The Graveyard Book: Book Review

I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and The Graveyard Book consecutively. Even though The Graveyard Book has the Newberry Medal, the British Carnegie Medal and the Hugo award under its belt, I actually enjoyed The Ocean At The End Of The Lane more. It was more exciting and more of a page turner rather than Graveyard.

Needless to say, I still enjoyed The Graveyard Book; it has it's own morbid charm that would have you cheering for Bod, (short for Nobody), the boy who lived in the Graveyard. After his family is murdered by the man Jack. 

I was admittedly drawn to Gaiman's morbid/macabre premise of a little boy (A baby at that!) who lives in the graveyard and is raised by its ghostly residents. Complete with lessons from ancient teachers teaching some pretty outdated but still useful curriculum. 

In a sense the story reminds me of Harry Potter who becomes the only survivor after his family is murdered by Lord Voldermort and just like Tom Riddle, the man Jack doesn't leave a job unfinished. 

Gaiman has admitted that the book was inspired from another famous orphan-Mowgly from the Jungle Book. When I was reading through the book, I thought that each chapter was like an episode in a TV series where Bot has his adventures, like meeting the different residents in the graveyard, after all it's not only ghosts who stay in graveyards. 

Bot even goes to regular school for a time and let's face it- in school there are worse things than ghosts. 

The eight chapters are like short stories on their own and are set two years apart, so we see Bod grow up before our eyes as we read through the pages, which Gaiman has said follows the same format as Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. 

Aside from Mr. & Mrs Owens who becomes Bod's ghost foster parents, Bod is also looked after by the Graveyard caretaker Silas, who is suggested to be a vampire but not really confirmed which was a source of frustration for me since at one part, you're thinking: "He doesn't...so does that mean..?" So you're racking your brain for clues and hints but don't get any confirmation in the end. 

Years after Bod escapes as a baby, the man Jack and the other Jacks of the secret group The Jacks of all Trades have finally cornered him and it's up to Bod to use all of his knowledge of the Graveyard to truly escape their clutches. 

I loved the illustration that was in the book, the pages were creatively drawn and designed and made for more pleasant reading. It's good to know that there's actually a movie adaptation in the works for the movie. Early rumors had it to be a stop motion animation but let's see what happens since a director was just confirmed (after some hiccups) this year. 

Reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Graveyard Book is a great book which young teenages and adults will surely enjoy. Gaiman's genius and story telling cannot be denied, reading through the book will have your imagination working over time and isn't that what reading is all about?