Gaiman, Neil - The Graveyard Book

[oyceter]

Nobody Owens' family was killed was he was an infant, and to protect him from the killer, the denizens of the local graveyard adopt him, give him the Freedom of the Graveyard, and raise him. Bod learns important things like Fading and inflicting Night Terrors, he is protected by the mysterious Silas, and he grows into a rather odd, pale boy.

Gaiman says he modeled this after The Jungle Book; having never read it, I don't have much comment. The book itself is relatively episodic, detailing Bod's encounters with assorted graveyard denizens and with those outside of the graveyard. It concludes with Bod finally encountering the killer and venturing outside the graveyard (I don't think this is a spoiler, given that the book is a bildungsroman), and that is when we discover that all the episodic pieces are not so episodic after all.

I haven't read Gaiman for a while, largely for fear that a favorite author would become a former favorite author thanks to my own politics becoming more defined over the years. Graveyard Book wouldn't win the Tiptree or the Carl Brandon awards, but it also isn't offensive, which is really all I ask for sometimes. My standards have been so beaten down by all types of fail that currently, I just don't want to be slapped in the face.

I do wish the women in the book were more active; I liked all of them, especially Liza and Mrs. Lupesco, but I did feel as though they were more side characters when compared to Bod, Silas, and the man Jack. And, as usual, I wish there were more POC. I want a kind of book like this for kids of color, full of spookiness, drawing upon older genres and ghost stories.

I'm really impressed with how Gaiman manages to integrate the timeless graveyard with the modern world; ther's a mention of cell phones and computers, but it never feels jarring (as opposed to McKillip's Solstice Wood, frex).

All in all, this is a wonderfully spooky, mythic-feeling story, and I left feeling as though I had read an old classic rather than a book published last year. It feels ineffably large and has stayed with me for days.

Comments

[sanguinity]

"Modeled after The Jungle Book" is the first thing I've heard about this book that made me say, Yes, I'm going to make time to read that. (I adored said book as a kid, but am no longer am good with adoring it.)

:: I want a kind of book like this for kids of color, full of spookiness, drawing upon older genres and ghost stories. ::

Have you read Bruchac's Skeleton Man? I haven't, but wonder if it might fit your craving.

[oyceter]

No! I've read Bruchac's historical WWII YA book, but none of his fantasy (does he write much?). I will look that one up.

[sanguinity]

I don't have a good sense of the full scope of what he's written -- the main body of his work seems to historical fic/non-fic and traditional stories -- but I know of at least four fantasy and/or horror titles: Wabi (YA quest fantasy), When the Chenoo Howls (a collection of horror stories from eight tribes), and Skeleton Man and its sequel.

Wabi is the only one of those I've read. I enjoyed it, and I'm usually meh about YA quest fantasy.

[oyceter]

Oooo excellent!

I am hoping the horror story collection isn't too scary, given that it's probably YA? That may be just right for the creepy but not actually scary feeling I want.

[lnhammer]

Janni puts it as "It feels like that book must already exist."

(I haven't gotten to it yet, and have a lump of TBR ahead of it which makes my life sound like a python, but never mind.)

---L.

[oyceter]

Yes, that's exactly it!

[chomiji]

I'm so glad you liked this!

Re: your comment about Gaiman's managing to "integrate the timeless graveyard with the modern world": that is such a perfect symbol of the type of person he is - he's a scholar of all sorts of mythologies and loves his fountain pens, yet he's also a maniac for the WWW and loves his iPod and other gadgets.

[oyceter]

I'm glad I did too! I haven't fallen in love with some of his later stuff (American Gods especially, and although I liked Anansi Boys, it wasn't quite the same), so it was good to find that he still works for me.