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arash's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
heathercottledillon's review against another edition
4.0
Nobody Owens--"Bod" to his friends--is, in many ways, a normal little boy. He's curious, loves to play outside, and sometimes gets in trouble with his parents. On the other hand, he's grown up in a graveyard. When he was a toddler, a mysterious man named Jack murdered his family. Bod was the real target, but he escaped and wandered into a nearby graveyard. A couple of elderly ghosts, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, fell in love with him and took him in as their own, giving him the magical protection of the graveyard. This means Bod is safe within the cemetery's walls, but all bets are off when he leaves. As he grows older, the outside world begins to beckon...
This is the first children's book of Neil Gaiman's that I've read, and it turns out that he's just as awesome writing for kids as adults (no surprise here). He has some special way of creating an atmosphere that's creepy and appealing all at once. Somehow, "The Graveyard Book" gave me both the chills and the warm fuzzies, almost at the same time. Here's a kid who is living in an environment that most children would consider horrifying, and yet for him, it's home. Ghosts are his friends instead of something scary. In fact, it's the outside world that's to be feared. He is loved and he knows it, but because he's alive and everyone around him is dead, he never quite feels like he fits in. Bod loves his family, but he's not sure if he's meant to stay in the graveyard and hide from Jack for his entire life. The world is frightening, but he knows he's got to face it. What we end up with is a story about a boy who's often insecure and lonely, a boy who loves his home but realizes that he's got to go out in the big scary world in order to meet his destiny. Who can't relate to that? Not to mention that it's just a plain old entertaining story!
This is the first children's book of Neil Gaiman's that I've read, and it turns out that he's just as awesome writing for kids as adults (no surprise here). He has some special way of creating an atmosphere that's creepy and appealing all at once. Somehow, "The Graveyard Book" gave me both the chills and the warm fuzzies, almost at the same time. Here's a kid who is living in an environment that most children would consider horrifying, and yet for him, it's home. Ghosts are his friends instead of something scary. In fact, it's the outside world that's to be feared. He is loved and he knows it, but because he's alive and everyone around him is dead, he never quite feels like he fits in. Bod loves his family, but he's not sure if he's meant to stay in the graveyard and hide from Jack for his entire life. The world is frightening, but he knows he's got to face it. What we end up with is a story about a boy who's often insecure and lonely, a boy who loves his home but realizes that he's got to go out in the big scary world in order to meet his destiny. Who can't relate to that? Not to mention that it's just a plain old entertaining story!
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
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."
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
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.
It's a kid book but it kept my attention.
jakekilroy's review against another edition
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.
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.
annakinsky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
I love this book to be a movie!
annabelle_vlr's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0