Book Review: The Graveyard Book [Audio]

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Narrated by Neil Gaiman

Category: Children’s Horror

Challenges: R.I.P. V Challenge

Synopsis: Nobody Owens aka Bod grows up in a graveyard where the inhabitants of the said graveyard keep him safe (for the most part) from the Man Jack who wants to kill him. Along the way Bod learns about the graveyard, how to do certain non-living things and above all how to be a good person. However, as he grows older the threat from the Man Jack looms ever nearer.

My Thoughts: I really really enjoyed this book. Although it was quite predictable it was also sweet and mysterious and…I don’t know had some sort of indefinable characteristic that had me gripped from the word go (or should that be from the word boo?)

Bod was a very likeable character who had just enough curiosity to keep the story flowing without making him seem overly precocious or annoying. He was very ordinary (if ordinary little boys lived in graveyards and could fade), he doesn’t always do what his parents and guardian tell him. He feels like the whole world is against him at time, and consequently falls in with a bad lot. I found the story to be simple but profound. Sometimes we have to do things that might seem horrible in order to save ourselves and others. And above all stay true to ourselves.

The writing style in the book is fantastic. I love how the different inhabitants of the graveyard are referred to by their name and epithet. It contributed to the overall feeling of different I got from this book

I loved the narration of the book. I have a particular fondness for authors who read their own books and Gaiman reads his work to perfection. He is soft spoken and this lends itself well both to comfort and to the slightly sinister tone that is present throughout the book. He also uses a particularly British inflection when reading the name and epithet of the different ghosts which lends a certain tone to the story.

I find this review very hard to write because I loved it but I can’t put my finger on what I loved about the book, I do however highly recommend it.

Purchase The Graveyard Book from BookDepository.co.uk

Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.