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The Graveyard Book
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead.
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.
But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.
A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.
But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.
A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40,097 reviews
September 28, 2013
Recently, on a car trip with my little boy, I decided to try listening to an audiobook.
In the past this hasn't been a success. He loves to be read to in person, both picture books and chapter books. But he not a fan of listening to books in the car. At best he's indifferent, but usually he just asks me to turn them off.
Generally speaking, he'd prefer to listen to Macklemore's Thrift Shop, which he calls "The Sway Music."
But he's four now, with a vocabulary that's diverse to the point of being a little creepy. (I taught him "cruft" yesterday.)
So I plugged in the Audio of Gaiman's Graveyard book. For those of you who don't know, Gaiman reads his own audiobooks more often than not. Lovely accent aside, he's fucking amazing at it. Really irritatingly good.
We listened to it for about 10 minutes or so, then I heard him saying, "Dad? Dad!" from the back seat.
I sighed and turned it off, I expected him to tell me that this was boring and we should stop. Or that he wanted to listen to the Sway Music or one of his, as he puts it "Kid CD's."
But it wasn't anything of the sort, instead he said. "Dad! I'm listening to the story and I can see the pictures in my head!"
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah," he says. "It's like a movie!"
I couldn't be happier. Neil Gaiman as his first audio. My boy has good taste. "What does it look like in your head?" I ask.
"There's a hill, and on the top of it there is a fence and a graveyard!"
We talk about the story for a little bit. He's slightly confused on some points: he thinks the boy's name is Jack, and he thought that the man who was coming to hurt the boy was invisible except for his hand. (Which is understandable, given the way Gaiman describes things, focusing on the hand and the knife.)
But generally he was getting it. More importantly, he was enjoying it.
I know this because for the next couple days, whenever we got into the car, he asked if we could listen to "the story of the boy that lived in the graveyard."
Yes, yes we can.
July 20, 2023
I read this to Celyn but the 5* are from both of us. I think I probably enjoyed it more than she did in fact.
It's a fine book. I can see why it's done so well. The story is well structured, the brutal opening providing an orphan, a mystery, and an ongoing threat. Thereafter the book slowly cycles back around to its beginning and in the mean time raises our young Bod, equipping him with the skills to deal with his problem.
Bod's life in the graveyard is very interesting, with him learning various bits of magic and magical lore from the dead. With hundreds of ghosts spanning several thousand years there's all manner of opportunity for interest and I enjoyed Bod's interactions with them.
We watch Bod grow up, be educated, and make ventures into the living world. The whole thing crept up on me. I was gently entertained throughout but by the end I found myself really caring about the story.
The end was really quite emotional in that Toy Story III sort of 'leaving the nest' way that punches parents in the gut. I think Celyn got a bit irritated as I kept pausing to gather myself to read the next line.
Anyway. A curious and highly entertaining book thick with inventiveness and written with deceptive skill.
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..
It's a fine book. I can see why it's done so well. The story is well structured, the brutal opening providing an orphan, a mystery, and an ongoing threat. Thereafter the book slowly cycles back around to its beginning and in the mean time raises our young Bod, equipping him with the skills to deal with his problem.
Bod's life in the graveyard is very interesting, with him learning various bits of magic and magical lore from the dead. With hundreds of ghosts spanning several thousand years there's all manner of opportunity for interest and I enjoyed Bod's interactions with them.
We watch Bod grow up, be educated, and make ventures into the living world. The whole thing crept up on me. I was gently entertained throughout but by the end I found myself really caring about the story.
The end was really quite emotional in that Toy Story III sort of 'leaving the nest' way that punches parents in the gut. I think Celyn got a bit irritated as I kept pausing to gather myself to read the next line.
Anyway. A curious and highly entertaining book thick with inventiveness and written with deceptive skill.
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
..
October 14, 2021
(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: A bit too short, and the illustrations don't really work. Still, it's a fun, light and whimsical take on its macabre milieu.
Notes: A bit too short, and the illustrations don't really work. Still, it's a fun, light and whimsical take on its macabre milieu.
December 10, 2020
It takes a graveyard to raise a child
Nobody Owens (yes, that's his name) becomes orphaned at an early age when an unknown "Jack" murders his entire family.
What's surprising is that Nobody doesn't even notice - the kid is too excited that the house door is open and toddles off for adventure.
He ends up at the local graveyard. The local ghosts see Jack's intentions and decide to grant Nobody the Protection of the Graveyard.
A childless ghost couple adopts the toddler and a vampire becomes his guardian.
Together, the graveyard and its inhabitants, seek to raise the living boy - through love, moral guidance and, of course, the finest education the dead could offer.
One year he's meeting new human friends, the next going on adventures with a hanged witch or running from very, very hungry ghouls.
Since there is only a snippet of each year's adventure, I became frustrated when the adventure was over but not wrapped-up. (i.e. the Macabray: the dance of the living and the dead, was not ever touched on again but it was by-far one of the most curious happenings in that little graveyard)
Some of the more interesting graveyard happenings (i.e. Silas (the vampire) and Miss Lupesco's adventures) were only spoken of in the vaguest of terms.
Nobody Owens is a child for most of the book and this is told from his perspective...so it makes sense that he would not know about the full adventure. Yet as the reader, I still wanted to know what happened!
Overall, this is definitely one my favorite Gaiman novels! Definitely check it out.
Audiobook Comments
--Narrated by the author: CHECK! Neil Gaiman has an absolutely wonderful reading voice
--This audiobook has a some musical accompaniment (Notably during the Macabray dance) which made listening to it extremely memorable!
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
Nobody Owens (yes, that's his name) becomes orphaned at an early age when an unknown "Jack" murders his entire family.
What's surprising is that Nobody doesn't even notice - the kid is too excited that the house door is open and toddles off for adventure.
He ends up at the local graveyard. The local ghosts see Jack's intentions and decide to grant Nobody the Protection of the Graveyard.
A childless ghost couple adopts the toddler and a vampire becomes his guardian.
Together, the graveyard and its inhabitants, seek to raise the living boy - through love, moral guidance and, of course, the finest education the dead could offer.
"Name the different kinds of people," said Miss Lupescu. "Now."This book spans Nobody's entire childhood with each chapter as a vignette, covering the biggest adventure that happened that year.
Bod thought for a moment. "The living," he said. "Er. The dead." He stopped. Then, "... Cats?"
One year he's meeting new human friends, the next going on adventures with a hanged witch or running from very, very hungry ghouls.
Since there is only a snippet of each year's adventure, I became frustrated when the adventure was over but not wrapped-up. (i.e. the Macabray: the dance of the living and the dead, was not ever touched on again but it was by-far one of the most curious happenings in that little graveyard)
Some of the more interesting graveyard happenings (i.e. Silas (the vampire) and Miss Lupesco's adventures) were only spoken of in the vaguest of terms.
Nobody Owens is a child for most of the book and this is told from his perspective...so it makes sense that he would not know about the full adventure. Yet as the reader, I still wanted to know what happened!
Overall, this is definitely one my favorite Gaiman novels! Definitely check it out.
Audiobook Comments
--Narrated by the author: CHECK! Neil Gaiman has an absolutely wonderful reading voice
--This audiobook has a some musical accompaniment (Notably during the Macabray dance) which made listening to it extremely memorable!
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
April 25, 2023
It takes a graveyard to raise a child.
This is a summary of this magical, sweet and imaginative story for children, which (in a good tradition of the Brothers Grimm) started with a triple homicide.
Nobody Owens (named so because "he looks like nobody but himself"), or simply Bod, is the sole survivor of the aforementioned triple homicide, who is, in The Jungle Book style, promptly adopted by a sweet ghost couple in the graveyard inhabited by an afterlife community. He even gets a vampire as his guardian and mentor - “There were people you could hug, and then there was Silas.”
Given the Privilege of the Graveyard and taught how to Fade into the background, Bod spends his entire childhood playing among graves, learning his letters from the gravestones, running into trouble with some ghouls, being tutored by a werewolf with a taste for Eastern European food, dancing with Death, and making friends with the ghost of a young witch burned at stake. He does crave human company though, and in addition to becoming an "imaginary friend" of a little girl also does a brief stint as a non-so-ordinary student at a school. All this while the evil that tried to murder him in the first place is still searching for him.
Neil Gaiman has a real knack for the imaginative combination of sweet and creepy elements together with the bittersweet ending, creating a unique and unforgettable story which appeals both to children and adults. Told via a succession of interludes from Bod's unusual life, the story could have been overly sugary or overly morbid, but Gaiman easily avoids either extreme. This story has just the right mix of sweetness, whimsy, sadness, suspense, and adventures to keep the reader captivated throughout.
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5 stars and a well-earned spot on my "for my future (hypothetical) daughter" reading shelf.
“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”Neil Gaiman does not waste time with unicorns and princesses and butterflies which are often considered acceptable for children. He kicks off his book with the brutal murders of a child's entire family, written in a chilling tone that made me quickly turn all the lights on in my bedroom.
Nobody Owens (named so because "he looks like nobody but himself"), or simply Bod, is the sole survivor of the aforementioned triple homicide, who is, in The Jungle Book style, promptly adopted by a sweet ghost couple in the graveyard inhabited by an afterlife community. He even gets a vampire as his guardian and mentor - “There were people you could hug, and then there was Silas.”
Given the Privilege of the Graveyard and taught how to Fade into the background, Bod spends his entire childhood playing among graves, learning his letters from the gravestones, running into trouble with some ghouls, being tutored by a werewolf with a taste for Eastern European food, dancing with Death, and making friends with the ghost of a young witch burned at stake. He does crave human company though, and in addition to becoming an "imaginary friend" of a little girl also does a brief stint as a non-so-ordinary student at a school. All this while the evil that tried to murder him in the first place is still searching for him.
Neil Gaiman has a real knack for the imaginative combination of sweet and creepy elements together with the bittersweet ending, creating a unique and unforgettable story which appeals both to children and adults. Told via a succession of interludes from Bod's unusual life, the story could have been overly sugary or overly morbid, but Gaiman easily avoids either extreme. This story has just the right mix of sweetness, whimsy, sadness, suspense, and adventures to keep the reader captivated throughout.
Bod said, 'I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want,' he said, and then he paused and he thought. 'I want everything.'Seeing the world depicted through the eyes of a quiet graveyard-raised but very human boy colors the story with almost Bradbury-esque feeling of nostalgia for the fleeting magic of childhood. We see the inevitable process of growing up, finding one's self, and letting go of the comforts of childhood home written poignantly and sweetly, and yet without overkill.
“You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.”Bod is a great character for a children's story. He is smart and resourceful, quiet and observant, loyal and brave, somewhat mischievous, and ultimately very life-like. His demeanor reminds me of my awesome younger brother, actually. Watching him grow up from a sweet child into what seems to be an actual good adult is a pleasure.
“You're brave. You are the bravest person I know, and you are my friend. I don't care if you are imaginary.”This story, even though wonderfully complete, still reads almost like a tease at times. Gaiman gives us a delightful and lyrical glimpse into the world which I would love to get to know better. He creates such rich captivating characters that even after the book is over I am left longing for more. I would love to read a whole another book dedicated to Silas or Miss Lupescu or Lizzy the witch. (Mr. Gaiman, if you ever run out of other book ideas... just sayin'!)
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5 stars and a well-earned spot on my "for my future (hypothetical) daughter" reading shelf.
"There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill; and there would be dangers in it and mysteries, new friends to make, old friends to rediscover, mistakes to be made and many paths to be walked before he would, finally, return to the graveyard or ride with the Lady on the broad back of her great grey stallion.
But between now and then, there was Life; and Bod walked into it with his eyes and his heart wide open."
January 15, 2024
this has been another installment of project 5 star, an ill-advised undertaking in which i reread books i at one time loved in order to test a) my affections and b) presumably my will to live.
this was a particularly nerve-wracking one, seeing as i do not remember anything about this book, least of all why i five starred it.
life does contain its pleasant surprises. allegedly. so i was ready. in a way. and this was fun! very fun.
but not a five star read.
it was fun (how many times can i say that), and cool and eerie, but it wasn't as fun or as cool or as eerie as coraline. this won't stay with me as long, sadly, and i think the lack of memorableness of character and story (although not setting) is what took this down from 5 to 3.5.
it must have hit me at quite a particular moment, back in 2017!
or maybe i just used to have a soul.
hard to imagine.
bottom line: a good time, but not a perfect world-changing memorable beloved 5 star time.
------------------
original review
this was a particularly nerve-wracking one, seeing as i do not remember anything about this book, least of all why i five starred it.
life does contain its pleasant surprises. allegedly. so i was ready. in a way. and this was fun! very fun.
but not a five star read.
it was fun (how many times can i say that), and cool and eerie, but it wasn't as fun or as cool or as eerie as coraline. this won't stay with me as long, sadly, and i think the lack of memorableness of character and story (although not setting) is what took this down from 5 to 3.5.
it must have hit me at quite a particular moment, back in 2017!
or maybe i just used to have a soul.
hard to imagine.
bottom line: a good time, but not a perfect world-changing memorable beloved 5 star time.
------------------
original review
August 1, 2008
I’ve noticed that there’s been an increased interest in the macabre in children’s literature lately. Sometimes when I’ve had a glass or two of wine and I’m in a contemplative mood I try weaving together a postulation that ties the current love of violent movies into this rise in children’s literary darkness. Is the violence of the world today trickling down into our entertainment? Hogwash and poppycock and other words of scoff and denial, says sober I. But I’ve certainly seen a distinct rise in the Gothic and otherworldly over the last few years, and one wonders if it’s because kids want more of that kind of stuff or publishers are merely getting less squeamish. All that aside, generally I’ll read a May Bird book or an Everlost title and they’ll be fun examinations of the hereafter, but not the kind of things that touch my heart. Great writing doesn’t have to transcend its genre. It just has to be emotionally honest with the reader. And The Graveyard Book is one of the most emotionally honest books I’ve yet to have read this year. Smart and focused, touching and wry, it takes the story of a boy raised by ghosts and extends it beyond the restrictive borders of the setting. Great stuff.
It starts with three murders. There were supposed to be four. The man Jack was one of the best, maybe THE best, and how hard is it to kill a toddler anyway? But on that particular night the little boy went for a midnight toddle out the front door while the murderer was busy and straight into the nearby graveyard. Saved and protected by the denizens of that particular abode (the ghosts and the far more corporeal if mysterious Silas), the little boy is called Bod, short for Nobody because no one knows his name. As he grows older, Bod learns the secrets of the graveyard, though he has to be careful. The man (or is it “men”?) who killed his family could come back for him. Best to stay quiet and out of sight. Yet as Bod grows older it becomes clear that hiding may not be the best way to confront his enemies. And what’s more, Bod must come to grips with what it means to grow up.
Can I level with you? You know Coraline? Mr. Gaiman’s previous foray into middle grade children’s literature. Come close now, I don’t want to speak too loudly. Uh... I didn’t much care for it. WAIT! Come back, come back, I didn’t mean it! Well, maybe I did a tad. It was a nice book. A sufficient story. But it was very much (new category alert) an adult-author-to-children’s-author-first-timer-title. Gaiman appeared to be finding his sealegs with Coraline. He took the old Alice in Wonderland trope which adult authors naturally gravitate to on their first tries (see: Un Lun Dun, Summerland, The King in the Window, etc.). Throw in some rats, bees, and buttons, and voila! Instant success. But Coraline for all its readability and charm didn’t get me here [thumps chest:]. I didn’t feel emotionally close to the material. Now why it should be that I’d feel closer emotionally to a book filled with a plethora of ghosts, ghouls, night-gaunts, and Hounds of God, I can only chalk up to The Graveyard Book's strong vision.
My husband likes to say that the whole reason Buffy the Vampire Slayer worked as a television show was that it was a natural metaphor for the high school (and eventually college) experience. Likewise, The Graveyard Book has this strong,strange, wonderful metaphor about kids growing up, learning about the wider world, and exploring beyond the safe boundaries of their homes. There's so much you can read into this book. I mean, aren’t all adults just ghosts to kids anyway? Those funny talking people whose time has passed but that may provide some shelter and wisdom against the wider, crueler world. Plus Mr. Gaiman also includes characters in Bod's world that kids will wish they had in their own. Silas, a man who may be a vampire (though the word is never said) is every child's fantasy; A mysterious/magical guardian/friend who will tell you the truth when your parents will not.
One thing I particularly liked about the book was the fact that Bod makes quite a few careless or thoughtless mistakes and yet you don’t feel particularly inclined to throttle him because of them. Too often in a work of fiction a person isn’t properly put into the head of their protagonist. So when that character walks off and does something stupid there’s the sense (sometimes faint, sometimes not) that they deserved it and you’re not going to stick around and read about somebody that dumb, are you? But even when Bod is at his most intolerable, his most childishly selfish and single-minded, you can understand and sympathize with him. Bod is no brat, a fact that implies right there that he is someone worth rooting for. We see our own young selves in Bod, and we root for him as a result. And as Bod reaches each stage in his growth, he encounters experiences and personalities that help him to reach maturity. That’s a lot to put on the plate of a l’il ole fantasy novel, particularly one that’s appropriate for younger kids.
And it is appropriate too. Don’t let the fact that the first sentence in the book (“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife”) put you off. The murder of Bod’s family is swift, immediate, and off-screen. What remains is just a great fantasy novel that has the potential to appeal to both boy and girl readers. Kid wants a ghost story? Check. Kid wants a fantasy novel set in another world appropriate for Harry Potter fans? Check. Kid wants a “good book”. That’s my favorite request. When the eleven-year-old comes up to my desk and begs for “a good book” I can just show them the cover and the title of this puppy and feel zero guilt when their little eyes light up. A good book it is.
I guess that if I have any objections at all to the title it has something to do with the villains. They’re a bit sketchy, which I suppose is the point, but we live in an era where children’s fantasy novels spend oodles of time defining their antagonists’ motivations and histories. Gaiman’s more interested in his hero, which is natural, but the villains’ raison d’être is just a bit too vague for the average reader. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Bod’s family is slaughtered at the start of this tale you wouldn’t necessarily know whether or not to believe that these people are as nasty as we've been told.
That said the book’s a peach. I once heard someone postulate that maybe Neil Gaiman wrote it just so that he could play with the sentence “It takes a graveyard to raise a child.” Unlikely. Fun, but unlikely. I mean, he does make a casual allusion that isn’t far off from that phrase, but he never goes whole hog. This book doesn’t feel like it was written to back up a joke. It feels like a book written by a parent with children growing up and moving out. It’s a title that tips its hat to kids making their way in the world, their pasts behind them, their futures unknown. This is not yet another silly little fantasy novel, but something with weight and depth. The fact that it just happens to be loads of fun to boot is simply a nice bonus. Highly recommended.
Ages 10 and up.
It starts with three murders. There were supposed to be four. The man Jack was one of the best, maybe THE best, and how hard is it to kill a toddler anyway? But on that particular night the little boy went for a midnight toddle out the front door while the murderer was busy and straight into the nearby graveyard. Saved and protected by the denizens of that particular abode (the ghosts and the far more corporeal if mysterious Silas), the little boy is called Bod, short for Nobody because no one knows his name. As he grows older, Bod learns the secrets of the graveyard, though he has to be careful. The man (or is it “men”?) who killed his family could come back for him. Best to stay quiet and out of sight. Yet as Bod grows older it becomes clear that hiding may not be the best way to confront his enemies. And what’s more, Bod must come to grips with what it means to grow up.
Can I level with you? You know Coraline? Mr. Gaiman’s previous foray into middle grade children’s literature. Come close now, I don’t want to speak too loudly. Uh... I didn’t much care for it. WAIT! Come back, come back, I didn’t mean it! Well, maybe I did a tad. It was a nice book. A sufficient story. But it was very much (new category alert) an adult-author-to-children’s-author-first-timer-title. Gaiman appeared to be finding his sealegs with Coraline. He took the old Alice in Wonderland trope which adult authors naturally gravitate to on their first tries (see: Un Lun Dun, Summerland, The King in the Window, etc.). Throw in some rats, bees, and buttons, and voila! Instant success. But Coraline for all its readability and charm didn’t get me here [thumps chest:]. I didn’t feel emotionally close to the material. Now why it should be that I’d feel closer emotionally to a book filled with a plethora of ghosts, ghouls, night-gaunts, and Hounds of God, I can only chalk up to The Graveyard Book's strong vision.
My husband likes to say that the whole reason Buffy the Vampire Slayer worked as a television show was that it was a natural metaphor for the high school (and eventually college) experience. Likewise, The Graveyard Book has this strong,strange, wonderful metaphor about kids growing up, learning about the wider world, and exploring beyond the safe boundaries of their homes. There's so much you can read into this book. I mean, aren’t all adults just ghosts to kids anyway? Those funny talking people whose time has passed but that may provide some shelter and wisdom against the wider, crueler world. Plus Mr. Gaiman also includes characters in Bod's world that kids will wish they had in their own. Silas, a man who may be a vampire (though the word is never said) is every child's fantasy; A mysterious/magical guardian/friend who will tell you the truth when your parents will not.
One thing I particularly liked about the book was the fact that Bod makes quite a few careless or thoughtless mistakes and yet you don’t feel particularly inclined to throttle him because of them. Too often in a work of fiction a person isn’t properly put into the head of their protagonist. So when that character walks off and does something stupid there’s the sense (sometimes faint, sometimes not) that they deserved it and you’re not going to stick around and read about somebody that dumb, are you? But even when Bod is at his most intolerable, his most childishly selfish and single-minded, you can understand and sympathize with him. Bod is no brat, a fact that implies right there that he is someone worth rooting for. We see our own young selves in Bod, and we root for him as a result. And as Bod reaches each stage in his growth, he encounters experiences and personalities that help him to reach maturity. That’s a lot to put on the plate of a l’il ole fantasy novel, particularly one that’s appropriate for younger kids.
And it is appropriate too. Don’t let the fact that the first sentence in the book (“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife”) put you off. The murder of Bod’s family is swift, immediate, and off-screen. What remains is just a great fantasy novel that has the potential to appeal to both boy and girl readers. Kid wants a ghost story? Check. Kid wants a fantasy novel set in another world appropriate for Harry Potter fans? Check. Kid wants a “good book”. That’s my favorite request. When the eleven-year-old comes up to my desk and begs for “a good book” I can just show them the cover and the title of this puppy and feel zero guilt when their little eyes light up. A good book it is.
I guess that if I have any objections at all to the title it has something to do with the villains. They’re a bit sketchy, which I suppose is the point, but we live in an era where children’s fantasy novels spend oodles of time defining their antagonists’ motivations and histories. Gaiman’s more interested in his hero, which is natural, but the villains’ raison d’être is just a bit too vague for the average reader. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Bod’s family is slaughtered at the start of this tale you wouldn’t necessarily know whether or not to believe that these people are as nasty as we've been told.
That said the book’s a peach. I once heard someone postulate that maybe Neil Gaiman wrote it just so that he could play with the sentence “It takes a graveyard to raise a child.” Unlikely. Fun, but unlikely. I mean, he does make a casual allusion that isn’t far off from that phrase, but he never goes whole hog. This book doesn’t feel like it was written to back up a joke. It feels like a book written by a parent with children growing up and moving out. It’s a title that tips its hat to kids making their way in the world, their pasts behind them, their futures unknown. This is not yet another silly little fantasy novel, but something with weight and depth. The fact that it just happens to be loads of fun to boot is simply a nice bonus. Highly recommended.
Ages 10 and up.
December 17, 2015
I just don't think Neil Gaiman can write something I won't enjoy. His worlds are so rich and visceral, his characters so unique and loveable. I loved this story, loved Bod with all my heart, and was proud of him as he grew up. I listened to this audiobook, narrated by Neil Gaiman, and it was top notch. Can't wait for my next
October 7, 2021
When a family is murdered by a mysterious killer, one of the intended victims is missing, a young, diapered boy, who had wandered off just before the crime took place. But the killer needed to complete the job. Fortunately for the boy, he was taken in by the late residents of a nearby graveyard. And when the spirit of his newly deceased mother asks for their help, the residents agree to raise her son. He is given to the care of the Owens couple and named “Nobody,” Bod for short, as he looks like “nobody but himself.”
Neil Gaiman - from The Verge
In this Newbery Medal, Carnegie Medal and Hugo Award winning novel, it takes a graveyard to raise an actual corporate being, and there are many who chip in. Perhaps most important is Silas, resident of the worlds of the dead and the living. As Bod grows there are many interesting sorts who cross his path, a young witch lacking a gravestone, an unscrupulous dealer in antiques, a snake-like protector of a long-dead master, and an array of teachers. And there must, of course, be a girl, Scarlett by name, a living girl. Bod does venture out into the unprotected world beyond the graveyard gates, not always with permission. He wants to go to school like other kids, and does, with mixed results. He wants to buy a headstone for a friend who lacks one. He wants to spend time with Scarlett. As he enters his teen years, he determines to find the person who had killed his family.
This is not your usual coming-of-age story. Bod is indeed a likeable kid, good-hearted, innocent, easy to care about. One of Gaiman’s inspirations for this story was Kipling’s The Jungle Book, with Bod as Mowgli and the graveyard residents substituting, sometimes generically, for their animal counterparts in the earlier work. There is a section equivalent to Mowgli having been kidnapped by monkeys, a werewolf might be Akela. Bod’s nemesis is the killer Jack, the Shere-Khan of this tale. Each chapter jumps in time, and we see Bod take on new challenges as he ages. Of course, his home being a graveyard, the challenges he faces are not pedestrian. And finally, he faces an adult, mortal test that will define whether he actually gets to come of age or not.
There is so much in The Graveyard Book that is just flat-out charming that you will find, as I did, that your lips keep curling up at the corners. From Bod trying to find properly fitting clothing, to struggling to learn some of the unusual skills the locals have mastered, to coping with some of the lesser baddies who make life difficult for those around them, Bod will gain your allegiance and your affection.
The baddie, Jack, is a purely dark sort. No gray areas there. And that makes the central conflict one of pretty much pure good, against completely pure evil. There are plenty of moments of real danger for Bod and that keeps tension high. But there are nuances to other characters that add color and texture to what might otherwise have become a flat gray panel. These additions add heft to the story, and make one wonder larger thoughts about the limits of change, of redemption. This one is easy to recommend, to kids of all ages, but don’t wait too long. You never know when it might be…you know…too late.
PS – Disney has acquired the film rights for this and it is likely that it will emerge, someday, with a look similar to that of Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Twitter, FB and Tumblr
The official website for the book
Neil Gaiman reads the entire book
This Literary Wiki page seems rather slight
I also reviewed Gaiman's
-----Stardust, briefly, a few back
-----The Ocean at the End of the Lane in August 2013
-----Trigger Warning in March 2015
-----The View From the Cheap Seats in June 2016
Neil Gaiman - from The Verge
In this Newbery Medal, Carnegie Medal and Hugo Award winning novel, it takes a graveyard to raise an actual corporate being, and there are many who chip in. Perhaps most important is Silas, resident of the worlds of the dead and the living. As Bod grows there are many interesting sorts who cross his path, a young witch lacking a gravestone, an unscrupulous dealer in antiques, a snake-like protector of a long-dead master, and an array of teachers. And there must, of course, be a girl, Scarlett by name, a living girl. Bod does venture out into the unprotected world beyond the graveyard gates, not always with permission. He wants to go to school like other kids, and does, with mixed results. He wants to buy a headstone for a friend who lacks one. He wants to spend time with Scarlett. As he enters his teen years, he determines to find the person who had killed his family.
This is not your usual coming-of-age story. Bod is indeed a likeable kid, good-hearted, innocent, easy to care about. One of Gaiman’s inspirations for this story was Kipling’s The Jungle Book, with Bod as Mowgli and the graveyard residents substituting, sometimes generically, for their animal counterparts in the earlier work. There is a section equivalent to Mowgli having been kidnapped by monkeys, a werewolf might be Akela. Bod’s nemesis is the killer Jack, the Shere-Khan of this tale. Each chapter jumps in time, and we see Bod take on new challenges as he ages. Of course, his home being a graveyard, the challenges he faces are not pedestrian. And finally, he faces an adult, mortal test that will define whether he actually gets to come of age or not.
There is so much in The Graveyard Book that is just flat-out charming that you will find, as I did, that your lips keep curling up at the corners. From Bod trying to find properly fitting clothing, to struggling to learn some of the unusual skills the locals have mastered, to coping with some of the lesser baddies who make life difficult for those around them, Bod will gain your allegiance and your affection.
The baddie, Jack, is a purely dark sort. No gray areas there. And that makes the central conflict one of pretty much pure good, against completely pure evil. There are plenty of moments of real danger for Bod and that keeps tension high. But there are nuances to other characters that add color and texture to what might otherwise have become a flat gray panel. These additions add heft to the story, and make one wonder larger thoughts about the limits of change, of redemption. This one is easy to recommend, to kids of all ages, but don’t wait too long. You never know when it might be…you know…too late.
PS – Disney has acquired the film rights for this and it is likely that it will emerge, someday, with a look similar to that of Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Twitter, FB and Tumblr
The official website for the book
Neil Gaiman reads the entire book
This Literary Wiki page seems rather slight
I also reviewed Gaiman's
-----Stardust, briefly, a few back
-----The Ocean at the End of the Lane in August 2013
-----Trigger Warning in March 2015
-----The View From the Cheap Seats in June 2016
September 14, 2022
“Fear is contagious. You can catch it. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to say that they're scared for the fear to become real.”
Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are many adventures in the graveyard for a young boy, but if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in terrible danger, for the man Jack is looking for him…
Wonderfully creepy, mesmerizing and melancholic, with prose to die for. Each chapter is almost like a short story telling of some adventure that Bod gets up to while living in the graveyard. We get to watch as Bod learns and grows from the graveyard's inhabitants over the years.
It's a little bit ghostly and ghoulish, but mostly it's a sweet story about friendship and family, about growing up and learning to be brave enough to venture out into the world. This is my favourite kind of children's book, one that brings a bit of magic and mystery to the world and that can be enjoyed by anyone, no matter their age.
The final chapter had me in tears.
“There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill; and there would be dangers in it and mysteries, new friends to make, old friends to rediscover, mistakes to be made and many paths to be walked before he would, finally, return to the graveyard or ride with the Lady on the broad back of her great grey stallion.”
Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are many adventures in the graveyard for a young boy, but if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in terrible danger, for the man Jack is looking for him…
Wonderfully creepy, mesmerizing and melancholic, with prose to die for. Each chapter is almost like a short story telling of some adventure that Bod gets up to while living in the graveyard. We get to watch as Bod learns and grows from the graveyard's inhabitants over the years.
It's a little bit ghostly and ghoulish, but mostly it's a sweet story about friendship and family, about growing up and learning to be brave enough to venture out into the world. This is my favourite kind of children's book, one that brings a bit of magic and mystery to the world and that can be enjoyed by anyone, no matter their age.
The final chapter had me in tears.
“There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill; and there would be dangers in it and mysteries, new friends to make, old friends to rediscover, mistakes to be made and many paths to be walked before he would, finally, return to the graveyard or ride with the Lady on the broad back of her great grey stallion.”
March 5, 2023
Nobody is slowly aging toward adulthood
In a very special kind of patchwork family
As if normal parents weren´t already strange enough, the protagonist Nobody aka Bod has to deal with the upbringing ideas of paranormal beings. But it seems to somehow work well, and it could be an idyllic time if there weren´t
Real people making more trouble than ghosts and magic creatures
That´s an achievement in malice, being worse than evil demons and bloodthirsty fantasy creatures that have to kill to survive, but psycho killer humans just roll that way too. The fact that Nobody could live a, under these circumstances more or less, normal life, without bad reality messing things up, is a cynical comment on how crazy people are.
Jumping between family life, coming of age, fantasy horror, and human world troubles
By mixing 4 levels of different suspense generators, Gaiman creates one of his most dynamic works, making it tricky to impossible to guess where it will go. Anytime a psycho killer, ghoul, or just a friendly Casper style ghost could appear, making it unpredictable until the last minute. It´s also one of
Gaimans´darkest works
Hope and love are the only really positive things in this grim setting. But Nobody stays highly motivated, helps with different paranormal graveyard problems just a living body can solve, and pimps his abilities for the end fight. By this, he can integrate even more complex plot and trope options, adding an extra layer of paraphysical mind penetration. Because
Dreamwalking, fading, and haunting are subtle ways to evolve for a character
It´s also cool that it goes without any physical violence, except for fear and some possible traumatic issues cut into the victims' shattered soul. But that´s nothing compared to getting burned by magic flames, zombified, vampirized, or bewitched by an incubi or succubi. Mh, sexy naughty adult ed dreamwalking. But this having kids one doesn´t know about afterward and that are partly demon is something too pricy for the fun. Or is it?
Death is the core of the tale
No other of Gaimans´novels is so Day of the Dead. It´s a morbid optimistic celebration of the fact that, even after death, there may lie endless options of what to do with one's soul in eternity. Subjectively I deem this „Death is just a new beginning“ message the main core of Nobodys´journey, everyone still lucky enough to be alive should absorb and practice. As long there is still time to.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
In a very special kind of patchwork family
As if normal parents weren´t already strange enough, the protagonist Nobody aka Bod has to deal with the upbringing ideas of paranormal beings. But it seems to somehow work well, and it could be an idyllic time if there weren´t
Real people making more trouble than ghosts and magic creatures
That´s an achievement in malice, being worse than evil demons and bloodthirsty fantasy creatures that have to kill to survive, but psycho killer humans just roll that way too. The fact that Nobody could live a, under these circumstances more or less, normal life, without bad reality messing things up, is a cynical comment on how crazy people are.
Jumping between family life, coming of age, fantasy horror, and human world troubles
By mixing 4 levels of different suspense generators, Gaiman creates one of his most dynamic works, making it tricky to impossible to guess where it will go. Anytime a psycho killer, ghoul, or just a friendly Casper style ghost could appear, making it unpredictable until the last minute. It´s also one of
Gaimans´darkest works
Hope and love are the only really positive things in this grim setting. But Nobody stays highly motivated, helps with different paranormal graveyard problems just a living body can solve, and pimps his abilities for the end fight. By this, he can integrate even more complex plot and trope options, adding an extra layer of paraphysical mind penetration. Because
Dreamwalking, fading, and haunting are subtle ways to evolve for a character
It´s also cool that it goes without any physical violence, except for fear and some possible traumatic issues cut into the victims' shattered soul. But that´s nothing compared to getting burned by magic flames, zombified, vampirized, or bewitched by an incubi or succubi. Mh, sexy naughty adult ed dreamwalking. But this having kids one doesn´t know about afterward and that are partly demon is something too pricy for the fun. Or is it?
Death is the core of the tale
No other of Gaimans´novels is so Day of the Dead. It´s a morbid optimistic celebration of the fact that, even after death, there may lie endless options of what to do with one's soul in eternity. Subjectively I deem this „Death is just a new beginning“ message the main core of Nobodys´journey, everyone still lucky enough to be alive should absorb and practice. As long there is still time to.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
November 18, 2020
5+ Stars
Maybe the Gaiman curse is over for me because I loved this book.
As those who follow my reviews may know, I have been trying Gaiman for years without much luck. I could never really put my finger on it except for two things:
- Sometimes it felt like it was being artsy and weird in order to be cool and trendy
- Often the magic and supernatural happenings felt contrived and convenient. Fantasy is made up, but it should not feel like it is made up.
However, I did not encounter that at all with The Graveyard Book. The fantastical story was unique, flowed organically, and was super fun. While it was a bit dark in places, it was not scary - a light-hearted ghost story most of the time. The characters were excellent and I enjoyed my journey with them - I did not want it to end and I hated saying goodbye.
I highly recommend this one and will more than likely be pointing fellow readers to this one if they want to try Gaiman.
So . . . the curse is broken . . . will I have additional success if I try others or do I end my pursuit on top?
Maybe the Gaiman curse is over for me because I loved this book.
As those who follow my reviews may know, I have been trying Gaiman for years without much luck. I could never really put my finger on it except for two things:
- Sometimes it felt like it was being artsy and weird in order to be cool and trendy
- Often the magic and supernatural happenings felt contrived and convenient. Fantasy is made up, but it should not feel like it is made up.
However, I did not encounter that at all with The Graveyard Book. The fantastical story was unique, flowed organically, and was super fun. While it was a bit dark in places, it was not scary - a light-hearted ghost story most of the time. The characters were excellent and I enjoyed my journey with them - I did not want it to end and I hated saying goodbye.
I highly recommend this one and will more than likely be pointing fellow readers to this one if they want to try Gaiman.
So . . . the curse is broken . . . will I have additional success if I try others or do I end my pursuit on top?
April 24, 2019
For having such a sinister beginning and heavy life-and-death themes (it's the Jungle Book set in a graveyard), this book is a real joy to read. The graveyard magic is fantastic and grows in fun ways throughout the story, and the ghosts and creatures that inhabit this world make for a delightful cast of characters.
I loved a ton of things as I read, but one that especially stuck out to me was how Bod grows older but the ghosts remain their same ages. So with each time jump, he interacts very differently with the same ghosts.
And as always from Gaiman, all the pieces fit perfectly together by the end. It's a masterpiece of storytelling, really.
I loved a ton of things as I read, but one that especially stuck out to me was how Bod grows older but the ghosts remain their same ages. So with each time jump, he interacts very differently with the same ghosts.
And as always from Gaiman, all the pieces fit perfectly together by the end. It's a masterpiece of storytelling, really.
January 23, 2020
The Graveyard Book is my 3rd Gaiman so I can now say I am a fan. I even follow him on Facebook, the only author that has this privilege.
I was a bit skeptical before I started because I wasn’t sure he can pull of a children’s novel set in a graveyard without scaring the shit out of the little ones. I shouldn’t have worried. The book managed to be light and fun despite its beginning. A family is murdered by a strange man named Jack and the only survivor, a 1 year old toddler, runs away in a graveyard where is adopted by ghosts and a vampire? named Silas. Each chapter follows the little boy, baptized Nobody (Bod) as he grows up and is up to mischief. His adventures include being kidnapped by ghouls, meeting a witch, going to school, entering a strange tomb guarded by a Sleer. Slowly, we also find out who the man Jack was and why he murdered Bod’s family and was searching for the boy to finish the job.
As one might suspect, The Graveyard Book is a tribute to The Jungle Book. The setting is spookier, instead of animals we have ghosts and other magical beings.
I listened to a Full Cast audio performance of this novel and I can say that it is the best way to enjoy this beautiful piece for Gaiman magic. The cast was amazing, it is probably the best audio book I listened to until now.
I was a bit skeptical before I started because I wasn’t sure he can pull of a children’s novel set in a graveyard without scaring the shit out of the little ones. I shouldn’t have worried. The book managed to be light and fun despite its beginning. A family is murdered by a strange man named Jack and the only survivor, a 1 year old toddler, runs away in a graveyard where is adopted by ghosts and a vampire? named Silas. Each chapter follows the little boy, baptized Nobody (Bod) as he grows up and is up to mischief. His adventures include being kidnapped by ghouls, meeting a witch, going to school, entering a strange tomb guarded by a Sleer. Slowly, we also find out who the man Jack was and why he murdered Bod’s family and was searching for the boy to finish the job.
As one might suspect, The Graveyard Book is a tribute to The Jungle Book. The setting is spookier, instead of animals we have ghosts and other magical beings.
I listened to a Full Cast audio performance of this novel and I can say that it is the best way to enjoy this beautiful piece for Gaiman magic. The cast was amazing, it is probably the best audio book I listened to until now.
October 8, 2021
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Neil Gaiman, simultaneously published in Britain and America during 2008.
The Graveyard Book traces the story of the boy Nobody "Bod" Owens who is adopted and raised by the supernatural occupants of a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered.
The story begins as Jack (usually referred to in the novel as "the man Jack") murders most of the members of a family (later revealed to be the Dorian family) except for the toddler upstairs. Unknown to him, the toddler has climbed out of his crib to explore. The toddler crawls out of the house and up a hill to a graveyard where the ghosts find him.
They discuss whether to keep him until the Lady on the Grey (implied to be the Angel of Death) appears and suggests that the baby should be kept ("The dead should have charity").
The ghosts accept, and Mrs. Owens (the ghost who first discovered the baby) and her husband, Mr. Owens, become the foster parents.
The baby is named Nobody Owens (since Mrs. Owens declares "He looks like nobody except himself") and is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard, which allows Nobody to pass through solid objects when in the graveyard, including its gates.
The caretaker Silas (subsequently implied to be an ancient and formerly evil vampire, now reformed) accepts the duty of providing for Nobody.
The man Jack is persuaded by Silas that the toddler has crawled down the hill, and he eventually loses the trail.
The bulk of the book is about Nobody's (often called Bod) adventures in and out of the graveyard as he grows up. As a boy, he befriends a girl called Scarlett Perkins, and she is eventually convinced by her mother that he is her imaginary friend.
It is with her that Bod discovers a creature called the Sleer, who has been waiting for thousands of years for his "Master" to come and reclaim him. The Sleer's greatest duty is to protect the Master and his treasure from the world.
Scarlett's parents believe she has gone missing during this adventure and when she returns, consequently decide to move the family to Scotland. Nobody is once captured by the Ghouls and then rescued by his tutor Miss Lupescu, discovering she is a Hound of God (i.e. a werewolf).
Bod befriends Elizabeth Hempstock, the ghost of an unjustly executed witch and through a short adventure that includes being kidnapped by a greedy pawnshop owner, finds a gravestone for her. Once he tries to attend regular primary school with other human children, but it ends in a disaster when two bullies make it impossible for him to maintain a low profile.
Throughout his adventures, Bod learns supernatural abilities such as Fading (allows Bod to turn invisible, but only if no one is paying attention to him), Haunting (which allows Bod to make people feel uneasy, though this ability can be amplified to terrify them), and Dream Walking (going into others' dreams and controlling the dream, though he cannot cause physical harm).
These abilities are taught to Bod by his loving graveyard parents, his ghost teacher Mr. Pennyworth, and Silas. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی ام ماه ژوئن سال 2011میلادی
عنوان: کتاب گورستان؛ نویسنده: نیل گیمن؛ مترجم: فرزاد فربد؛ تصویرگر: کریس ریدل؛ تهران، کتاب پنجره، 1388، در 308ص، مصور، شابک9789647822596؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 21م
با ترجمه: کیوان عبیدی آشتیانی؛ تصویرگر: دیو مک کین؛ تهران، افق، 1388، در 419ص، مصور، شابک 9789643696337؛
داستان «کتاب گورستان» در ژانر فانتزی برای کودکان نوشته شده است و داستان کودکی را روایت میکند که در گورستانی متروک در میان ارواح بزرگ میشود؛ داستان پسری است که توسط مردگان، به فرزندی پذیرفته میشود؛ او از ارواح، نیروهای فراطبیعی، ناپدید شدن را میآموزد؛ و با موجودات شروری روبرو میشود؛ قاتلی، نیمه شب، سه تن از اعضای خانواده را به قتل میرساند و به سوی اتاق آخرین قربانی خود، فرزند هجده ماهه خانواده میرود؛ اما او در تختخواب خود نیست؛ کودک نوپا به تازگی راه رفتن آموخته است و نیمه شب در خانه را باز میکند، به خیابان قدم میگذارد و سر از قبرستانی قدیمی و متروک درمیآورد؛ ارواح گورستان از او در برابر قاتل نگهبانی میکنند؛ آقا و خانم «اونز»، زوجی از ارواح گورستان مسئولیت نگهداری از کودک را میپذیرند و نام «نوبادی» را بر او میگذا��ند؛ «باد (کوتاه شده ی نوبادی)» در میان آنان بزرگ میشود، و دانشها و مهارتهای بسیاری همچون رفتن به خواب دیگران، محو شدن و رد شدن از میان اشیا را از آنان کسب میکند.؛ سالها میگذرد اما هنوز خطری در دنیای بیرون از گورستان، «باد» را تهدید میکند؛ «جک»، قاتل خانواده ی «باد» که موفق به کشتن کوچکترین فرد خانواده نشده بود، هنوز به دنبال اوست.؛ ...؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 15/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Neil Gaiman, simultaneously published in Britain and America during 2008.
The Graveyard Book traces the story of the boy Nobody "Bod" Owens who is adopted and raised by the supernatural occupants of a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered.
The story begins as Jack (usually referred to in the novel as "the man Jack") murders most of the members of a family (later revealed to be the Dorian family) except for the toddler upstairs. Unknown to him, the toddler has climbed out of his crib to explore. The toddler crawls out of the house and up a hill to a graveyard where the ghosts find him.
They discuss whether to keep him until the Lady on the Grey (implied to be the Angel of Death) appears and suggests that the baby should be kept ("The dead should have charity").
The ghosts accept, and Mrs. Owens (the ghost who first discovered the baby) and her husband, Mr. Owens, become the foster parents.
The baby is named Nobody Owens (since Mrs. Owens declares "He looks like nobody except himself") and is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard, which allows Nobody to pass through solid objects when in the graveyard, including its gates.
The caretaker Silas (subsequently implied to be an ancient and formerly evil vampire, now reformed) accepts the duty of providing for Nobody.
The man Jack is persuaded by Silas that the toddler has crawled down the hill, and he eventually loses the trail.
The bulk of the book is about Nobody's (often called Bod) adventures in and out of the graveyard as he grows up. As a boy, he befriends a girl called Scarlett Perkins, and she is eventually convinced by her mother that he is her imaginary friend.
It is with her that Bod discovers a creature called the Sleer, who has been waiting for thousands of years for his "Master" to come and reclaim him. The Sleer's greatest duty is to protect the Master and his treasure from the world.
Scarlett's parents believe she has gone missing during this adventure and when she returns, consequently decide to move the family to Scotland. Nobody is once captured by the Ghouls and then rescued by his tutor Miss Lupescu, discovering she is a Hound of God (i.e. a werewolf).
Bod befriends Elizabeth Hempstock, the ghost of an unjustly executed witch and through a short adventure that includes being kidnapped by a greedy pawnshop owner, finds a gravestone for her. Once he tries to attend regular primary school with other human children, but it ends in a disaster when two bullies make it impossible for him to maintain a low profile.
Throughout his adventures, Bod learns supernatural abilities such as Fading (allows Bod to turn invisible, but only if no one is paying attention to him), Haunting (which allows Bod to make people feel uneasy, though this ability can be amplified to terrify them), and Dream Walking (going into others' dreams and controlling the dream, though he cannot cause physical harm).
These abilities are taught to Bod by his loving graveyard parents, his ghost teacher Mr. Pennyworth, and Silas. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی ام ماه ژوئن سال 2011میلادی
عنوان: کتاب گورستان؛ نویسنده: نیل گیمن؛ مترجم: فرزاد فربد؛ تصویرگر: کریس ریدل؛ تهران، کتاب پنجره، 1388، در 308ص، مصور، شابک9789647822596؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 21م
با ترجمه: کیوان عبیدی آشتیانی؛ تصویرگر: دیو مک کین؛ تهران، افق، 1388، در 419ص، مصور، شابک 9789643696337؛
داستان «کتاب گورستان» در ژانر فانتزی برای کودکان نوشته شده است و داستان کودکی را روایت میکند که در گورستانی متروک در میان ارواح بزرگ میشود؛ داستان پسری است که توسط مردگان، به فرزندی پذیرفته میشود؛ او از ارواح، نیروهای فراطبیعی، ناپدید شدن را میآموزد؛ و با موجودات شروری روبرو میشود؛ قاتلی، نیمه شب، سه تن از اعضای خانواده را به قتل میرساند و به سوی اتاق آخرین قربانی خود، فرزند هجده ماهه خانواده میرود؛ اما او در تختخواب خود نیست؛ کودک نوپا به تازگی راه رفتن آموخته است و نیمه شب در خانه را باز میکند، به خیابان قدم میگذارد و سر از قبرستانی قدیمی و متروک درمیآورد؛ ارواح گورستان از او در برابر قاتل نگهبانی میکنند؛ آقا و خانم «اونز»، زوجی از ارواح گورستان مسئولیت نگهداری از کودک را میپذیرند و نام «نوبادی» را بر او میگذا��ند؛ «باد (کوتاه شده ی نوبادی)» در میان آنان بزرگ میشود، و دانشها و مهارتهای بسیاری همچون رفتن به خواب دیگران، محو شدن و رد شدن از میان اشیا را از آنان کسب میکند.؛ سالها میگذرد اما هنوز خطری در دنیای بیرون از گورستان، «باد» را تهدید میکند؛ «جک»، قاتل خانواده ی «باد» که موفق به کشتن کوچکترین فرد خانواده نشده بود، هنوز به دنبال اوست.؛ ...؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 15/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
April 12, 2019
When first reading Neil Gaiman’s wonderfully dark but playful fantasy The Graveyard Book, I instantly discovered that I liked it a lot. When I realized that The Graveyard Book was also Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, but updated to be gothic and macabre, with a boy not raised by wolves but ghosts, I loved it.
Winner of the Hugo Award in 2009, this is a rival to Gaiman’s masterpiece American Gods. This is vintage Gaiman at his masterfully fantastic best, an heir to the Grandmaster throne of Ray Bradbury but a classic in its own right.
Winner of the Hugo Award in 2009, this is a rival to Gaiman’s masterpiece American Gods. This is vintage Gaiman at his masterfully fantastic best, an heir to the Grandmaster throne of Ray Bradbury but a classic in its own right.
June 10, 2014
I've got a doctor's appointment scheduled for Monday. Maybe I'll ask what's wrong with me, I mean, why don't I love Neil Gaiman as much as everyone else?
After all the hype surrounding him, I finally gave in and started reading his books. Aside from his collection of short stories, Fragile Things, I haven't been as impressed as I expected to be.
The Graveyard Book in particular I found to be slow moving and depressing. Maybe that's inevitable being that most of the characters in it are dead. It's not that the writing isn't good.
Gaiman's stories generally aren't to blame, either, in fact there are some flashes of real ingenuity in some of them. Coraline and Stardust have been standouts for me personally in this respect. I have noticed that sometimes the scene description is lacking. There have been moments in the middle of a page where I've stopped and said "wait, where is this happening?" and when I "look around" all I see are a couple characters in a room about as decorative as the inside of this text block I'm writing in right now. But those aren't common occurrences and they're certainly not enough to sour the whole book.
I don't know, if the doctor can't help me maybe I'll seek a second opinion from the librarian.
After all the hype surrounding him, I finally gave in and started reading his books. Aside from his collection of short stories, Fragile Things, I haven't been as impressed as I expected to be.
The Graveyard Book in particular I found to be slow moving and depressing. Maybe that's inevitable being that most of the characters in it are dead. It's not that the writing isn't good.
Gaiman's stories generally aren't to blame, either, in fact there are some flashes of real ingenuity in some of them. Coraline and Stardust have been standouts for me personally in this respect. I have noticed that sometimes the scene description is lacking. There have been moments in the middle of a page where I've stopped and said "wait, where is this happening?" and when I "look around" all I see are a couple characters in a room about as decorative as the inside of this text block I'm writing in right now. But those aren't common occurrences and they're certainly not enough to sour the whole book.
I don't know, if the doctor can't help me maybe I'll seek a second opinion from the librarian.
October 16, 2008
**SPOILER ALERT**
This book was entirely mediocre. The plot was disjointed and very loosely woven throughout the story, and much of it didn't make any sense. Details (what few details there were) seemed to be added at the last minute to make later events in the story make sense. It's almost as if Gaiman wrote the middle first, then the beginning, and then the end. I think he had a million ideas floating around in his head and had no idea how to connect them all, so he made up some stuff on the fly.
Also, I'm willing to accept a large amount of non-sensical information in a fantasy novel, but there has to be some sort of explanation behind it. For example--if a boy lives in a graveyard his entire life, what happens if he needs to go to the dentist or take a shower or get vaccinated? Somehow, everyone reacts completely normally to the protagonist, even though he must be a filthy, smelly toothless wreck. Also, at the end of the book, the ghosts just kind of release the main character into the world--the boy who is only 15 and has had almost no formal schooling in his entire life. What is this kid supposed to do with himself? He's been getting his education from people who've been deceased for at least 150 years and has nothing on him but a little money and a passport. Yeah, I'm sure he'll do REALLY well on his own.
Anyway, I didn't think it was a bad book, but it certainly wasn't a good one, and it was WAY below Neil Gaiman's usual standards.
This book was entirely mediocre. The plot was disjointed and very loosely woven throughout the story, and much of it didn't make any sense. Details (what few details there were) seemed to be added at the last minute to make later events in the story make sense. It's almost as if Gaiman wrote the middle first, then the beginning, and then the end. I think he had a million ideas floating around in his head and had no idea how to connect them all, so he made up some stuff on the fly.
Also, I'm willing to accept a large amount of non-sensical information in a fantasy novel, but there has to be some sort of explanation behind it. For example--if a boy lives in a graveyard his entire life, what happens if he needs to go to the dentist or take a shower or get vaccinated? Somehow, everyone reacts completely normally to the protagonist, even though he must be a filthy, smelly toothless wreck. Also, at the end of the book, the ghosts just kind of release the main character into the world--the boy who is only 15 and has had almost no formal schooling in his entire life. What is this kid supposed to do with himself? He's been getting his education from people who've been deceased for at least 150 years and has nothing on him but a little money and a passport. Yeah, I'm sure he'll do REALLY well on his own.
Anyway, I didn't think it was a bad book, but it certainly wasn't a good one, and it was WAY below Neil Gaiman's usual standards.
October 18, 2008
This is how it usually goes with me and Neil Gaiman books:
Scene: at the library.
Picks up Stardust and reads back flap... thinks, "hey, this looks like a great book. What an interesting idea for a story..." When actually reading Stardust: bored.
A couple months later. At the library.
Picks up Neverwhere... thinks, "hmmm. This looks really interesting, but that's what I thought about Stardust. Well, maybe I'll give him one last chance." When actually reading Neverwhere: stupid last chances!!!
So I was a little hesitant to pick up The Graveyard Book. Again, the idea is interesting - a toddler's family is killed, and he's raised in a graveyard by ghosts - but Gaiman's books have seemed interesting to me before. So it's with gratitude that I say:
Finally. FINALLY! To me, this book (at long last) connected. I loved the characters and the concept, and the actual text seemed to flow and be more engaging than the previous books I'd read. I'm glad I gave Gaiman's books one more last chance after the last last chance. I may even try one more.
Scene: at the library.
Picks up Stardust and reads back flap... thinks, "hey, this looks like a great book. What an interesting idea for a story..." When actually reading Stardust: bored.
A couple months later. At the library.
Picks up Neverwhere... thinks, "hmmm. This looks really interesting, but that's what I thought about Stardust. Well, maybe I'll give him one last chance." When actually reading Neverwhere: stupid last chances!!!
So I was a little hesitant to pick up The Graveyard Book. Again, the idea is interesting - a toddler's family is killed, and he's raised in a graveyard by ghosts - but Gaiman's books have seemed interesting to me before. So it's with gratitude that I say:
Finally. FINALLY! To me, this book (at long last) connected. I loved the characters and the concept, and the actual text seemed to flow and be more engaging than the previous books I'd read. I'm glad I gave Gaiman's books one more last chance after the last last chance. I may even try one more.
March 5, 2020
The riproaring adventures of Huck Finn's wiser half-brother; Harry Potter's long lost second cousin. A Mowgli doppleganger, admittedly so.
When Tim Burton died*, the void was taken up, wholly, by Mr. Gaiman. When will "The Graveyard Book" become a film? Cannot wait to watch singin'/dancin' ghosts, not the usual rerecycled shit from some Disney classic. Hey, it worked like a charm with "Coraline"!
*career-wise & art-wise
When Tim Burton died*, the void was taken up, wholly, by Mr. Gaiman. When will "The Graveyard Book" become a film? Cannot wait to watch singin'/dancin' ghosts, not the usual rerecycled shit from some Disney classic. Hey, it worked like a charm with "Coraline"!
*career-wise & art-wise
April 28, 2022
Award winning children's / fantasy book, and without doubt the best Gaiman I've read, and I'm very far from a fan of his.
Nobody Owens' family are brutally slain in a graveyard; he is the only survivor and ends up being brought up by, and amongst, the supernatural dwellers of the graveyard. A book that gets better and better as it progresses with a charming constructed reality that sits alongside a conventional reality.
On this book alone, I've decided to try more Gaiman after giving up on his work a few years ago. 8 out of 12... although the GIF below states what I think will happen when I read more Gaiman...
2019 read
Nobody Owens' family are brutally slain in a graveyard; he is the only survivor and ends up being brought up by, and amongst, the supernatural dwellers of the graveyard. A book that gets better and better as it progresses with a charming constructed reality that sits alongside a conventional reality.
On this book alone, I've decided to try more Gaiman after giving up on his work a few years ago. 8 out of 12... although the GIF below states what I think will happen when I read more Gaiman...
2019 read
August 13, 2017
Ένα μακάβριο ανάλαφρο παραμύθι για νεκρούς ανθρώπους και ζωντανές ψυχές.
Όλη η ιστορία εκτυλίσσεται μέσα σε ένα νεκροταφείο που είναι πλέον κλειστό και φυλάσσεται ως εθνικός δρυμός.
Ένα μωράκι τη μοιραία νύχτα που δολοφονείται η οικογένεια του απο μια παράξενη αρχαία αδελφότητα καταφέρνει να σωθεί και να βρει καταφύγιο στο γειτονικό νεκροταφείο.
Τα πνεύματα, οι καλές ψυχές,αποφασίζουν να προστατέψουν το μωράκι με τη βοήθεια του Σίλα που ανήκει σε κάποιο είδος απέθαντων.
Έτσι το μωράκι που το ονομάζουν Καν (Κανένας) μεγαλώνει μέσα στο νεκροταφείο,συναναστρέφεται με κάθε είδους πνεύματα,απο αρχαίους Ρωμαίους και επισήμους βαρώνους, μεσαιωνικές μάγισσες, τρομερούς υπηρέτες μυστικών θησαυρών, τον αρχαίο λουλακί άντρα και πολλούς άλλους νεκρούς με καλή ή και κακή μεταθανάτια αύρα.
Μέσα στα χρόνια που μεγαλώνει οικειοποιείται τις συνήθειες αλλά και τα χαρίσματα των νεκρών. Επισκέπτεται την Νεκρόπολη.Ξεθωριάζει. Βλέπει τέλεια στο σκοτάδι.Χειρίζεται άψογα την ονειροβασία και μπορεί να προκαλεί φόβο και πανικό όταν χρειάζεται.
Οι ταφόπετρες είναι για τον Καν οι σκεπές των σπιτιών της γειτονιάς του. Ο ίδιος ζει με σε έναν ζεστό τάφο-σπίτι και αποκαλεί γονείς του τα πνεύματα των Όουενς - ένα ζευγάρι πνευμάτων-που τον μεγαλώνουν απο μωρό.
Το νεκροταφείο είναι το σπίτι του. Οι ψυχές των νεκρών είναι οι συγγενείς και οι φίλοι του. Όμως ο Καν ειναι ζωντανός. Ανήκει σε άλλο είδος ζωής. Και εκεί πρέπει να ζήσει.
Το πρόβλημα είναι πως έξω απο την ασφάλεια του νεκροταφείου του κινδυνεύει. Στην αληθινή ζωή παραμονεύει ο Τζακ και η οργάνωση του για να σκοτώσουν και τον τελευταίο που απέμεινε ζωντανός απο τη δολοφονία μιας οικογένειας πριν δεκατέσσερα χρόνια.
Ένα μωράκι, που ζει με τους νεκρούς και οι ζωντανοί το θέλουν νεκρό.
Καλή ανάγνωση!
Πολλούς ασπασμούς!
Όλη η ιστορία εκτυλίσσεται μέσα σε ένα νεκροταφείο που είναι πλέον κλειστό και φυλάσσεται ως εθνικός δρυμός.
Ένα μωράκι τη μοιραία νύχτα που δολοφονείται η οικογένεια του απο μια παράξενη αρχαία αδελφότητα καταφέρνει να σωθεί και να βρει καταφύγιο στο γειτονικό νεκροταφείο.
Τα πνεύματα, οι καλές ψυχές,αποφασίζουν να προστατέψουν το μωράκι με τη βοήθεια του Σίλα που ανήκει σε κάποιο είδος απέθαντων.
Έτσι το μωράκι που το ονομάζουν Καν (Κανένας) μεγαλώνει μέσα στο νεκροταφείο,συναναστρέφεται με κάθε είδους πνεύματα,απο αρχαίους Ρωμαίους και επισήμους βαρώνους, μεσαιωνικές μάγισσες, τρομερούς υπηρέτες μυστικών θησαυρών, τον αρχαίο λουλακί άντρα και πολλούς άλλους νεκρούς με καλή ή και κακή μεταθανάτια αύρα.
Μέσα στα χρόνια που μεγαλώνει οικειοποιείται τις συνήθειες αλλά και τα χαρίσματα των νεκρών. Επισκέπτεται την Νεκρόπολη.Ξεθωριάζει. Βλέπει τέλεια στο σκοτάδι.Χειρίζεται άψογα την ονειροβασία και μπορεί να προκαλεί φόβο και πανικό όταν χρειάζεται.
Οι ταφόπετρες είναι για τον Καν οι σκεπές των σπιτιών της γειτονιάς του. Ο ίδιος ζει με σε έναν ζεστό τάφο-σπίτι και αποκαλεί γονείς του τα πνεύματα των Όουενς - ένα ζευγάρι πνευμάτων-που τον μεγαλώνουν απο μωρό.
Το νεκροταφείο είναι το σπίτι του. Οι ψυχές των νεκρών είναι οι συγγενείς και οι φίλοι του. Όμως ο Καν ειναι ζωντανός. Ανήκει σε άλλο είδος ζωής. Και εκεί πρέπει να ζήσει.
Το πρόβλημα είναι πως έξω απο την ασφάλεια του νεκροταφείου του κινδυνεύει. Στην αληθινή ζωή παραμονεύει ο Τζακ και η οργάνωση του για να σκοτώσουν και τον τελευταίο που απέμεινε ζωντανός απο τη δολοφονία μιας οικογένειας πριν δεκατέσσερα χρόνια.
Ένα μωράκι, που ζει με τους νεκρούς και οι ζωντανοί το θέλουν νεκρό.
Καλή ανάγνωση!
Πολλούς ασπασμούς!
March 26, 2023
SPOOKY MIDDLE GRADE BOOK RECOMMENDATION
I read The Graveyard Book a while ago and still find myself thinking about it. It is quirky and creepy, two things we know I love.
If you happen to be in a spooky mood, but maybe aren't into really scary books, this may be a great option for you.
Set in a cemetery, the atmosphere will definitely give you all the goosebumps you need for a cold, misty night, without causing significant trauma.
Interesting and unique from start to finish, I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, fast, haunting read!
I read The Graveyard Book a while ago and still find myself thinking about it. It is quirky and creepy, two things we know I love.
If you happen to be in a spooky mood, but maybe aren't into really scary books, this may be a great option for you.
Set in a cemetery, the atmosphere will definitely give you all the goosebumps you need for a cold, misty night, without causing significant trauma.
Interesting and unique from start to finish, I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, fast, haunting read!
August 14, 2013
Once there was a little girl who lived in a big house in a strange and wonderful city in the North. Her name: Dove Black*. An unusual name for an unusual girl. Her equally unusual mother took her away for the summer, across the sea. I came to that strange and wonderful city and stayed in that big house. In the house was a book. The Graveyard Book! I fell prey to an odd illness during my visit; while my companions made merry in the streets and taverns of that city, I recovered on the wide and sunny porch of that house, the clucks of chickens from the chicken coop and the laughter of the children playing on the street making me feel rather less lonely. I took The Graveyard Book down from the shelf and read it. It was perfect company. Indeed, it is a perfect book!
I’ll dispense with much of a synopsis because you can read that anywhere. An infant is taken in by a graveyard full of ghosts (and more); they raise him as their ward and son. As he grows up, young Nobody Owens learns a lot about death and a little bit about life as well. Gaiman notes The Jungle Book as an inspiration; I’m not sure I would have thought of Kipling’s classic myself but after reading that comment, it makes perfect sense, title and all. There, done with synopsis.
Many times I felt as if the book was tailor-made for a young mark monday, what with the eerie atmosphere, the ambiguity, the graveyard, adventure mixed with sadness, life and death existing side by side, and at the core of it all, an unusual and genuinely loving family – but a created family, not necessarily a family by blood. All those things appealed to me at a pretty deep level as a kid, which is probably why I really loved Bellair’s The House With a Clock in Its Walls as well. I wish this book had been around when I was younger; I can easily picture connecting to it in so many different ways.
But I’m an adult and I still feel a deep connection to the book. All those things above are still things that connect me to a novel, of course, but my feelings about many of those things have intensified.
The idea of a ‘created’ family, one that can come together for a variety of reasons but one that will look out for and support and love its members, one that embraces the difference of the individuals within that family… so meaningful to me! It’s an idea that I didn’t start experiencing until my early 20s, oh the life of a quasi-punk cynical jerk outsider who suddenly realizes that there are others out there like him, happy sigh, and it’s an idea that I feel like I’ve tried to carry on with my adult circle of friends and within my work place. It’s actually why I even chose my place of work. The Graveyard Book offers this found family as meaningful and valid and beautiful, much as The Jungle Book did. Gaiman doesn’t bluntly pound the point home and he isn’t mawkish or even all that sentimental about it all – but it is such a central part of what makes the novel work. And it is also what makes the ending such a sweet and sad one. Sometimes, perhaps always, you do need to move on. Some things are transitory. Sometimes those families that you spent so much time with melt away and stay on only as memories. But you can always make those families again! Yes.
Ambiguity: I love it and I yearn for it in books. The feeling that the author doesn’t want to spell things out for you, that they realize the reader may gain pleasure from figuring things out on their own, filling in the blanks, imagining why something may have happened and what may come next. Not being spoon-fed every little detail and not tying it all up with a neat little bow. It seems like an easy thing to be able to do but I think many authors just don’t want to do that. Perhaps they don’t realize there is a sort of tyranny in excessive detail, in paths made painfully clear and obvious, fluorescent lighting rather than shadows and moonlight, endings that explain it all away instead of showing a newly opened door – an ending that leads to a beginning. That is one of the beautiful things about this book, that kind of an ending and the ambiguity of it all. Sure, it explained many things. But it left many doors open, for the reader to step through and explore on their own. Maybe this is also why I appreciate books written for children and young adults: because of the basic form of the genre, the actual length of such books, perhaps even because of the attention span of the audience… things often have to be left to the reader’s imagination. I like simplicity that creates mystery, simplicity that is its own form of depth.
The book certainly knows how to illustrate Growing Up. Each chapter is a step forward, a snapshot of Nobody Owens as he grows up. At the end, it captures that wistfulness, that sweet sadness at the knowledge that growing up means you may never look at things the same way again, you can never go home again and if you do, that home will be a different place. That home may be a physical place, it may be a group of people or even just one person, it may be a feeling of being protected or a place where you learned and grew and loved and lived in a particular way. Good things to cry over. The tears may be melancholy ones, wistful tears – but yet not depressing ones, not to me at least. If anything, they affirm life. And growing up, or moving on, or going down new paths… it is also an adventure. I love how the ending makes that perfectly clear. Sure, shed some tears over what has passed and can never be again, but know that the future is still a path that can lead you to all sorts of places. It doesn’t matter how old you are – old Silas is about to go on his own adventure too. And so Nobody is sad and moves on and is happy and moves on and he jumps onto that path and moves on.
Trudi said in her review “Gaiman reminds me of why I love to read and I love him for that.” Yes, Trudi, yes! Very well said.
After I finished the book, I looked through Dove Black’s bookshelves and found many things that I loved. A lot of Philip Pullman, Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising series, Narnia, books by Edward Eager and Louise Fitzhugh and Colin Maloy and Garth Nix, and of course Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I admire your taste, Dove Black. I hope all of these books have informed your world view. But how could they not? They must. Your mother put your paintings and your awards on the wall and she should be proud: you are a talented young lady. I think you will grow up to be an equally impressive adult. I wish you the best of luck! But I really don’t think you’ll need it.
____________
* A real little girl but of course not her real name. I tried to think up an approximate of her unusual name but I fear I have failed. Her real name is so cool!
I’ll dispense with much of a synopsis because you can read that anywhere. An infant is taken in by a graveyard full of ghosts (and more); they raise him as their ward and son. As he grows up, young Nobody Owens learns a lot about death and a little bit about life as well. Gaiman notes The Jungle Book as an inspiration; I’m not sure I would have thought of Kipling’s classic myself but after reading that comment, it makes perfect sense, title and all. There, done with synopsis.
Many times I felt as if the book was tailor-made for a young mark monday, what with the eerie atmosphere, the ambiguity, the graveyard, adventure mixed with sadness, life and death existing side by side, and at the core of it all, an unusual and genuinely loving family – but a created family, not necessarily a family by blood. All those things appealed to me at a pretty deep level as a kid, which is probably why I really loved Bellair’s The House With a Clock in Its Walls as well. I wish this book had been around when I was younger; I can easily picture connecting to it in so many different ways.
But I’m an adult and I still feel a deep connection to the book. All those things above are still things that connect me to a novel, of course, but my feelings about many of those things have intensified.
The idea of a ‘created’ family, one that can come together for a variety of reasons but one that will look out for and support and love its members, one that embraces the difference of the individuals within that family… so meaningful to me! It’s an idea that I didn’t start experiencing until my early 20s, oh the life of a quasi-punk cynical jerk outsider who suddenly realizes that there are others out there like him, happy sigh, and it’s an idea that I feel like I’ve tried to carry on with my adult circle of friends and within my work place. It’s actually why I even chose my place of work. The Graveyard Book offers this found family as meaningful and valid and beautiful, much as The Jungle Book did. Gaiman doesn’t bluntly pound the point home and he isn’t mawkish or even all that sentimental about it all – but it is such a central part of what makes the novel work. And it is also what makes the ending such a sweet and sad one. Sometimes, perhaps always, you do need to move on. Some things are transitory. Sometimes those families that you spent so much time with melt away and stay on only as memories. But you can always make those families again! Yes.
Ambiguity: I love it and I yearn for it in books. The feeling that the author doesn’t want to spell things out for you, that they realize the reader may gain pleasure from figuring things out on their own, filling in the blanks, imagining why something may have happened and what may come next. Not being spoon-fed every little detail and not tying it all up with a neat little bow. It seems like an easy thing to be able to do but I think many authors just don’t want to do that. Perhaps they don’t realize there is a sort of tyranny in excessive detail, in paths made painfully clear and obvious, fluorescent lighting rather than shadows and moonlight, endings that explain it all away instead of showing a newly opened door – an ending that leads to a beginning. That is one of the beautiful things about this book, that kind of an ending and the ambiguity of it all. Sure, it explained many things. But it left many doors open, for the reader to step through and explore on their own. Maybe this is also why I appreciate books written for children and young adults: because of the basic form of the genre, the actual length of such books, perhaps even because of the attention span of the audience… things often have to be left to the reader’s imagination. I like simplicity that creates mystery, simplicity that is its own form of depth.
“Hello,” he said, as he danced with her. “I don’t know your name.”Death is not the end! I don’t know if I believe in ghosts or heaven or a cosmic consciousness that we all float into. But I do believe in the somewhat corny We All Live On In Some Way, whether it be as memories or as influences or as just one more part of humanity that is connected to the rest of humanity because we are all humans. I dunno. The Graveyard Book literalizes that concept, of course. It does it in a way that can make sense to both children and adults – showing how things are forgotten, perhaps, and that’s not so bad really, and it does it by showing how we live on in each other, by the things we do and the people we care for. Is Gaiman a spiritual man? Surely he must be. There is a certain kind of spirituality to much of his fiction, an ease with and an interest in describing worlds that are larger than us – and yet he makes that greater world rather wonderfully prosaic, real, worlds we could actually live in, somehow. Some may think such things are depressing – or that a book that is set in a graveyard and that opens with death and where the dead live next to the living, all of that, that that is a depressing book. To me, it is the opposite of depressing. Death is a part of life; there would be no life without death. This book for children recognizes that and even, amazingly, celebrates it.
“Names aren’t really important,” she said.
“I love your horse. He’s so big! I never knew horses could be that big.”
“He is gentle enough to bear the mightiest of you away on his broad back, and strong enough for the smallest of you as well.”
“Can I ride him?” asked Bod.
“One day,” she told him, and her cobweb skirts shimmered. “One day. Everybody does.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
The book certainly knows how to illustrate Growing Up. Each chapter is a step forward, a snapshot of Nobody Owens as he grows up. At the end, it captures that wistfulness, that sweet sadness at the knowledge that growing up means you may never look at things the same way again, you can never go home again and if you do, that home will be a different place. That home may be a physical place, it may be a group of people or even just one person, it may be a feeling of being protected or a place where you learned and grew and loved and lived in a particular way. Good things to cry over. The tears may be melancholy ones, wistful tears – but yet not depressing ones, not to me at least. If anything, they affirm life. And growing up, or moving on, or going down new paths… it is also an adventure. I love how the ending makes that perfectly clear. Sure, shed some tears over what has passed and can never be again, but know that the future is still a path that can lead you to all sorts of places. It doesn’t matter how old you are – old Silas is about to go on his own adventure too. And so Nobody is sad and moves on and is happy and moves on and he jumps onto that path and moves on.
Trudi said in her review “Gaiman reminds me of why I love to read and I love him for that.” Yes, Trudi, yes! Very well said.
After I finished the book, I looked through Dove Black’s bookshelves and found many things that I loved. A lot of Philip Pullman, Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising series, Narnia, books by Edward Eager and Louise Fitzhugh and Colin Maloy and Garth Nix, and of course Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I admire your taste, Dove Black. I hope all of these books have informed your world view. But how could they not? They must. Your mother put your paintings and your awards on the wall and she should be proud: you are a talented young lady. I think you will grow up to be an equally impressive adult. I wish you the best of luck! But I really don’t think you’ll need it.
____________
* A real little girl but of course not her real name. I tried to think up an approximate of her unusual name but I fear I have failed. Her real name is so cool!
November 23, 2018
A friend of mine had an extra ticket to see Neil Gaiman's sold-out lecture in Denver last week, so we rode the bus downtown, walked a block or two, then turned a street corner, only to be startled by some 2,000 fervent fans wrapped around and around the building, shivering and salivating at the prospect of entering the doors.
I was in awe of their devotion, and I felt like an imposter, too. I'd never read anything of Neil's, other than an illustrated picture book for kids, and if these thirty-something fans only knew that I had a scored a rare ticket to his sold-out show. . . I'm sure they'd have pulled their wands out from their cloaks and performed the Cruciatus curse on me.
Neil's fans are primarily what I'd call the “Harry Potter kids.” Meaning, the kids who were the perfect ages (somewhere between 10 and 17) when Harry Potter emerged like a lightning bolt on the juvenile fiction scene.
I was at least 10 years older than most members of the audience, but little did those kids know that I was a young mom with my first baby when Harry debuted in 1997 and I not only read every book in the series, I attended every midnight release of them, too (in a witch's hat, no less).
So. . . I'm not exactly far fetched in terms of my potential as a fan.
But, as of last week, I didn't have an opinion about his fiction.
This week I introduced myself, properly, to Neil, by reading his 2008 Young Adult fiction, The Graveyard Book. It just so happens to be a Newberry winner, so it obviously impressed someone beyond me, but I read it more for its universal appeal as a coming-of-age story.
It's lovely, and incredibly imaginative. Not as imaginative as, say, Ray Bradbury (who is??), but definitely as good as Roald Dahl or J.K. Rowling.
I loved the young protagonist here, Nobody Owens. . . and I found that Neil really knows how to embody his characters. Not one of them felt false in action or speech.
It is a fantastical book, but if you lack imagination, it may not be for you.
Personally, I rejoice whenever anyone, anywhere, picks up the technicolor dreamcoat and tries it on for size.
Come, all ye dream makers, visionaries, conjurors. . .
Our black and white world is starved for your color.
People want to forget the impossible. It makes their world safer.
(And, by the way, Neil. . . THANK YOU, OH, THANK YOU, for referring to Nobody's parents as his adoptive parents ONLY ONCE. I can tell you know that calling someone “adopted/adoptive” over and over again is painful and invalidating. Your REAL parents are the ones who love you and raise you. AMEN).
I was in awe of their devotion, and I felt like an imposter, too. I'd never read anything of Neil's, other than an illustrated picture book for kids, and if these thirty-something fans only knew that I had a scored a rare ticket to his sold-out show. . . I'm sure they'd have pulled their wands out from their cloaks and performed the Cruciatus curse on me.
Neil's fans are primarily what I'd call the “Harry Potter kids.” Meaning, the kids who were the perfect ages (somewhere between 10 and 17) when Harry Potter emerged like a lightning bolt on the juvenile fiction scene.
I was at least 10 years older than most members of the audience, but little did those kids know that I was a young mom with my first baby when Harry debuted in 1997 and I not only read every book in the series, I attended every midnight release of them, too (in a witch's hat, no less).
So. . . I'm not exactly far fetched in terms of my potential as a fan.
But, as of last week, I didn't have an opinion about his fiction.
This week I introduced myself, properly, to Neil, by reading his 2008 Young Adult fiction, The Graveyard Book. It just so happens to be a Newberry winner, so it obviously impressed someone beyond me, but I read it more for its universal appeal as a coming-of-age story.
It's lovely, and incredibly imaginative. Not as imaginative as, say, Ray Bradbury (who is??), but definitely as good as Roald Dahl or J.K. Rowling.
I loved the young protagonist here, Nobody Owens. . . and I found that Neil really knows how to embody his characters. Not one of them felt false in action or speech.
It is a fantastical book, but if you lack imagination, it may not be for you.
Personally, I rejoice whenever anyone, anywhere, picks up the technicolor dreamcoat and tries it on for size.
Come, all ye dream makers, visionaries, conjurors. . .
Our black and white world is starved for your color.
People want to forget the impossible. It makes their world safer.
(And, by the way, Neil. . . THANK YOU, OH, THANK YOU, for referring to Nobody's parents as his adoptive parents ONLY ONCE. I can tell you know that calling someone “adopted/adoptive” over and over again is painful and invalidating. Your REAL parents are the ones who love you and raise you. AMEN).
December 7, 2019
4.5/5
May 1, 2021
Bod Owens lives in a graveyard. Now, this is the idea for a superb story, and Mr Gaiman knows how to execute it to the full.
I was sucked in from the very beginning, and loved Bod who is a sweet an intelligent child. For him, the interactions with the departed are as natural as they can be. He has guardians, ghostly friends and even a teacher so it seems there is no need for the world outside the gate. And there is a mystery that surrounds him which opens the novel that gave me shivers.
My second novel by Mr Gaiman that was more than satisfying. Bravo!
I was sucked in from the very beginning, and loved Bod who is a sweet an intelligent child. For him, the interactions with the departed are as natural as they can be. He has guardians, ghostly friends and even a teacher so it seems there is no need for the world outside the gate. And there is a mystery that surrounds him which opens the novel that gave me shivers.
My second novel by Mr Gaiman that was more than satisfying. Bravo!
November 3, 2023
Neil Gaiman never ceases to amaze and inspire!
August 21, 2023
How can a book make me feel alive and dead at the same time? Ask Neil.
This book broke my heart so many times. Bod is such a kindhearted, loving and interesting kid. It was so fun to read about him growing up on a graveyard and to see him grow as a person and learn soooo many things, not only about life, but also emotions and consequences.
Over the course of the book you can see him change and adjust to the reality he’s in and it was heartwarming to see how his relationship with real people changes.
On top of that the book made me cry??? HOW I DO NOT KNOW
4.5 stars (the only reason this isn’t a 5 star is bc it took me awhile to adjust to the writing after reading fantasy for so long)
This book broke my heart so many times. Bod is such a kindhearted, loving and interesting kid. It was so fun to read about him growing up on a graveyard and to see him grow as a person and learn soooo many things, not only about life, but also emotions and consequences.
Over the course of the book you can see him change and adjust to the reality he’s in and it was heartwarming to see how his relationship with real people changes.
On top of that the book made me cry??? HOW I DO NOT KNOW
4.5 stars (the only reason this isn’t a 5 star is bc it took me awhile to adjust to the writing after reading fantasy for so long)
September 1, 2021
This book was awesome. My favorite Gaiman so far without a doubt. He truly works magic in his books and his imagination is vast and well, takes you to another world! I'm not sure if i'm going to review this one, depends on whether I'm going to have time later. But if didn't particularly like American Gods like me (it was meh), you should definitely give this book a chance, it's so much better! I bought Ocean at the end of the Day immediately when I finished this one..
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