Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

[nikki_p]

The Graveyard Book is about an infant boy that luckily wanders into the safety of a graveyard while a murderer is hunting him after killing the rest of his family. The ghosts of the graveyard adopt him, and raise him within the walls and gates of the graveyard. As suspected, he does not live the normal life of a regular boy with living parents. His adopted parents, being dead, cannot provide for him the needs that he requires as a living person, so Silas, a mysterious man that seems to be in limbo of the living and the dead, accepts to be his guardian and tend to the boy's needs. The boy is nicknamed Bod, short for Nobody, and his life in the graveyard is filled with monstrous adventures, ghostly lessons, and lots of heart break.

This is my first time reading anything written by Neil Gaiman, and I have to say, I am not disappointed. It's not the fastest read I've had, considering how short it actually is. I kept finding myself putting the book down and forgetting about it every now and then, but the moment I'd pick it up again, I'd be hook once more. As for the writing style, amazing. It was so fairy tale-like and whimsical, though dark and sinister and the same time. There were occasions where I was reminded a bit of Lemony Snicket's style of writing. The way the boy was sometimes described and the adventures he'd get into, along with the random definitions of simple words I'd come across throughout the book is what really reminded me of Snicket. Other than that though, the entire style was unique and intriguing.

My favorite characters were Bod, and Liza Hempstock. I loved bod because of the way he handled his emotions, and basically the brave little person he became. He had great character development. Liza was simply awesome because of her witchy-sassiness. I think they made a great pair of friends.

I don't think I disliked anything about this book. It was just all around really great. I fell in love with every single character, I hated the villain, there was a twist towards the end, there's action, there's horror, there's magic, and there's sadness.
I will admit, my heart broke at the end, and I cried. It's not exactly a spoiler, but you have been warned!

So then I give this book 5/5 stars, I definitely recommend this book, and I hope that everyone who reads it enjoys it as much as I did. I've jumped onto the Gaiman Train and I will absolutely be reading more of his books in the future.

[Fran]

Duplicated topic

forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php ... =graveyard