By: Neil Gaiman
Illustrations by: Chris Riddell
Nobody Owens is known as Bod, he used to have another name, before the man came to try and kill him. Bod survived by stumbling into a graveyard and being taken in by ghosts. Now he lives and is educated by the dead and has a guardian who belongs in neither the world of the loving or that of the dead. There are dangers in the graveyard certainly – ghouls and the strange sleer, but Bod has been given the Freedom of the Graveyard which offers him some protection. It is outside the graveyard though, in the land of the liviing, where the bigger dangers lie. For the man that killed Bod’s family has unfinished business with Bod.
Gaiman sweeps us so effectively into the world of the graveyard that is seems totally normal for Bod to be learning things like how to fade and dreamwalk. He weaves a story that draws you in. It starts from a single point, widens out to a bigger picture and neatly twists up at a single point to finish. You feel for Bod as he grows amongst the others yet is still so very alone. The cast of characters around him are varied, (a graveyard is a great leveler of race and social standing) yet in some ways they are as insubstantial as the ghosts they are. This is an intriguing and engaging story of love and friendship, proving the strength of these things in the most unlikely of situations. Gaiman, as always, takes us on a wonderful dance through the darkness, though in this case it’s more through the twilight hours.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 05 October 2009
Format: Paperback 304 pages
Categories: Ghost, Fantasy, Horror
ISBN 13: 9780747594802
Purchase: here or use logo on side of page to link to Booktopia
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Comments on: "The Graveyard Book" (1)
Graveyard Book is SO good! my Mom thinks it’s too scary for kids, but when I was a kid, I loved “scary” stuff like this.