Book #181 – The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Well, now that I’ve read about a couple vampires, a monster or two, and a haunted hotel, how about some Neil Gaiman? After all, his story about evil witches chasing a fallen star made last year’s list. And really, so many horror stories end up in graveyards at some point: Night of the Living Dead, The Omen, Pet Semetary… It’s a Wonderful Life. (What do you mean that isn’t a horror story? Have you seen Pottersville? That’s terrifying.) In this case, the story begins and ends at the graveyard gates and gives voices to those that are no longer among the living.

The book was published in the United Kingdom in September of 2008, but what really made me think the book belonged on this year’s Halloween list was that it became available in the United States on October 31, 2008. I would have been in my freshman year of college at the time, and sadly, in a bit of a reading slump, which may explain how it escaped my noticed until now. However, it certainly didn’t escape the notice of the literary world, winning both the Newberry Medal and the Hugo Award that year. It’s also been docked for a movie since 2009, but has seen a massive shift in studios and directors since then, so no idea if that will ever come to fruition.

Apparently, part of the story appeared in Gaiman’s anthology, M is for Magic in 2007. The story also won awards, which may have left to it being expanded to create a completely new realm. The story for the most follows Nobody Owens (Bod for short), an orphan who was adopted by the inhabitants of an old graveyard somewhere in England. There is a lot of fantasy, decent adventure, and just a hair of mystery. I rather enjoyed some of the foreshadowing and set up for the final fight scenes, since for the most part, it just seemed like random little adventures, and not something that was bound to come in handy later. I rather hate heavy-handed foreshadowing in children’s books, and this was certainly a refreshing change.

With most of the cast being dead, though, there isn’t much in the way of character development. Not to say that the cast isn’t pleasant, however, and they are fairly diverse for a group of souls buried somewhere in England. As the graveyard is quite ancient, there’s part of every age of England’s history, going back to the invasion of Rome (and before if you count the Sleer). However, while the dead certainly outnumber the living in the book, I’d say the living were given the most personality and depth of character. (Except maybe Liza, but she was part of the original short story.)

As the story takes place almost entirely in the graveyard, one would hope that the place is well described. And for the most part is is, at least enough for me to think the graveyard has long been abandoned, as there’s no sort of groundskeeper and no mention of new arrivals. There isn’t much description to the characters, aside from Nobody’s hair color, or the fact that Silas tends to be draped in black velvet. Still, there’s enough description and characterization to keep the story moving, even if its not always enough to visualize the scenes completely.

Overall, I’d recommend the book. It was a quick read, it had a lot of good fantasy concepts, and I rather liked Nobody as a character. Maybe some moonlit night, pin a white flower to your shirt and dance the Macabray.

People want to forget the impossible. It makes their world safer. – Neil Gaiman

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