A couple weeks ago, I read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I’ve been wanting to read more of Gaiman’s books for a while since he’s such a well-known author, but I’d only ever read Stardust before this.
The Graveyard Book was a fun read! I enjoyed reading it with my book club, and it would have been a great book to read closer to Halloween.
Without further ado, let’s get into my spoiler-free review of The Graveyard Book.
Book: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Paranormal
The Graveyard Book follows a boy named Nobody “Bod” Owens. Bod was orphaned when he was a baby. A man called Jack killed his family and tried to kill Bod too, but the boy crawled his way into a graveyard. The ghosts there protected him and decided to raise him as one of their own. As Bod grows up in the graveyard, he has all sorts of dangerous adventures with ghouls, witches, and the mysterious Sleer, but the real danger is outside of the graveyard.
“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.”
Rating: 4 Stars
The Graveyard Book: A Charming and Whimsical Story About Growing Up – My Review
Gaiman’s writing style is lots of fun and fits the tone of the book well. I listened to the audiobook read by the author, and it was great. I love it when authors are fantastic narrators of their own books. The audiobook is available with Spotify Premium, and I’d highly recommend it.
Bod’s story has an episodic structure where each chapter is a mini story, and each of these chapters builds on each other until you reach the end. I really enjoyed this structure. It worked well because Bod aged a couple of years in between each chapter, so it felt natural that he would learn a bit more about life with each mini story. It also provided nice stopping points, and I would imagine this structure would work really well if you were reading the book to a kid.
The characters were all very charming. Bod was a fun protagonist to follow as he grew up, and it was interesting to see how he thought of the world differently because of how he was raised. I also particularly liked Liza Hempstock and Silas.
The plot was entertaining, if a little predictable in certain moments. The setting of the graveyard felt very tangible with the perfect amount of spookiness and darkness for a middle-grade book. The graveyard reminded me of Highgate Cemetery in London, which I believe Gaiman drew inspiration from.
My only real complaint is that I would have liked to learn more about a few things, including Silas, the Honour Guard, and the Jacks of All Trades. But I understand Gaiman was going for softer worldbuilding than what I usually prefer. I also wouldn’t have minded if it were a bit longer or if there was a sequel that showed us Bod’s life after this book.
Thanks for reading my review of The Graveyard Book. You can read more reviews here. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this book and what you thought of it.
