The Man Jack enters the sleeping house, and murders all the inhabitants. All, that is, except one tiny toddler, who crawls out of house and hides in a nearby graveyard. The Man Jack is still seeking the child, and will find him if he leaves the protection of the graveyard, so the ghosts of the graveyard rally to protect the infant, naming him Nobody Owens (Bod). Bod grows up among the ghosts, under the tutelage of the mysterious Silas. It's a happy enough life, if lonely, but always wondering who he is and why the Man Jack is looking for him. This is my second time reading a Gaiman book (the first was Coraline), and I'm beginning to think he's the master of a style I'm going to call spooky-sweet. Even though this book has ghosts in it, I didn't find it scary (though enough people have told me the first chapter scared them that I'm going to put a FEAR warning on this review..haha). In my experience, this book wasn't about being scary. It was about Bod's loneliness and his search to uncover his past.
That's not to say there aren't hair-raising adventures in this book, because there are. The benevolent ghosts aren't the only things "living" in the graveyard, and Bod is an inordinately curious child who seems to get into a lot of trouble. I really enjoyed both Bod and Silas as characters. A side storyline involving Bod's friend from the outside it sweet and heartbreaking.
My final word: 4 out of 5. It's exciting, it's well written. It's a book about ghosts and murderers that I can best sum up as "sweet." Definitely worth reading.
Website for Neil Gaiman.
Website for The Graveyard Book (The British cover art is way creepier than the North American!
Click the book cover image to purchase from Amazon.
5 comments:
I read this last year and I loved it. Glad you enjoyed it.
♥ Nely
Sounds like a good read! Thanks for the review.
I've had this on my "should read" list for a while, but your review has made it a "have to read"! Thanks for the great review!
I hear a lot of great stuff about Gaiman's books. I have decided to start with The Sandman graphic novels, but I will definitely put this and Coraline on my TBR list. Thanks for the review.
This is a book I need need to add to my TBR list, along with Gaiman's I've heard so much about it, and from your review, it does sound like a nice fun read. Much like Stardust and Neverwhere.
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