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 enlarge | Author: Neil Gaiman
Creator: Dave Mckean
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $9.84
You Save: $8.15 (45%)
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Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 292
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060530928
EAN: 9780060530921
ASIN: 0060530928
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
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Showing reviews 6-10 of 70
 Gaiman's Kind of People September 30, 2008
Monica Edinger
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
So, okay, I admit it. Like untold others, I'm a Neil Gaiman fan. The man is nice (I've had drinks with him not that he'd remember), has a vivid imagination, and writes a remarkable variety of things -- comics, poems, essays, screenplays, adult fantasy, picture books, and kid books -- all quite well. So when he began documenting the progress of writing this book I was very curious to read it. Based on what else of his I'd read (notably Coraline which I love to read aloud), I expected chills, darkness, and humor. The Graveyard Book has all of that, but it also has something I wasn't expecting -- a remarkable tenderness and sweet sadness that made it one of the best things of Gaiman's I've ever read.
This is the story of Bod, short for Nobody, a child being raised by a bevy of graveyard inhabitants. Brought there as a baby, Bod, is nurtured by the warm and affectionate Mr. and Mrs. Owens, supervised by the serious Silus, and taught by many others in this unique and lovely community of ghosts and other such beings. Bod has adventures, makes special friends (not all from within the graveyard or fantasy world), and begins to learn about his past and future.
The story has the feeling of Kipling's Mowgli stories from The Jungle Books -- favorites of mine growing up. Silus resembles Bagheera for me; while I'm not so sure if there are others that can be so easily compared a similar charm, humor, warmth, and originality are in both. And most of all, both involve a boy brought to a completely different world and raised lovingly and carefully by the inhabitants of that world.
One of my favorite chapters in the book is "The Hounds of God." Silus brings a Miss Lupescu to the graveyard to instruct and feed Bod while he is off on a trip. Having already been taught by graveyard inhabitants Letitia Borrows and Mr. Pennyworth ("Compleat Educational System for Younger Gentlemen with Additional Material for those Post Mortem"), Bod doesn't see the need for new teachers. Miss Lupescu quickly proves otherwise.
"Name the different kinds of people," said Miss Lupescu. "Now."
Bod thought for a moment. "The living, " he said. "Er. The dead." he stopped. Then, "...Cats? he offered, uncertainly.
Missing Silus and definitely not enjoying either Miss Lupescu's lessons or cooking, when three strange creatures show up calling themselves the Duke of Westminster, the Honorable Archibald Fitzhugh, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bod eagerly takes off with them. The resulting adventure turns out to be wilder and harsher and more remarkable than he or the reader would expect. Funny, scary, and exciting all at once.
So is the whole book. As well as elegant, gentle, witty, pensive, and moving.
 Gaiman Does It Again! September 30, 2008
Sebastien Pharand (Orleans, Ontario, Canada)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Nei Gaiman's imagination is extraordinary. His stories are always full of wit and humor. They are always entertaining. The Graveyard Book is no exception. Although it is being sold as a young adult novel, The Graveyard Book should please adults and youths alike.
After his family is murdered, young Bod (short for Nobody) finds himself in a cemetery, one that is inhabited by a colony of ghosts. After one dies, he remains forever in the place in which he is buried. To protect him from the murderer, young Bod is adopted by a ghostly couple who always wanted children. They will try to raise a human child as their own.
As Bod grows up, he encounters various ghostly characters, all the while wondering what life outside the cemetery would be like. But his family's murderer is still on the loose and, soon enough, he comes back to get him. He also learns to use their powers; fade to nothingness, walk through walls...
For every dark moment in this book, there is also a very funny one. Each chapter feels like a short story, a new adventure that Bod partakes in. In one chapter, he meets a young human girl that will soon become a long lost friend. In another, he is witness to the ghostly celebration that only happens once in a blue moon. In another, he is taken hostage by strange creatures and taken to a parallel world. In another, he meets ancient crypt keepers that are protecting a hidden treasure. The book never ceases to amaze or surprise.
Every page is drowned in Gaiman's wit, humor and sarcasm. It's rare that I can read a book where something makes me smile on every page. And although this is supposed to be a young adult novel, I had a great time reading it. I couldn't put it down. This book is in the same vein as Gaiman's Stardust; the kind of story that everyone can enjoy. A real gem. The only thing I wished for is more. I hope Gaiman revisits these characters one day soon!
excellent for both young adults and elders October 8, 2008
Elmore Hammes (Anderson, IN USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Graveyard Book isn't just a middle grade book - just as the inspiring Jungle Book can be enjoyed by adults, so can Gaiman's well-composed scary-but-not-too-scary novel.
The opening scene is the most chilling in the book - after murdering the rest of the family, the 'man Jack' stalks the infant, and the descriptions are indeed spine-tingling. That might disturb the younger readers, but once you get past the first chapter it settles into a less-scary tale. It has some other moments of conflict and fright, but I never got the feeling that Bod was truly in peril in those, and while Gaiman certainly describes those well the shivers were less than from the opening scene.
Gaiman does what too few authors do - stretches the language and the mind of the reader, even in a book marketed for young adults. He does this not in an uncomfortable, 'what am I reading' way, but in a manner that raises the curiosity, by throwing in an interesting word or phrase that scratches at the mind and enriches the reading experience. He doesn't waste opportunities, from something as simple as mentioning the epitaph on the various tombstones as each inhabitant is encountered, or by taking something that could be simple such as ghouls and making them comical characters while retaining their horror. He seldom settles for the expected or happy-ever-after endings, and the result is more believable and satisfying.
This was a fast-paced and very enjoyable read, and is highly recommended for young and old.
Kipling's Jungle Book in Ray Bradbury's October Country October 4, 2008
Renee C. Mulhare (MA United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Ray Bradbury link is no accident: Neil Gaiman himself has talked about how Bradbury's work has deeply influenced him, and it was in the Bradbury-esquely titled "M is for Magic" that I first encountered Bod Owens, in "The Witch's Headstone". I don't think there is any other writer today, besides Neil Gaiman, whose stories can evoke that place of mystery and shivery wonder that Bradbury dubbed the October Country, and this book takes you right into the heart of it. The book reminds me very much of Bradbury's "From the Dust Returned" (both feature a young boy living among odd, supernatural beings), but the story is more linear and concrete and Gaiman approaches it with his usual practical magical realism. And in developing Bod's journey to full self-awareness of this place in the world, Gaiman delved into Kipling's classic "Jungle Books", specifically the stories of Mowgli the wolf-boy, one of my childhood favorite books. Like Mowgli, Bod loses his family in a shiveringly off-screen murder, but the killer, known initially only as "Jack" is far more of a monster than Kipling's lame, cowardly tiger Shere Khan. A Victorian couple of ghosts known as the Owenses take in Bod when he wanders into the graveyard, much as Mowgli was taken in by Father Wolf and his mate Raksha when he wandered into the mouth of their cave, and he is tutored by the mysterious Silas, who may or may not be a vampire, but who mirrors the dangerous stateliness of Bagheera, Mowgli's black panther mentor. And the ghouls that capture Bod are a gleefully gruesome riff on the band of monkeys that capture Mowgli. But beyond that, a mysterious lady in grey riding a white horse appears toward the beginning and the end (a beginning in itself...), who more than slightly resembles Death, from Neil Gaiman's own Sandman comics...
I could say trite things about this being the sort of book that kids and adults will both enjoy in different ways, and reading it will keep you up all night in a good way, but these definately fall short in describing the wonders of this newest offering from a master of fantasy
It takes a graveyard October 9, 2008
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Imagine Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book"... but replace the animals with ghosts, ghouls, werewolves and other such supernatural creatures.
Such is the concept of "The Graveyard Book," which cleverly turns Kipling's classic story into an exquisitely-written, darkly witty fantasy. While it starts as the assorted supernatural adventures of a young boy raised by ghosts, the story slowly evolves into a beautifully ghastly confrontation between Nobody Owens and the people who want to do him harm.
"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." A man named Jack kills an innocent family at night -- except for a baby boy, who toddles out to the graveyard.
With the approval of the Lady on the Grey, the Owens ghosts adopt the boy, whom they name Nobody (or "Bod" for short), and the mysterious not-dead-or-alive Silas is appointed his guardian. Bod slowly grows up, but his upbringing is hardly ordinary -- he is taught by a Hound of God, wanders into the horrific realm of Ghulheim, watches a danse macabre, and befriends a witch's spirit from the Potter's Field.
But the man named Jack is still out there, and for some reason he (and the organization he works for) still wants to kill Bod. And though Silas and the ghosts are trying to keep him safe, Bod is becoming curious about the world of living humans -- and about the man who murdered his family. And when they come for him, he'll be ready.
The world of Neil Gaiman is never a safe place -- it's always painted in shadows and shades of grey, and something horrible may be lurking around the corner. And the world of "The Graveyard Book" is no exception to this -- it's filled with strange supernatural creatures, hellish red cities with decayed moons overhead, and midnight parades where ghosts dance with the living.
The world of the graveyard is an intriguing one -- moonlight, crumbly headstones, a little stone church, and a creepy barrow where the Sleer lurk. From a lesser author this would be kind of boring, but Gaiman's beautiful prose brings it to life ("There was a silent implosion, a flutter of velvet darkness, and Silas was gone").
And Gaiman explores Bod's childhood with dark humour ("Can you imagine how fine a drink the black ichor that collects in leaden coffins can be?") and adventure. But the tone changes as Bod grows older, especially with the creepily professional Jack and his cohorts slowly closing in on him. It's a coming-of-age tale, and a bittersweet, sometimes terrifying one.
Bod himself is a lovable kid, who slowly explores first the world of the graveyard and then the world of the living. He's both ruthless and kind, sweet and strong. The mysterious Silas -- whose true nature is only revealed late in the book -- serves as a kindly but stern mentor, who pretty clearly loves young Bod like a father.
And there's a pretty wide supporting cast -- Bod's childhood friend Scarlett is rather bratty, but the ghosts make up for that. The snappy, witty witch Eliza, the kindly Owenses, Mother Slaughter, the fussy Mr. Pennyworth, and the schoolteacherish substitute guardian Miss Lupescu all round out the cast. And with only a few lines, Gaiman makes them seem practically real.
"The Graveyard Book" is a beautifully written, bittersweet coming-of-age tale with some moments of pure creepiness. A magnificent fantasy story, which is not to be missed.
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