The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book is a delightful trip back to childhood, reminiscent of youthful naivete and innocence. Neil Gaiman paints a macabre theme with a nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book. I have to say, Gaiman is one of the few writers that honestly captures children’s thoughts and emotions in his books.

In The Graveyard Book, we follow young Nobody Owens from infancy through adolescence. One night The Man Jack almost murders an entire family. The fourth victim-to-be toddles out into the night and finds himself in the local cemetery.

“It takes a graveyard to raise a child” might be an apt tagline for this book. The residents of the graveyard range from Caius Pompeius to the monstrous Sleer to wannabe witch Liza Hempstock. They give him the protection of the graveyard and he is named Nobody Owens (For the dead remember loved ones that the infant resembles, but Mrs. Owens in anger claims that he looks like “Nobody”). Nobody, or Bod, is a well-meaning boy who often finds himself in a bit of trouble. Using his wits combined with his talents of Fading, Haunting, and Dreamwalking, he is often able to get back to safety in one piece, or at least while he escapes the notice of The Man Jack and his “society”.

The Graveyard Book is an excellent metaphor for growing up, testing boundaries, and exploring beyond said boundaries.  Notable lines that I thought captured some of The Graveyard Book’s essence include:

“…and then he half -climbed, half-toppled over the railing and out of the crib. He landed with a muffled thump on a mound of furry, fuzzy toys…he was surprised when he hit the floor, but he did not cry out: if you cried, they came and put you back in your crib.”

“Do you know what that was?” “No.” “It was a pig, silly.” “Oh.” Bod thought. “You mean, like P is for Pig?”

“Fortinbras Bartelby, ten years old when he had died (of consumption, he had told Bod, who had mistakenly believed for several years that Fortinbras had been eaten by lions or bears, and was extremely disappointed to learn it was merely a disease)…”

I have to admit: I did cheat a little bit-I listened to half and read the other half. It is an experience to hear Neil Gaiman read his own work–complete with voices, accents, inflections, etc. I highly suggest at least listening to one chapter, which will give you a much clearer idea of how Gaiman intended for the book to come across to his readers.