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Loading... The Graveyard Bookby Neil Gaiman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  EclecticEccentric | Nov 21, 2009 |  I love Neil Gaiman's books, and this is no exception. A young boy escapes the slaughter of his family and ends up taking refuge in the local graveyard, where the ghosts bring him up. The book dips in and out of his life as he grows up and learns, each chapter being a particularly important part of Bod's life. I found this charming, an easy read, and entertainingly quirky. (  ) wookiebender | Nov 19, 2009 | I've read so many things that advertised as being the new Harry Potter. This does not, yet it seemed so reminiscent, but that minimizes the brilliance here. Gaiman is a master storyteller and I loved this. (  ) GaylDasherSmith | Nov 18, 2009 | i loved this book! it was easy to read, and catches your attention form the very beginning. the first page is a very simple, but strinking sentence..."There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife...". oooooh, spooky. in reality, this book is exciting because its a spinoff of the jungle book classic, only its not in a jungle, its in a graveyard raised by friendly ghosts. a samll boy escapes form his home during his family's murder, and wanders to the graveyard on the hill and is greeted by an old ghost woman who convinces the rest of them that it is their duty to protect the child. the boy grows into young adulthood with full access to the graveyard and its inhabitants and secrets. children 4th grade and up could appreciate this book as a quality alternative to goosebumps...no offense mr. stine. it would be awesome as a precurser to halloween, and an interesting silent reading core book sure to grab attention. (  ) creeh | Nov 15, 2009 | Raised in a graveyard after his family is killed, Bod (short for Nobody) Owens has ghosts for parents, a werewolf for a teacher, and a strange not-quite-dead, not-quite-alive man for a guardian. But all is not entirely well in the graveyard, because the man who killed Bod's family has never given up searching for Bod in order to complete the job, and in any case, a living boy can't stay in a graveyard forever. Written in Gaimain's usual charming and imaginative style, it's a delight from beginning to end. ( ) codyne | Nov 13, 2009 | 
An assassin creeps upstairs to murder the only survivor of a slaughtered family. But the baby boy is gone. Innocently he has climbed from his crib, bottom-bumped downstairs, and headed outside, before toddling into a nearby graveyard. There ghostly Mrs. Owens, who has always longed for a child, realizes his danger and determines to adopt him. A lively debate erupts among the graveyard ghosts. Mrs. Owens finally gets her way after Silas, a mysterious visitor in the graveyard, volunteers to be his guardian and to bring him food. The baby, formally named Nobody Owens, is voted the freedom of the graveyard and there he thrives, loved and cared for. The freedom of the graveyard bestows ghostly talents, and Bod is taught useful skills like Fading and Haunting. But beyond his safe home there is danger. Bod stumbles into frightening adventures in this world and another, and Silas faces death fighting an ancient Fraternal Order determined to kill the boy. Gaiman writes with charm and humor, and again he has a real winner. Readers quickly begin to care about Bod and the graveyard residents. Bod's encounter with the ghouls is brilliantly inventive. Miss Lupsecu, his substitute guardian while Silas is away, is dry-as-dust strict, a bad cook, and a friend to the death. The conclusion is satisfying, but it leaves room for a sequel. Everyone who reads this book will hope fervently that the very busy author gets around to writing one soon. Reviewer: Rayna Patton  While “The Graveyard Book” will entertain people of all ages, it’s especially a tale for children. Gaiman’s remarkable cemetery is a place that children more than anyone would want to visit. They would certainly want to look for Silas in his chapel, maybe climb down (if they were as brave as Bod) to the oldest burial chamber, or (if they were as reckless) search for the ghoul gate. Children will appreciate Bod’s occasional mistakes and bad manners, and relish his good acts and eventual great ones. The story’s language and humor are sophisticated, but Gaiman respects his readers and trusts them to understand. Gaiman's narratives tend toward the episodic, and there are chapters of The Graveyard Book that could stand alone as discrete short stories. All the better for reading at bedtime, though, and what's lost in forward momentum is more than made up for by the outrageous riches of Gaiman's imagination Like a bite of dark Halloween chocolate, this novel proves rich, bittersweet and very satisfying. A lavish middle-grade novel, Gaiman's first since Coraline, this gothic fantasy almost lives up to its extravagant advance billing. The opening is enthralling: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." Evading the murderer who kills the rest of his family, a child roughly 18 months old climbs out of his crib, bumps his bottom down a steep stairway, walks out the open door and crosses the street into the cemetery opposite, where ghosts take him in. What mystery/horror/suspense reader could stop here, especially with Gaiman's talent for storytelling? The author riffs on the Jungle Book, folklore, nursery rhymes and history; he tosses in werewolves and hints at vampires-and he makes these figures seem like metaphors for transitions in childhood and youth. As the boy, called Nobody or Bod, grows up, the killer still stalking him, there are slack moments and some repetition-not enough to spoil a reader's pleasure, but noticeable all the same. When the chilling moments do come, they are as genuinely frightening as only Gaiman can make them, and redeem any shortcomings. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Book description |
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Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade.
Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other.
This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:54 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English (2)
The man Jack failed in his mission to kill the boy, lost him in a graveyard, which is where this boy stays. Called Bod, short for Nobody, this boy lives between worlds, a graveyard where strange beasts live in deep hills, ghoul-gates guard other worlds, and young girls come to play. But Bod is alive and belongs in the world of a living, a place he can not go because some still want him dead.
My Thoughts
I caved. I completely, utterly, and uncontrollably caved. I had promised myself - no buying books. I have more books in my TBR pile than most have in their homes, so I was determined to get through a large chunk of them before buying a book. But everywhere I turned, there were wonderful reviews of this book. And I thought, well it does count for like three of my challenges, and I do so love Gaiman, and then I caved. Just this one book, I promised myself. Then at the bookstore, three other books managed to jump into my hands...but more on that later. Back to this book.
While many gushed compliments like the Las Vegas Bellagio Fountains, my compliments are a bit more tempered. I enjoyed the book, absolutely enjoyed it, but when it comes to Gaiman, I'm a bigger fan of American Gods, Good Omens, and the like. As a rule, I enjoy 'adult' books more than 'kids' books.
The Graveyard Book, a kid's book, tells a wonderful story in a unique setting with memorable characters. I felt a part of the graveyard community, found myself wanting Freedom of the Graveyard, and more than anything I wanted to know more....more, more, more. The mini-plots and adventures ended too soon and begged for more detail, the characters cried out for further exposition; I wanted backstory, mini-plots rich in detail and action, intricate weavings of history and present. In other words, I wanted something that isn't a kids book. I do think it is a mark of a master creator for a book to capture me so intensely that I don't want it to end, that I am unsatisfied with what I've been given.
Memorable Scene: *PLOT SPOILER* I can't get the end scene out of my head. The image of Bod leaving the graveyard in burned in my mind. It is a moment bittersweet and yet filled with such potential.
Memorable Quote: You're always you, and that don't change; and you're always changing, and there's nothing you can do about it. ~ I love the seeming contradiction in this quote; it's obviously perfectly correct and perfectly contradictory at the same time. (