The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman

First of all, I cannot recommend the audiobook narrated by the full cast nearly enough. It’s like one of those classic radio dramas and I am here for it! And now, for the book itself. “The Graveyard Book” is, I think, a book meant for children. But it starts with the murder of the main characters entire family when he’s just an infant, but he’s too excited by an open door and an awaiting adventure to notice. He ends up in the local graveyard where the resident ghosts and vampire (though I think it’s wonderful that Gaiman never uses that word, but we all know what he is) decide to protect and raise the child as their own. Each chapter is a little window into a year of Nobody Owens life as he grows and is taught by the different ghosts and the lessons he learns along the way. Because of this format, the adventure eventually ends before everything is wrapped up. Which is by design as we get the story mainly from a child, after all, but it could be a little frustrating at times.

---

Some of the most interesting aspects of the book, the characters and their roles, heck even more about the man Jack and his organization are only ever touched upon in very vague terms. It’s not their story, but Nobody Owens, so of course we don’t get a full picture there, but the fact that they are teased and then just kind of left behind as Bod’s adventure continues was always a bit off putting to me, even though I vastly enjoyed the macabre setting of this book. I loved the different ghosts that Bod befriended and the different “quests” he went on either on behalf of the ghosts, or in spite of them sometimes. I loved the bittersweet ending of the story, more so for listening to Gaiman’s short account of how “The Graveyard Book” came to be, and now as a new parent myself. The story is dark and spooky at times, which is why I hesitate calling it a children’s book, but I definitely can see the appeal in parents reading this to their kids, too, as each chapter has a “moral of the story” feel to it. I just wish that, come the end, I felt that more than just Bod’s adventure ended, but that the story had more closure to it, too (hence the 4 stars). This story reminded me a lot of “Neverwhere” at times with the dark whimsy and the not-so-subtle lessons Gaiman has to impart, but I do think, between the two, “Neverwhere” still reigns supreme as my favorite Gaiman novel, but “The Graveyard Book” is close behind!