The Graveyard Book

Original Title: The Graveyard Book
Turkish Title: Mezarlık Kitabı
English Title: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 284
My Rating: 4/5
While I was reading this book…: … the twins of one of my dearest friends turned 4 :)

WHY THIS BOOK?
Being a constant follower of Neil Gaiman’s web site and having read two of his masterpieces already (Neverwhere and Coraline), I knew that I’d like this book. I didn’t hesitate for a moment when my hand reached the shelf in Dost Bookstore in Ankara.

THE STORY:
It is the story of Nobody Owens who escapes to a graveyard when he is a toddler after his family is murdered by an assassin named Jack. Bod is given the graveyard freedom by the inhabitants of the graveyard. His graveyard family teaches Bod how to see at night, to haunt, to fade, to dreamwalk, etc. They protect him from the outside world and from Jack.

The Graveyard Book is the tale of how Bod survives. When he learns about his past, he vows to seek revenge on Jack.

MY COMMENTS:
A couple of days ago, I shared the opening paragraphs of this book just to show that it’d attract me even if it wasn’t written by Neil Gaiman. It did attract me as I expected.

The Graveyard Book consists of a collection of interconnected stories and these stories are presented in a chronological order. When I was reading Neverwhere and Coraline, I liked both the characters and the plot in the same way. This time, however, I liked the characters more than the plot. Bod was such a loveable character for me and as I approached the end, it was truly sad for me to say goodbye to him.

The book is written for young adults. Still, Neil Gaiman states in his Newberry acceptance speech that he didn’t write a book about childhood, he wrote a book about parenting. That’s why he converted the good, old saying of “It takes a village to raise a child” to “It takes a graveyard to raise a child”. Gaiman simply made possible the impossible idea of a boy brought up by the inhabitants of a graveyard. When I was reading it, I truly felt the difficulty Bod’s foster ghost parents experienced.

My only disappointment about the book was the facts about Jack. I was expecting a deeper story and I kept waiting for him to reappear throughout the book. When he appeared towards the end, it was not satisfactory enough for me. That’s the only reason behind my 4 stars.

Finally, I love the way Gaiman writes and I completely agree with what Paulita earlier told me and here I quote “It’s good to find an author you love who is still writing”.

APPLICABLE CHALLENGES:
This was a book I chose for “a book that could make me as happy as once “Neverwhere” made” so I count it for Summer Reading Challenge 2012.
This was the book I chose for “Hugo winner” category of 2012 Sceience Fiction reader Challenge 2012.