The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'll have to admit that I probably would not have read this book past the first couple of pages if it weren't for Jon assuring me that it really wasn't a scary, gory kind of book. The first scene is definitely dark and horrifying and I'm not sure that my kids could handle it until their late teens. That being said, the book was wonderful. The plot was intriguing and imaginative. Many of the chapters/parts could be read as separate stories and at times I wasn't sure what the author's point was in adding certain scenes but by the end everything came together so that it all made sense. I loved the Macabre dance and Bod's guardian, Silas. The characters were believable and endearing. I loved the little girl who came to play with Bod in the graveyard and her parents thought she had an imaginary friend- so typical of clueless parents in childrens' stories. Gaiman did an excellent job of giving the reader enough information at just the right time to build suspense and by the last 150+ pages I was totally hooked and couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. My only gripe is with the name that the ghosts gave the little boy- Nobody Owens. Come on. Really?! "Nobody"?! I'm sure that with hundreds of years of experience between them all, they could have come up with a much better name than "Nobody". Sure, I get that it works for the purposes of the author, but still... ;)

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