The Graveyard Book

I had high expectations for this book, and it mostly met them. A cast of ghosts and undead care for a living boy, in a takeoff on The Jungle Books gone macabre. It's a brilliant premise.

Our hero Bod (short for "Nobody") is an immensely likable character. Even more likable is his guardian, Silas. More than once in the novel, Bod has the urge to hug Silas and comfort him, but senses that one just doesn't hug someone so formal, even if you love them. Their relationship is touching. I count Gaiman as one of my favorite authors, but couldn't finish his last book Anasasi Boys because the characters were so unlikable. I gather I'm not the only one to think that, and maybe a few told him so, because the characters here are so wonderfully likable.

In a few ways, though, I was disappointed. The motley crew of ghosts who lived in all different eras promises to set up a comedy of manners where the style and values of different eras play off one another. Gaiman doesn't quite achieve that, except in a facile way. For example, he mentions that two ghosts who lived centuries apart are 'stepping out together' but seem to have overcome the difference in their eras. But he doesn't say what those differences were.

Second, the book seems to run out of steam at the end. As he begins to wrap the story up, one can imagine pesky emails arriving from the editor--"is it ready yet? It was due months ago, you know." The end feels like a draft. The threads of the story get tied together, but not in a completely satisfying way.

All that said, this is still a fun book. Maybe even a memorable one.

For parents considering sharing this with young children, the beginning (like The Jungle Books on which it's modeled) is a bit scary. My older son is 5. I will wait til he's 8 or older before sharing it with him.

While I enjoyed this twist on a ghost story a lot, I have one really big pet peeve. Gaiman has Bod pointing out the constellation Orion at midnight in the middle of summer. The constellation Orion is not visible in the summer sky. It's behind the sun in the summer. Neil Gaiman (and J.K. Rowling) are guilty of not doing the simplest of research to find out what constellations are visible at the time of year (and time of night) that they are writing about. Any 10 year old amateur astronomer could have told them that.

When I heard that Gaiman was releasing another book I was very excited and I am happy to say that this book met all of my expectations. Gaiman is such an excellent storyteller.

This book expands on one of the short stories in "M is for Magic" by Neil Gaiman. In that story we meet Bod, a boy who lives in a graveyard. This book tells about how Bod got there and of the adventures he had there. You learn more about the mysterious Jack too! In fact I believe chapter 4 or 5 of The Graveyard Book, is actually an exact reprint of this story.

The story starts with a creepy killer named Jack who kills Bod's whole family (trust me no spoilers here, this happens in the first page); Bod as a small, curious toddler escapes to the graveyard. The book is interesting in that for the first two-thirds of the book each chapter is more of a short-story about Nobody Owens (Bod). Initially there is a large time span between each chapter and in each chapter (short-story) we learn about one of Bod's adventures in the Graveyard. As you get towards the end of the book things happen closer together and the chapters turn into more of what you would consider a standard chapter.

It is fascinating to hear about a boy who is raised in a graveyard by ghosts. Bod develops into and strong and very interesting character, that you can't help but love. Silas, the guardian of the graveyard, is also fascinating. Gaiman, as usual, adds an ironic touch to the story by showing how similar Bod's issues when growing up are with any other childs.

As for being a kids' book; for the most part the book would be okay to read to a young child. The first chapter, where Jack murders Bod's family, I found the be extremly creepy; so I would shy away at reading this chapter to a young child. Many of the other chapters are also scary. If a child under 10 was going to read this book, I would say a parent should read through it first and then you can read it together and skip any inappropriate parts. This book, naturally, deals a ton with death and what it means to be dead.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought the age level was a bit higher than Gaiman's Coraline. People who complain about Gaiman being too morbid, haven't read enough Gaiman. He is like the young adult, fairy tale version of Stepan King...many of his stories are crafted to make you think and feel slightly uncomfortable. This was absolutely a wonderfully crafted story, it's one I am keeping to add to my book collection.

I have a love/hate relationship with Neil Gaiman: the man is capable of some truly incredible works, and some really middling ones as well. Without lumping any of his works into either of these camps, let me say that The Graveyard Book is undoubtedly one of his best. The premise is inventive: a family is killed except for their infant son, who escapes from the killer and wanders into a nearby graveyard. He is taken in by the ghosts, and is raised as the living son of a community of the dead.
If this grabs you, then the rest of the book will not disappoint; the book is fascinating the whole way through. The protagonist, Nobody Owens, has several adventures as he grows up, and we are shown every step along the way. Gaiman's original approach to modern mythology and urban fantasy provides many interesting jaunts through the unique world of the Graveyard Book.
This book, over the course of its 300 pages, will leave you with the mixed pleasure and bittersweet parting from a character and world which is too beautiful to enjoy for such a short time. With the Graveyard Book, I was more touched by all of Bod's interactions than I ever was through the entire Harry Potter series, or any other young adult series for that matter. If you enjoy clever, original fiction, you will enjoy this book.

For a kid's book this is a lot of fun in a gothy way! But it is quite short and not very frightening. I was left kind of disappointed with a "that's all there is?" feeling. There were definitely characters and plots that I would have like to see developed at greater length. But if you are a fan you will probably love it.

If you are new to Neil Gaiman, you may want to try American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere or Stardust instead.