I love Neil Gaiman. I love his accent. I love his humor. I love his leather jacket (that is his trademark), I love the slighly askew way he looks at you when he talks. And most of all, I love his writing.
My favorite quote about the book was from Joe Hill, Stephen King's son (author of Heart–Shaped Box), who said "The Graveyard Book is everything everyone loves about Neil Gaiman, only multiplied many times over, a novel that showcases his effortless feel for narrative, his flawless instincts for suspense, and above all, his dark, almost silky sense of humor."
Nobody Owens (or Bod to his friends) lives in a graveyard. He has lived there since escaping an attack from a man named Jack, who killed the rest of Bod's family. He was raised and educated by ghosts (because it takes a graveyard to raise a child), and cared for by a guardian who belonged to neither the world of the living or the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard that Neil handles with his usual inimitable aplomb. Neil himself says this book was inspired by the original Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling. Just replace the animals with ghosts and the supernatural.
All the praise heaped upon this book, and its author in particular, are well deserved. I have never seen anyone able to combine horror, action, humor and a great deal of just old fashioned humanity in the same way that he does. I listened to the author himself read his book at the Neil Gaiman website for Young Readers here. And I must say that the end of the book was so sweet that it made me cry. Doesn't sound like your typical reaction to this kind of book, but in Neil's hands we are all putty.
As we approach Halloween, a holiday that is rivaling Christmas in popularity, the interest in all things ghostly and supernatural is at a peak and this book is a delightful treat for readers of all ages
My favorite quote about the book was from Joe Hill, Stephen King's son (author of Heart–Shaped Box), who said "The Graveyard Book is everything everyone loves about Neil Gaiman, only multiplied many times over, a novel that showcases his effortless feel for narrative, his flawless instincts for suspense, and above all, his dark, almost silky sense of humor."
Nobody Owens (or Bod to his friends) lives in a graveyard. He has lived there since escaping an attack from a man named Jack, who killed the rest of Bod's family. He was raised and educated by ghosts (because it takes a graveyard to raise a child), and cared for by a guardian who belonged to neither the world of the living or the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard that Neil handles with his usual inimitable aplomb. Neil himself says this book was inspired by the original Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling. Just replace the animals with ghosts and the supernatural.
All the praise heaped upon this book, and its author in particular, are well deserved. I have never seen anyone able to combine horror, action, humor and a great deal of just old fashioned humanity in the same way that he does. I listened to the author himself read his book at the Neil Gaiman website for Young Readers here. And I must say that the end of the book was so sweet that it made me cry. Doesn't sound like your typical reaction to this kind of book, but in Neil's hands we are all putty.
As we approach Halloween, a holiday that is rivaling Christmas in popularity, the interest in all things ghostly and supernatural is at a peak and this book is a delightful treat for readers of all ages
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1 comment:
Good job. I just caught up on my reading of your blog. This is my catch up weekend.
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