The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of The Graveyard Book
Book Review: Gaiman works his usual genius
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to start this review with a confession; Neil Gaiman holds a special place in my reading heart. His Sandman comics series was the first series I found that proved that comic books could be written on multiple levels - for kids and adults. With that said I'm going to do my best to give you an honest review of his latest novel, The Graveyard Book.
The Graveyard Book is a novel of horror. Marketed at Young Adults, but there are terror filled moments in these pages. There's also a bittersweet longing that, for lack of a better word, haunts this book. The novel begins with a woman, a man and the elder child dead in their home. The killer's name is Jack and there is one more murder to be committed. The youngest child, a toddler. But, only a teddy bear remains in his crib. The boy, while sucking on his "nummer" has already escaped down the stairs and out the door. Walking in his weeble-wobble way he's already headed up the hill towards the graveyard.
The toddler will grow to manhood in this graveyard. Protected and taught the secrets of life and death by its inhabitants. The dead, the undead, the spirits and the demons find the boy and name him Nobody or Bod for short. Bod remains in the graveyard because he knows that Jack is waiting for him should he emerge.
Gaiman does a brilliant retelling of Kipling's Jungle Books, and succeeds in making the story greater then the original. Trade the jungle for a graveyard. Trade the bear for a ghost. Trade the bloodthirsty tiger for a murderous killer. It's all there, but with something more. The premise is there, but Gaiman works his usual genius. Making the graveyard a place of magic and melancholy. Where the dead sit and talk, and you love them for it.
You will be the one left out in the cold if you pay too close of attention to the YA classification. Just like with The Sandman almost 20 years ago, Gaiman makes this novel accessible and enjoyable for ages 8 to 80. Don't do yourself the disservice of missing out on the wonderment found in The Graveyard Book. I think I may have found the first novel to read to my son in a few years. The Graveyard Book rightfully deserves 5 out of 5 tombstones.
Also, if you have a chance, please pick up a copy of the the audio book. Mr. Gaiman's reads it himself and it's truly stellar. He's one of the few author's I know of who do their own audio books, and he has an amazing reading voice. The Graveyard Book, to me, is even better than Coraline, which was his previous novel aimed at YA's and soon to be a motion picture.
Reviewed at Bitten by Books Paranormal Fiction Review Site by SunandHeir
Book Review: Dreary? yes. Silly? very. But, a few memorable parts make it worth it.
Summary: 3 Stars
I read this book with high expectations after listening to the author in an interview. While not a horrible book, I found it predictable and very silly at parts.
On the good side, there are some really interesting ideas about death within it. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about Nobody's dance with death. And there is the occasional memorable quote which makes it worth reading. Overall I would give the first 1/3rd of the book 4 stars, and it's really the last 2/3rds of teh book which deserves 2 stars. And so I compromised on the plus side and am giving it 3 stars, which I think is generous.
Things happen in it which are so fortunate to the story, that it feels as though you're watching the author pull on strings. A girl comes to town, then moves away at the appropriate time for the story, and then just happens to move back just when she is needed for the plot.
The main character is nearly flawless, and seems overly mature at very young ages. To some degree, this is understandable that some children are more mature than others, but many of the things he says a child wouldn't say. Not to mention, his manner of speaking stays largely the same from the age of five to fifteen.
The plot lulls for several chapters. Somehow the author was able to write a slowpaced book about ghosts. I'm not quite sure how he was able to do that, but he did.
The one seemingly interesting thing in the book, the mysterious story about Nobody's intriguing guardian, Silas, is hung over the reader's head for many many chapters until you get to the end and realize that half the reason why it's hung over our heads is that the author didn't really know what he was doing and didn't know how to explain Silas very well.
If I were to have written the book, what I would have done is have made Silas turn out to be a relative of Nobody's (or at least a friend of his family). It would have been a bit corny, but it would have made the book make more sense. Better corny than nonsensical. Silas goes WAY out of his way to help a boy he doesn't know, and it's not really explained why. At the end, there's a half-hearted explanation, but it's even more corny than my proposed solution to this plot problem.
I will concede at the end though, that I am not a child, and so have not read this book through a child's eyes. I'm sure a child would have been more impressed than I was. Although, the book's preoccupation with death makes me wonder if Gaiman wrote a book too silly to be enjoyed by adults and too melancholy to be enjoyed by children.
Book Review: Gaiman riffs on Kipling's Jungle Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Gaiman's latest finds the popular author channeling Rudyard Kipling's 1894 story collection The Jungle Book, particularly the story of the boy, Mowgli, who was raised in the jungle by animals, specifically by his mentors, Baloo the bear, Kaa the snake, and Bagheera, the panther. As indicated by its title, Gaiman's take on the story involves a boy who is raised by the denizens of a graveyard.
Like many ideas he's developed, it is one that occurred to Gaiman a long way back, and stayed with him over the years. In the author's own words:
"Around 1985 or 1986, we lived in a house with no garden, but we had a graveyard just over the run, so that was where my son Michael (three or four at the time) rode his little tricycle. And I remember watching him, and thinking it would be fun to do The Jungle Book, only set in a graveyard instead of a jungle, and that was the start of it. Because I tend to be fairly slow about these things, it's taken me...twenty-two years to get to it."
The first half of Chapter One (which I was fortunate enough to hear Gaiman read aloud at a November, 2007 gathering at the University of Minnesota) describes how a man named Jack enters a house and kills its occupants, except for an infant, a boy, who manages to escape the killing zone and ends up in a nearby graveyard. There, the denizens of the graveyard reach a momentous decision, deciding to raise the toddler as a member of their extended family. After much humorous and heated debate, they name him Nobody, because he's like nobody else in the cemetery. Bod, as he comes to be known, is still in danger, however, as Jack (like the lethal and murderous tiger Shere Khan in The Jungle Book) is still looking for him, hoping to finish his task of eliminating the members of Bod's family.
That's the setup; to discuss subsequent chapters in any detail would be a disservice to Gaiman's constant readers. Suffice it to say all the praise lavished on the author in the blurbs above is justified: Gaiman deftly blends action, humor, horror, and a good deal of, well, humanity, into a suspenseful storyline, offsetting the grim goings on with a cast of irrepressible characters sure to strike a favorable chord with readers. Always an interesting, inventive, and intuitive storyteller, Gaiman has outdone himself with The Graveyard Book, creating a tale destined to be well received both critically and commercially. This one might have taken twenty-two years to finish, but it has proven to be well worth the wait.
Book Review: Expands on the story about Bod from Gaiman's "M is for Magic"
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Harry Potter Rip Off
Summary: 1 Stars
To buy into the plot of this Harry Potter rip off, you must buy into a series of increasingly implausible premises, the first being that a babe in diapers has the wherewithal to seek refuge from a mass murderer blocks away in a graveyard.
In said graveyard said babe grows up with not one iota of curiousity about what lies beyond his metaphorical prison despite all the alluring smells and noises beyond the headstones. This pretty much sums up the babe called Bod: he has zero curiosity. The world flows over and around him. Of course, if Bod were even remotely curious about the world beyond, he'd be gone, and there'd be no story. Suffice it to say, this is not a story about a lost boy raised by ghosts; this is a writer pushing character around for the sake of plot.
When Bod does leave the graveyard (finally!), he makes for the police, right? Sorry. Bod heads straight for a pawn shop intent on pawning off a Celtic relic. Now, I ask you, how does babe-in-the woods Bod suddenly know the ins and outs of a pawn shop, and the value of money (and a Celtic relic) when he hasn't even tasted fish and chips? The fact that this story is a fantasy does not excuse such incongruous leaps of logic. Once again, the writer is pushing character around for the sake of plot.
As for why the man/men Jack are pursuing Bod (the story's major premise), I honestly have no idea. Even when I played the audio book back countless times, I still had no idea why Bod was being pursued by the murderous Jacks. What I do know is that this story is a Harry Potter rip off.
Let's add it up, shall we, and see what the Newbery jury missed:
1. Harry's and Bod's parents are both murdered by nefarious, supernatural forces for reasons unexplained till the end. Check.
2. Harry and Bod are adopted by strange parents. Check.
3. Harry and Bod are both educated in the darker arts by friendly supernatural forces in supernatural schools. Check.
4. Harry and Bod eventually learn they are in peril by nefarious, supernatural forces (see point #1). Check.
5. Harry and Bod form platonic relationship with girls. Check.
6. Harry and Bod both defeat forces of evil (see point #1) with their acquired supernatural powers.
And you thought the Newbery award was for original writing.
For those in search of serious reading and writing, I suggest the novel Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Part 1 and 2.
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