Just now tonight I've finished another novel by Neil Gaiman. Now I know he is facing a lot of controversy, but right now I want to focus on this book (Never had much of a thing for ongoing drama). And that book is "The Graveyard Book".
Nobody "Bod" Owens has grown up in a sprawling graveyard, ever since he was orphaned, while under the care of benevolent spirits and a guardian who is neither dead nor living.
Even though the graveyard provides enough adventure and danger for the precocious Bod, there is one thing that he yearns for: to experience life "out there", beyond the walls of his strange home.
And if Bod ever leaves, he will be faced with a much more terrifying, and very much human, monster; a man simply known as Jack, the one who had murdered his family.
The last time I had read a dark fantasy novel by Gaiman equally as dark and eerie was "Coraline". And now I've found another in "The Graveyard Book".
By even reading the title alone you really see the inspiration for it. In other words, Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", which was an enormous favorite of Gaiman's. I have to confess that I honestly never read Kipling's work, even I've heard of him at least a few times. My only knowledge of it being Disney's animated film from the 60s. I might seriously want to consider finding a copy and read it someday.
But now, back to "The Graveyard Book".
Like with "Coraline" it has some pretty amazing and surreal illustrations that really adds to that eeriness. But the book ain't only dark and eerie, it's also got some heart to it as well! I really got some satisfaction from reading it as I did "Coraline". And now that I've finished it, it's time to move to a another book, and another author!
by i-the-muso-1968