Recently (after having to return it to the library part way through and because it takes me so long to read a novel) I finally finished Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan. Huge! I have read the entire Sandman chronicles, Coraline, Marvel 1602, A Study in Emerald (a great short story with a twist, which you can find here), as well as various picture books and short stories. And Graveyard does not disappoint, though admittedly the premise sounds a little macabre.
The story centers around a boy called Nobody Owens, who, believe it or not, is raised in a graveyard by the ghosts and other creatures of the night who inhabit it. The reader follows Bod on several instances throughout his unusual life leading up to a very dramatic climax.
Now for someone like me, who doesn't mind stepping into the slightly darker side of fantasy (see my recent posts on vampires), I found this premise very intriguing and I felt that Gaiman pulled it off well, keeping everything in that fantasy world but still believable. For those who may balk, I think that you'll find the characters endearing enough and the plot interesting enough to look past the setting. Plus, as Mr. Gaiman said in a recent interview, the whole point of the book is that life is worth living, and I got that sense as I was reading through it. And I had to keep myself from crying at the end.
My verdict: An excellent read, but it'll depend on what your tastes are
I cheated on this one and listened to the book on CD during my commute a few months back. Turns out, the audio book version is excellent. Being read by Gaiman hisself doing voices and accents for each of his characters (though not in an annoying way but great story teller way) listening to it was a real treat.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read them already, I'd highly recommend Good Omens (a collaboration between Gaiman and Sci-fi humour author Terry Pratchett) which is one of my absolute favorite novels, American Gods, and Anansi Boys, both really fun and captivating reads. I can't gush enough about Gaiman, I think he's great!