The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Graveyard Book
Book Review: "Here comes a candle to light you to bed... and here comes a chopper to chop off your head."
Summary: 5 Stars
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is iconic British fantasist Neil Gaiman's second go at writing a children's book, and, not too surprisingly, it's terrific. I prefer it to CORALINE (see Coraline - Diamond Distributors), which is also quite good but didn't draw me in as strongly as did this book.
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK begins at night with the slaying of a family at the hands of a gifted, knife-wielding assassin named Jack. But Jack goofed and let one get away, a near 18-month-old toddler who had wandered away from his crib and somehow found his way to an ancient graveyard. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK goes on to tell the little child's story, of how he is adopted by the graveyard's ghosts and of how he is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard (thus guaranteeing him sanctuary rights and also a few unsettling abilities). The child is bestowed a new and unusual name, which is Nobody Owens (or "Bod").
Living in a graveyard, raised by the dead, every day of his life exposed to the supernatural, it's not a surprise, is it, that Bod grows up an extraordinary and very peculiar boy? And how long before he begins to wonder about the outside world, a place utterly unfamiliar and perilous to him? Bod is warned that the murderer of his family is still at large, maybe waiting to get him. Bod isn't afraid, but maybe he should be. Because, even after all these years, the man Jack, the knife-wielding assassin, is still looking to finish his gristly business.
About the book's author, Neil Gaiman: In the past quarter century, you'd be hard put to come up with a more important comic book writer than Neil Gaiman, excepting, of course, Alan Moore and Frank Miller. Gaiman's Sandman series elevated comics to a wondrous, thought-provoking artform! Gaiman also happens to be one of the very few comic book talents to successfully transition from comic books to novels. If you haven't yet stayed up long, late hours to Neverwhere: A Novel, STARDUST (Roca Editorial Novela), American Gods: A Novel, or Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Discworld) (with Terry Pratchett), then you are missing out on some awesome and peculiar stuff. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is his latest and, in my opinion, his most engaging novel yet.
The story is graced with Gaiman's trademark touches, a bit of the morbid, a dash of the macabre, and peppered with wit and humor and with dark imagination. He reminds me some of Tim Powers in his ability to render the reader off-balanced, so lushly steeped are his stories in oddities and gothic sensibilities. Reading both Gaiman and Powers, your grasp on reality may become juuust a tad tenuous. Yet, I say, go on and sip from them strange brews! Theirs is an irresistibly offbeat brand of fantasy.
But one minor point of grievance: I do wish that more fleshing out were done with the characters of Bod's grim, enigmatic guardian Silas (who only consumes one food), Bod's spectral surrogate parents, and that man Jack. Come to think of it, that shadowy cabal to which Jack belongs could've done with more detailing, as well. As it were, I was never quite sure what that group was all about, other than something underhanded.
There's a good dollop of pathos. One thing (among many things) which Gaiman does very well is make Bod likable and relatable, in spite of the weird childhood. The one relationship I didn't think would go anywhere turns out to have an impact, this being the one between Bod and the strict and prim substitute guardian/teacher, Miss Lupescu. She starts out real prickly and cold, but, at the end, you'll end up liking her quite a bit, even though she's not much in the book. One early scene between Miss Lupescu and Bod which made me laugh (and keep in mind that Bod has had a most unconventional upbringing):
"Name the different kinds of people," said Miss Lupescu. "Now."
Bod thought for a moment. "The living," he said. "Er. The dead." He stopped. Then, "...Cats?" he offered, uncertainly.
This one paragraph qualifies as SPOILERS... as I mention that THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is a coming-of-age fantasy, and that it ends with Bod still very young, at 15 years of age. The last page will leave him wiser, sadder, and yet eager to fully experience the outside world. It's a good and fitting ending, but the true enjoyment stems from reading about how Bod arrives at that stage. Bod, as he lives his very odd life, learns several useful graveyard tricks, such as Fading and seeing in the dark. You'll read about his jaunts into the human world and how, in that environment, he doesn't really fit in too well. You'll meet interesting dead people and also Bod's one human friend. You'll learn about the Hounds of God and of dancing the Macabray, and of ghoul gates and night gaunts. There's a buried chamber in this book, which houses ancient treasures guarded by a sinister entity. And, somewhere down the road, you'll bump into the man Jack, with his uncanny sense of smell and his knife. Can Bod be resourceful enough, and clever enough to get around this particular boogyman?
Unexpected and moving. And what a wonderful and warped bedtime fable. Much of the essence, the dark enchantment, that is in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (2-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy) is felt in this book, so if you liked that cheerfully bent holiday movie, then THE GRAVEYARD BOOK will suit you just fine. I'm crossing my fingers, hoping and hoping that Neil Gaiman writes some more about Bod Owens. After all, at his young age, kid's bound to have more adventures, right?
Book Review: "Nobody" does it better
Summary: 5 Stars
I cannot begin to improve upon, nor add anything worthwhile to what has already been said, except that "The Graveyard Book" is perhaps the jewel in Mr Gaiman's well-deserved crown. The writing style is tight and uncomplicated but continues to impress the reader with its depth of meaning and emotionalism, as if those of us who seek out the author's works would require any more impression.
Mr Gaiman claims that he thinks Chapter 4, "The Witch's Headstone," is perhaps the best thing he has ever written. I would disagree and refer to the last chapter, "Leavings and Partings," as holding that esteemed honor. The bittersweet melancholy of separation and the bright edge of joy for a new beginning are all contained in the fewest words and yet still manage to transmit all the depths of highest and lowest with the skill of a master.
More than anything this review is a need to say "Thank you" for another exceptionally remarkable piece of quality literature. I shall relish re-reading it often as I do all the rest of his fine work.
Book Review: "Nobody" survives a tragedy and lives amongst the living and dead.
Summary: 3 Stars
The first time I started reading this (previewing it for my favorite ten-year-old bookworm), I stopped and set it aside after the fourth (too scary) sentence, "The knife had done almost everything it was brought in that house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet." But as a fan of Gaiman's Anansi Boys and more recently, Coraline (good as written but fabulous as read by the author), I had to give it another go.
Unfortunately, the illustrations never impressed me, nor did, for the most part, the plot. Although I love the fact that Gaiman creates very unique story lines, the varied and unusual graveyard (and real world) characters didn't do anything for me. The story behind the plot to family in the first place, eventually revealed, was not worth waiting for. And the identity of a character that shows up late in the book was so obvious that even I (a generally clueless mystery unraveller) easily figured it out. The basic premise of the book is that a toddler somehow defies certain death at the hands of a knife-wielding killer. Graveyard inhabitants take on his care, and endow him with special powers and knowledge. He encounters a variety of creatures from both the living and dead/spirit world and even briefly attends school, learning life lessons likely to help him thwart misdeeds dealt upon him by the bad guys. Ultimately, he faces the powers that be and resourcefully proves that what he'd learned through all those years living amongst the dead paid off.
Fortunately, the reader does learn the motive behind the original crime. Unfortunately, the plot, initially appearing intriguing, is unique, but often as hazy as the spirits themselves. I'm not sure I ever figured out the point. The best of the story is that it delves into the realm of fantasy with its varied, unusual characters. The worst is the obvious unsurprising character and the illustrations. This slightly scary, scintillating book could have used a bit more work in creating cohesion and ironing out the details. As a fan of the author, I'm glad that he won the 2008 Newberry Medal (though I'd have preferred he'd won it for Coraline). Better: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Coraline (especially the Book on CD, read by the author) by Neil Gaiman and The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.
Book Review: 'One to leave and one to stay, and all to dance the Macabray..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Neil Gaiman seems to have cornered the market on smart, creepy children's literature, and the Graveyard Book does not disappoint (in fact, it's better than Coraline).
An elaborate retooling of the Jungle Book, the Graveyard Book is the story of Nobody Owens, Bod for short. Bod is just like any other boy, except that he lives in a graveyard, and in this cemetery, the ghosts aren't the ones to be afraid of. See, when he was very young, his real family was viciously murdered for no apparent reason. The curious young Bod managed to escape the killer, for the moment at least, and ended up in the graveyard at the top of the hill, where a bone yard full of friendly ghosts hid and protected him. Two of them take it upon themselves to raise him as their own. But, as the dour, mysterious Silas points out, `it is going to take more than a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take a graveyard.' And so it does; as Bod grows from an inquisitive child who mostly does what he's told, to a quiet, intelligent fourteen-year-old, he learns, both from his ghostly, and otherworldly, teachers and from the occasional living people he comes across, including his friend Scarlett. As he grows, he gradually learns more about his past, and the mysterious Jack, the man responsible for his family's murder, and eventually must confront him.
Gaiman's Tim Burton-like sensibilities are less pronounced in this book than in Coraline, and yet somehow this seems far more adult than Coraline was. The images Gaiman conjures are far subtler, and yet in some ways creepier. The Sleer is chilling, even though it remains formless until the last couple of chapters, and Bod's ill-advised trip through the Ghoul-gate is bizarrely-funny and frightening at the same time. And the Danse Macabre scene is wonderfully inventive and strange. In the Jacks, he created worthy and appropriately-despicable villains, and Silas makes for a fascinating guardian for young Bod (though the `V' word is never used, he sleeps in a steamer trunk, is very old, only comes out at night, doesn't eat human food, and tells Bod on multiple occasions that he is neither living nor dead). The graveyard's inhabitants are varied and fascinating; from the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Owens, who serve as Bod's parents, to the Bartleby family, whose many children are Bod's playmates when he is young. Nehemiah Trot, the hapless ghost poet (whose idea of revenge is refusing to publish any of his new work until the world, or at least its population of Irish layabouts, has learned to appreciate him as an artist) is hilarious.
Perhaps the subject matter is a bit heavy, but most fairy tales have always had this gruesome element to them, and if those who insist this isn't the stuff of children's stories still aren't convinced, might I remind you of the age classification? This is a book for 9-12 year-olds. If you're nine-year-old can't handle a few creepy images, don't let them read it, or wait until they're a bit older.
For those kids who like their entertainment a little scary and a lot strange, the Graveyard Book is an excellent read. For all of Gaiman's twisted sensibilities (who else reads the Jungle Book and thinks, `well, that was brilliant, but it would be really interesting if it was in a graveyard and all the people raising him were dead!'?), it's a coming-of-age story, about growing up, learning to face your demons, and finding the courage to strike out on your own. A great book for kids of all ages (and real `grown-ups', too).
Book Review: A Bump in the Night
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw this book, but I'd read other things by Gaiman and liked them, so I didn't think it was too much of a strech. I sat down to read it and I just couldn't stop. He created such a compelling character in Bod, that I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and for that matter, still do. It had some twists that I hadn't expected, and was pleased to see them unravel. This is a really good book, and it was completely worth the time to read it. This book isn't terrifying, but it has it's bumps in the night. If you are looking for a good 'bump', this books bump will find you.