The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman

Release Date: 31st Oct 2008
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978 0 7475 9683 7
RRP: £14.99

Average Customer Rating:

(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

At once dark and light, The Graveyard Book is a story that starts with a dark night, a knife and a man called Jack.

Nobody Owens is human - a live human. Whilst that might seem like an unnecessary statement, it has to be taken in the context of his upbringing; that being in a graveyard near the house where his family were murdered. His family having been brutally dispatched before their time by the man Jack, Nobody had wandered into the graveyard and immediately been the source of much debate by the many ghosts that inhabit it. In the end, he is adopted by the Owens and given free reign over the graveyard and along with it ghost-like abilities.

Nobody learns all the occupants of the graveyard have to offer, but as he gets older, he realises that he needs to be around live people. His mysterious guardian, Silas, is uncomfortable with the idea of Nobody going outside the protection of the graveyard and the horrible events that brought Nobody to the graveyard raise their ugly head again as Silas is convinced that the man Jack is still looking for Nobody. But Nobody is determined to step out of the shadows.

The Graveyard Book is a tale of kindly ghosts, foul ghouls, the mysterious Honour Guard and an evil secret organisation that will stop at nothing to finish what they started and kill Nobody.

Frustratingly, I find it hard to comprehend the purpose of the plot, this despite the fact that it never seemed to be a concern whilst I was reading the book itself, but in retrospect, it would sit easier on my conscience if I understood why the organisation existed, what the Honour Guard were responsible for and why I found it so incredibly annoying that the self-fulfilling prophesy should be expounded when an alternative would have been so much more satisfying. Most frustrating of all is the fact that I adored the different facets of this book, the mystical, inventiveness and occasionally moving tale of a boy who comes into his own, learns to accept his unconventional past and move out into the light. You will either love or dismiss this book - but there is no doubting its originality and the quirkiness that has become synonymous with Gaiman.

Your Reviews:

Click here to login or register and leave your very own review of The Graveyard Book

Be the first to leave your own review of The Graveyard Book!