it still seems entirely too easy to read in such a way that it plays in to some of the very things it's attempting to criticize.

This is what makes me say that Gaiman's risk basically backfired, if most of the readers are coming away with a reaction that is the polar opposite of what he was really hoping to convey.

Even so, i found the very end, Wanda standing there with Death, to be very moving. A bit melodramatic, but effective.