pranapana's Full Review: Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman's last book Coraline was good if trying a little too hard, and rather over-hyped (in my opinion).
However, The Graveyard must be one of the best books I've read in years - which would explain why I'm here on epinions writing another review after a 2 year absence.
Multi-faceted (there are so many themes in this book it's still leaving me spinning a little trying to sort them out), fast paced, completely engrossing - it would be hard not to enjoy The Graveyard.
The story (roughly) is about a boy who is orphaned whose adoptive parents have been married for over 200 years - no risk of divorce there I suppose, and whom, as the saying goes "takes a graveyard to raise". The story is about revenge, about redemption (of many of the characters), about love and about human psyche.
It follows the boy from his stumbling into the graveyard as a toddler, through his growing years living with one foot in the land of the dead and supernatural and the other foot barely in the land of the living. The Graveyard is his sanctuary, but also his prison (THAT particular human condition is more common than not), and the story takes us through his growing up and finally his leaving the graveyard to the world beyond.
The writing is whimsical, easily understood and utterly sleek. It's a great story well told, with the kind of writing that makes you envy the writer in how effortless it seems to be for him. You won't be able to stop reading. I finished the book in 4 hours flat and only wish there was more.
I really don't want to spoil the story by revealing any more of the plot, suffice to say the book is definitely worth your time.
In his first full-length novel for middle-graders since the international bestseller "Coraline," Neil Gaiman introduces Bod, a boy who is the only liv...More at HotBookSale
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