The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman {Review}

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publish Date: October 2008

Source: Library

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal is he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who beings to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack--who has already killed Bod's family...

I’ll admit it: I wasn’t a fan of The Graveyard Book for a good 3/4s of the book. I know, you’re all winding up to lob tomatoes and various rotten fruits and veggies at me right about now for saying such things about a book written by Neil Gaiman, but wait just one moment.

Something about The Graveyard Book simply wasn’t working for me for a majority of the book. I think part of it was the feeling that the story had no real meaning or plot. It seemed Bod would do something, be done with it, then move onto the next which was completely unrelated. Maybe I was reading it all wrong, but that’s simply what I got out of it. Luckily, though, the last little bit of the book tied it all nicely together and I was hanging on the edge of my seat just waiting to find out what happened next.

I rather enjoyed Neil’s writing. It was something different than what I’ve ever experienced before and though I found myself confused a few times, I still enjoyed it on the whole.

Final Thoughts: It took quite some time for me to really get into The Graveyard Book but I ended up really enjoying it. I’m glad I needed something to read while waiting at the doctor otherwise I might never have picked it up :P If you’re a fan of Gaiman or aren’t sure if you are, you should definitely give The Graveyard Book a try, especially if you read and enjoyed Coraline.

Pages: 309

Series: No

Rating: 4 stars