REVIEW: The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Soft Skull Press (13 April 2007)
ISBN-10: 1933368365
ISBN-13: 978-1933368368
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought online

From the back of the book:
The Good Fairies of New York is a story that starts when Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies with swords and green kilts and badly-dyed hair fly throught the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and anti-social type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet. Who they are, and how they came to New York, and what this has to do with the lovely Kerry, who lives across the street, and who has Crohn's Disease and is making a flower alphabet, and what this has to do with the other fairies (of all nationalities) of New York, not to mention the poor repressed fairies of Britain, is the subject of this book. It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare's  "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Johnny Thunders' New York dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a  book?

This is a book for every fiddler who has realised, half-way through playing an ancient Scottish air, that the Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated" is what folk music is really all about, and gone straight into it. It's a book for every girl with home-dyed hair and fairy wings who can't honestly remember what happened last night. It's a book for people of whatever shape and size who like reading good books.

I owned it for more than five years before reading it, then lent my copy to someone I thought should read it, and never got it back. Do not make either of my mistakes. Read it now, then make your friends buy their own copies. You'll thank me one day.

- from the Introduction by Neil Gaiman

It is fair to say that any book with a glowing recommendation from Neil Gaiman deserves to be read. I am very glad I did because this was possibly the funniest book I have read in a long time. Morag and Heather, two Scottish fairies on the run from their clans back home, must be the most accident-prone and unlucky characters ever to appear on the printed page, yet despite their meddling and lack of tact, they are also incredibly endearing. They mean well, even if their plans go awry. Who can resist a bickering pair of fairies that play The Ramones on their fiddles, drink whisky (even if the American stuff is too sweet!), and manage to get into all kinds of trouble in the city of New York? Not me. Within five minutes from starting to read, I was entranced.

The main plot involves Morag and Heather, who fall out soon after arriving in New York. Heather stays with Dinnie, an anti-social, grumpy overweight misfit with low self-esteem and a penchant for TV porn, while Morag flies across the street to Kerry, a pretty, friendly, free-spirited woman who is in the advanced stages of Crohn’s Disease and wants to learn to play all Johnny Thunders’ guitar solos. She is creating a Celtic flower alphabet for a local community competition and is desperate to beat her rival, Cal who is staging a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the old theatre below Dinnie’s flat.

At the same time as Morag and Heather arrive in Dinnie’s apartment, “Five more fairies, all suffering from massive confusion due to beer, whisky and magic mushrooms, were at that moment fleeing in drunken terror from the chaos of Park Avenue to the comparative shelter of Central Park.” They include Tulip and Petal, the children and rightful heirs of Tala, the fairy King of Cornwall. Under his leadership, with the technically-minded fairy Magris, Cornwall is undergoing an industrial revolution and becoming an oppressed fairy kingdom. Aelric is the leader of the Cornish Fairy Resistance Movement.

Added to the mix are the cynical squirrels of Central Park; Magenta, a bag lady who believes she is Xenophon, a legendary Greek hero; the ghost of Johnny Thunders; the Italian, Chinese and Ghanaian fairy communities and a triple-bloomed Welsh poppy. These threads are intercut between the main story of Morag and Heathers’ rivalry but come together in a dramatic conclusion. Sometimes, however, things became a bit confusing with all the various subplots, but the layers merged eventually, culminating in a final showdown that fitted well with the overall tone of the book.

But the plot, for me, was secondary to the humour. Morag and Heather were anarchic, chaotic, accident-prone and very, very funny. They both had spirit in abundance and this, combined with sharp wit and a tendency to inadvertently create mayhem everywhere they went, produced numerous comic scenes that had me crying with laughter. The dialogue was sharp and snappy. Mishaps and misunderstandings led to some great comic moments. Yet there were also scenes of tenderness and poignancy. It takes skill and talent to write a book as enjoyable as The Good Fairies of New York, and, like Neil Gaiman says in his introduction, I wonder why it took me so long to read this novel. Certainly I am very glad I have now found Martin Millar and I look forward to acquiring his back catalogue for future reading pleasure.

Plot: 8
Characters: 9
Style: 7

Rating 8/10