Sam Reviews "Angels and Visitations" by Neil Gaiman

Angels and Visitations is a collection of pieces written by Neil Gaiman for various reasons and various times in his life.  I enjoyed the book but there were a view pieces in particular that I preferred.

1.  Babycakes - a story written for PETA basically calling out people who "justify" eating and testing products on animals.  I don't necessarily agree with the premise of this piece but I can appreciate where he is coming from.  Here's a snippet:  
"A few years back all the animals went away.  We woke up one morning, and they just weren't there anymore. They didn't even leave us a note, or say good-bye. We never figured out quite where they'd gone.  ...  We wandered around lost, for a time, and then someone pointed out that just because we didn't have any animals anymore, that was no reason to change our lives. No reason to change our diets or to cease testing products that might cause us harm.  "After all, there were still babies.  ...  Some of them we ate. Baby flesh is tender and succulent.  ...  Some of them we tested.  We taped open their eyes, dripped detergents and shampoos in, a drop a a time.  We scarred them and scalded them. We burnt them. We clamped them and planted electrodes in their brains. We grafted, and we froze, and we irradiated.  The babies breathed our smoke, and the babies' veins flowed with our medicines and drugs, until they stopped breathing or until their blood ceased to flow.  ...  With the animals gone, what else could we do?  Some people complained, of course. But then, they always do."

2.  Virus - a poem written about video games (written before 1999) and how they kind of take over people minds and habits and such.  It's a little crazy to think people thought that strongly about them back in the 90s when the problem is so prominent now in 2016.

3.  Looking for the Girl - a story written for (and about) Penthouse and this guy's obsession with one of the girls.  It's ultimately a metaphor for how we are all obsessed with these photo-shopped beauties that don't actually exist in the world.

"I asked a [Penthouse] model once if she felt she was being exploited. 'Me? ... I'm getting well paid for it, love. And it beats working the night shift in a Bradford biscuit factory. But I'll tell you who's being exploited. All those blokes who buy it. Walking over me, every month. They're being exploited.'"

"Charlotte is there, in all places, all times, sliding through our fantasies, a girl forever "

4.  Murder Mysteries - a story about how the world was created (from the mind of Neil Gaiman) and about angels.  It was kind of written like a classic "Whodunnit" which I can appreciate, but it also had an interesting view on how the universe was made and about God.

"'...That was not just.'
"'...It was justice. He killed another. He was killed in his turn. ...'
"'But...he loved. He should have been forgiven. He should have been helped. He should not have been destroyed like that. That was wrong.'
"'It was His will.'
"Lucifer stood. 'Then perhaps His will is unjust. Perhaps the voices in the Darkness speak truly after all. How can this be right?'"

Overall I enjoyed the book.  I find Neil Gaiman books difficult to get through sometimes, but his short stories and poems are far easier and I always enjoy them.