The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Dave McKean (Illustrator)

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing his entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?

• ISBN13: 9780747598626
• Publish Date: 5 October 2009 (first published 1 January 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Edition: Adult ed
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: http://bloomsbury.com/Trade/

Reviews

[Bianca]

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
27. ‪A ghost story ‬

You’re alive. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you’re dead, it’s gone. Over. You’ve made what you’ve made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.

— A lovely book about ghosts and growing up. That last chapter was beautiful

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I have been just dying to listen to The Graveyard Book again this year – I’ve been thinking about Bod and his friends for a couple months. So, I figured, why not October?

I just still love love love this book. I think it’s got to be my favorite Gaiman novel. Bod is so likable and watching him grow up is heartwarming. I love how all the little “anecdotes” ultimately work together at the end to tie up the story. And I love the side characters – Liza Hempstock is a favorite, and I like the Sleer. I very much want Liza’s full story.

The end is so heartbreaking though. I don’t know if I’ve quite digested it before, but Bod’s goodbyes just make me sad… how horrible to be able to go home, but it’s only a place and not home. For a simple little book this is so appealing to all ages, and I cannot recommend it enough – really, it’s quite high on my list of favorites.
_______________

Original Rating: 5 Stars (8/7/17)

I quite liked this book.

I go back and forth a lot on Neil Gaiman. I like his ideas, but not always his writing, and sometimes his characters are grand, but sometimes not. I adore [b:Stardust|16793|Stardust|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459127484l/16793._SY75_.jpg|3166179], for example, but could never really get into [b:American Gods|30165203|American Gods (American Gods, #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462924585l/30165203._SY75_.jpg|1970226]. [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane|15783514|The Ocean at the End of the Lane|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1497098563l/15783514._SY75_.jpg|21500681] lies somewhere in the middle. But I LOVED The Graveyard Book.

Bod is a perfectly likable character. He is sweet and endearing, while also being very prone to trouble and doing the very opposite of what he has been told. I liked Sylas. I liked Liza Hempstock. I love the fact that there are three different books with the Hempstock women in them, and I like how that ultimately plays into the story from [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane|15783514|The Ocean at the End of the Lane|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1497098563l/15783514._SY75_.jpg|21500681]. I like that Bod is always genuinely apologetic.

I like the world that Gaiman builds. It is just one step over the line from ordinary to curious. He's very good at the aspect of "just beyond". Just beyond the gate, just beyond the wall, just down the lane... there is a world of magic.

All in all, this is an excellent book. The ending is sweet and sad, and I won't give it away - you'll just have to read for yourself.

[lizarodz]

Quite the Novel Idea http://quitethenovelidea.com http://quitethenovelidea.com/liza-review-graveyard-book/The Graveyard Book is my second book by Neil Gaiman (I read The Sleeper and the Spindle, which was awesome).  This book was truly amazing, but I won't go into too much detail since Leah already reviewed it and she did an incredible job (See Leah's review).

Bod's parents are murdered, but the curious baby escaped through a window when he heard a sound and walked up the hill to the graveyard.  There some of the dead (ghosts and spirits) find him and protect him from the killer.  In order to keep him safe, Mr. and Mrs. Owens adopt him and it is decided that he gets the freedom of the graveyard, which allows him to see, hear, and be anywhere there.  The baby is named Nobody Owens - Bod for short - and his Silas, the resident vampire becomes his guardian.

“It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take a graveyard.” 
The story is written in the third person and it reads like short stories.  In them we meet different characters, and get to follow Bod's adventures and growth from a toddler until he is about 15.   The stories don't feel disjointed at all since they have Bod in common.  Bod is curious, smart, with an avid hunger for learning and reading.  He's eager to experience life, but it's bound to the protection that the Graveyard offers since the killer is still out there and looking for him.

I won't lie, the story is a times creepy, and others sad and the ending made me cry.  I loved it though.  The writing is engrossing, and at times chilling and moving.  I won't lie, it made me cry at the end.... I just wish that we could have seen what happens to Bod after he leaves the Graveyard, what becomes of him,

There's an amazing cast of characters in the story, from Bod's adoptive parents, to characters from different centuries, a witch, ghouls, shape shifters, Silas (a vampire), poets, governors and all sort of other people that help raise and teach the little boy. There's also living characters, like Scarlet and of course, there's bad people.

“You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."

Overall, The Graveyard Book is a memorable story of loss, love, the power in knowing, friendship and possibility. I loved it. This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!*~

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.

Well, if that’s not a hair-raising beginning I don’t know what is! The first chapter was very creepy and just odd enough to make me suspect that something more than just a mass murder was afoot. Thankfully for the target age range, this chapter is by far the most creepy and the rest of the book is mostly adventures and Bod (the MC) growing up.

How you interpret or read this book is going to be greatly effected by how familiar you are with its inspiration, which was Rudyard Kipling’s [b:The Jungle Book|77270|The Jungle Book|Rudyard Kipling|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327873594s/77270.jpg|17441265]. The resemblance is clear but the characters and setting are SO different and I love the way Gaiman wove in supernatural legends to the basic story of a child raised by ghosts. While all the events of Bod’s growing up years are connected, many of the chapters read like individual short stories, especially when there are jumps in time as Bod grows older.

Silas, Bod’s guardian, is a character that puzzled me right up until the very end. “Not dead but not alive” is the description given of him, along with a few other things that REALLY should have clued me in but for whatever reason I was oblivious. Even though he is Bod’s ultimate authority, Bod is mostly raised by the benevolent ghosts of Mr. and Mrs. Owens, along with many other helpful specters. As it is stated in the beginning, when the ghosts decide to allow Bod the protection of their borders, “It will take a graveyard,” to raise the lost boy properly.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bod’s journey. As he moves through very young childhood towards his teen years, he meets many creatures from outside the world of the living. He talks to people centuries old. He learns things. Gradually, he comes to realize that while the graveyard has offered him protection and care in the best way its residents know how, he will have to leave in order to learn about the current world outside. Leaving though, is full of peril, because the evil that killed his parents and older sister, still seeks after him. Bod however, is not a shrinking violet.

“Well,” said Bod. “If I go outside in the world, the question isn’t, ‘who will keep me safe from him?'”

“No?”

“No. It’s ‘who will keep him safe from me?'”

A confrontation looms closer and closer, and at last Bod has his chance to avenge his family and reclaim his own life. This is the one part of the story that I really felt unsatisfactory. Though in the end, the reason for the murder of Bod’s family and the attempted murder of Bod is somewhat explained, it’s really a very murky, insubstantial reason that left me squinting at the book and thinking, “That’s it?” The ending is rather bittersweet too, as Bod realizes that, with the world safe for him at last…he must go out to seek his own fortune.

Overall, this was an entertaining coming-of-age story, with a unique twist. Bod is a very plucky little guy, and his spirit made me smile all the way through.

Bod said, “I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want,” he said, and then he paused and he thought. “I want everything.”

“Good,” said Silas.

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[Amber]

Originally posted on Books of Amber

Rating: 3.5

The Graveyard Book was my first Neil Gaiman experience, and I must say that I’m very pleased! I definitely want to read more of Gaiman’s works, particularly Coraline and Stardust since I enjoy the movie adaptations of both, and I want to see what the source material is like. The Graveyard Book captured me from the very first page, and didn’t let me go until the final chapter.

The Graveyard Book is a lot darker than I was expecting. I’m not sure why I was expecting anything else, since it’s about a boy who grows up in a graveyard, but I thought it was going to be on the lighter side so as to appeal to children. Not that children don’t like darker books, but you know what I mean. Instead, the book starts out with a massacre in Bod’s home, and only he is able to escape by wandering into the local graveyard and being protected by the ghosts. If that isn’t dark enough for you, then I don’t know how to please you.

Gaiman’s writing reminded me a lot of Maggie Stiefvater’s, particularly her Raven Cycle books, wherein everything feels very whimsical and there is that odd humour that would feel out of place if anyone else were to try it. Gaiman’s writing is enticing and gripping, and also really funny.

I loved reading about Bod and his ghostly family, particularly his relationship with Silas. His supernatural family teach Bod to do ghostly things such as Fade and Haunt, and watching Bod grow to master these abilities was brilliant, especially since Bod had a tonne of other stuff going on as well. Silas and Bod’s relationship was the best thing about the book, and I thought they were all kinds of adorable.

There is a weird type of romance, although if you ignore the romantic undertones (which is easily done if you’re good at that sort of thing… like me) then it’s a really sweet friendship that I would have loved to have read more about.

I would recommend The Graveyard Book if you’re into darker stories filled with humour and excellent relationships between family. And if you like creepy villains similar to Naughty John from The Diviners, great endings, and slightly obscure stories, then this book is for you.

[pamela]

Having recently finished the first volume of the Graphic Novel I thought I'd give the original a go. I was certainly not disappointed. The plot was sweet, the characters excellent, and Gaiman really captured the essence of what it feels like to grow up.

My only real criticism of the book is that the end felt a bit rushed, and there wasn't enough information given on some of the more mysterious elements of the plot, however despite that it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Bod was a likeable character who I really felt an affinity with, and it was an absolute pleasure to read this book. It's the kind of novel that just makes you feel happy to have read it.

I literally could not put it down, it really is that good. I picked it up on afternoon and missed dinner I wanted to finish it so badly. Although its marketed as a children's book it really is a book for everyone. Neil Gaiman is a genius. Go and read it. Now. You'll be glad you did. I was.

[ladygrey]

Fantastic book, delightful and dark without being horrifying. I liked this book a lot more than I generally do books with such simple language, but it wasn't simple or plain so much as straight forward and completely perfect for this story.

The characters are all so well evoked, each with such a unique voice and the story is really engaging. Before I read it, I sort of scoffed at a boy named Nobody, but now I adore him. and Silas. and the lot of them.

[inlibrisveritas]

I finally picked up a Neil Gaiman book I got tired of seeing his name everywhere and having no idea why. This book isn't what I expect but it was pretty good none the less. I enjoyed reading about Bod's life in the Graveyard, and even though some of it was pretty confusing I still enjoyed it.

[Eve1972]

I was reading this to my daughter, but she lost interest in it fairly fast so I finished it up myself. It was good, nothing to write home about, but a good solid story....