Sandman Volume.
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LibraryThing member trishaj
Remember, 2 stars means, "it was ok". I didn't hate this. What I hate is that I didn't love it. I've had this graphic novel on my TBR for about four years. It's the very first graphic novel that I have ever bought. I have the greatest respect for Neil Gaiman. He is one of my favorite authors which
This is the story of Barbara, a young woman trying to reinvent herself after a divorce, I guess you could say, and her LGBT friends. They soon find out that there is more to the world than their every day NYC. We meet these cartoonish characters who are trying to protect Barbara. That's a very bad synopsis but I don't know what else to say without giving away too much.
The thing is, I didn't like any of the characters. Seriously, none of them. The gay'isms seemed contrived just to add humor and the mystical elements of the story were disjointed. The artwork was pretty great though. I haven't read a lot of graphic novels to be able to compare it or accurately judge it, but I thought the imagery in the story was compelling and just about the only thing about this Sandman volume that I really liked. There were probably subtleties, nuances, and symbolism that I wasn't getting and added to why I didn't like the story.
I know that I wouldn't recommend this volume to any fellow readers but I have no idea if I'm going to try and read any other of Neil Gaiman's graphic novels. I sincerely hate that I was disappointed in this one and don't know if I want to take a chance on being disappointed with another of Gaiman's works.
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is why I wanted to love this graphic novel. This is the story of Barbara, a young woman trying to reinvent herself after a divorce, I guess you could say, and her LGBT friends. They soon find out that there is more to the world than their every day NYC. We meet these cartoonish characters who are trying to protect Barbara. That's a very bad synopsis but I don't know what else to say without giving away too much.
The thing is, I didn't like any of the characters. Seriously, none of them. The gay'isms seemed contrived just to add humor and the mystical elements of the story were disjointed. The artwork was pretty great though. I haven't read a lot of graphic novels to be able to compare it or accurately judge it, but I thought the imagery in the story was compelling and just about the only thing about this Sandman volume that I really liked. There were probably subtleties, nuances, and symbolism that I wasn't getting and added to why I didn't like the story.
I know that I wouldn't recommend this volume to any fellow readers but I have no idea if I'm going to try and read any other of Neil Gaiman's graphic novels. I sincerely hate that I was disappointed in this one and don't know if I want to take a chance on being disappointed with another of Gaiman's works.
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LibraryThing member pokylittlepuppy
Wow. I loved this. Absolutely the best book so far. There isn't really anything I didn't like, and it kept doing more and more things I like on top of the things I already liked. Well except, I think it is responsible for an extremely grisly nightmare I had, but that is what I get for bedtime
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reading.I love the atmosphere of the parts of the series set in sketchy '80s NYC. I love all the stories with a woman dealing with intrusions of the supernatural in her normal life, and having to go be brave and face it down. Gaiman deserves a lot of thanks for exercising that precedent so well, having laid the influential groundwork for tons of other things I love. Rose's story in book 2 felt that way, and Barbie's story here does too.I love creepy awesome Thessaly and everything she does. I love the creepy nightmare birds. I love everyone in the apartment building and everything about the horrible night they spend together. God I mean it is gruesome, but, really great. Maybe my entirely favorite moment was when Barbie is first dozing off in front of the TV and the fairy pops in to give her a warning, and she snaps herself awake and ruins it.It's possible it isn't a great sign that my favorite book so far is the one where the Dream King is only in it for about 5 pages. But I'm not too concerned. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
Out of all the volumes I've read do far, I think this one is my least favorite. The story is interesting, but I found things a little bit too graphic, too violent. My favorite chapter was the last one, It has an interesting twist, and I especially liked the symbology of the story.
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Some good stories in this volume, but it is rather discounted, with all the different artists and all the stories being one-off-res, besides the two Orpheus stories. Good but not the best of these so far.
LibraryThing member stewartfritz
5 stars for the Whedonesque fleshing-out of a minor character several volumes ago into a main story arc that's as whimsical and disturbing as anything in Coraline or Graveyard Book, minus 2 stars for the cardboard LGBT characters, one of whom seems to exist only to be a token trans character
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(killed off needlessly like a character in a bad horror movie) and the other who seems to have not even a baseline 7-grade Health class knowledge of how human reproduction works. Glad Gaiman's moved past this stuff, but hooboy. Show Less
LibraryThing member akmargie
My favorite so far and yes it might be premature cause we know how batty I am for Gaiman. But I loved Wanda.