Reviews

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

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laserdiscreader's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Going in blind, this wasn't what I expected but it was a wonderful read all the same. Great kid/youth's story with ghosts and (unexplained) magic and growing up

amiewg's review against another edition

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4.0

I finished listening to this at like 3am, then proceeded to stare into the abyss. Needed the Neil Gaiman magic and charm.

If I read this as a parent, I might have been politely destroyed. So we thank God I read it now.

Always remember: "You're alive, Amie. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change."

phantomgecko's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Another intriguing world created by Neil Gaiman. Clever, good writing. Amusing.

It's a kid book but it kept my attention.

jakekilroy's review against another edition

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4.0

For all time, I will appreciate how much Gaiman believes youths can handle and understand. This thing is cozy, charming, goofy, and gleeful — and yet its overarching story is that a kid escaped the brutal homicide of his family, at the hands of an intensely fiendish weirdo as part of a mysterious hit job no less, to live out his childhood and adolescence in a graveyard, raised by ghosts and between-worlders.

In fact, Gaiman almost makes you feel guilty for not knowing about and/or paying attention to all the levels of existence that weave between realities. It's never presented as a whimsical hypothetical or a fun alternate version of what you know, but rather that you don't know about it because you've never looked for it or believed in it. He makes it seem like circumstances could lead you to a nefarious metropolis of ghouls just as easily as you could follow the wrong person at the mall or airport simply because you were looking down for too long.

Likewise, a theme radiates throughout his work that endings are not inherently happy things. Life is a complicated mixed bag of wins and losses, and just because it's a book for young readers doesn't mean everyone gets what they want, nor does everyone have to survive. There are consequences to, for, and in the world (and worlds beyond), as it operates with punishing indifference — even though it's a blast to traverse.

It reveals such a respect for his young readers, especially because he treats his young characters as inherently more ready for the world’s mysteries because they're so vibrant and open-minded. When anything's possible around you, anything is possible within you. What a lesson, taught with all the emotions that make a person wonderfully human, for better and for worse. So go forth. Become more. You only have one life — something your dead friends will surely never let you forget.