The Graveyard Book | Neil Gaiman (2008)
I knew it was going to be good. But I didn't know it was going to be this good.
My Review
When I finish a book by Neil Gaiman, any one of his that I've ever read, I always have the vague sense that with just a bit more craftsmanship, the book could shine like the most precious jewel. That said, no other writer keeps me this consistently enthralled in his fictive worlds. This was my favorite of all I've encountered thus far in Gaiman's writing.
In The Graveyard Book, we follow the early growth and development of Bod, a boy orphaned under mysterious circumstances and raised in even odder ones. In that alone, Gaiman's debt to Kipling is clear; the correlations compound as the plot progresses. His adoptive family are ghosts, residing in a graveyard near Bod's previous home. Bod grows up under the watchful eye of all graveyard residents, as well as Silas, his guardian, and along the way learns various tricks and trades of those who are no longer of this world. It is an interesting childhood, indeed, as Bod navigates the borderland between the realms of the living and dead.
Bod is smart and has a good heart and gets into his fair share of trouble, but is ever mindful of the impact his actions have on those around him, living and dead. He has the benefit of excellent tutors, and has an interesting perspective on history, what with living in a graveyard that is several thousand years old. (I felt like more could have been done with this element of the story, but Gaiman chose not to pursue it further. Oh well.) But while his ghostly tutors can educate him on matters of permanence, such as past history and the intransient state of things, they cannot give him advice when it comes to make decisions on things in a state of flux. This point is subtle, but artfully crafted and quite consistent. Whenever Bod needs to make a decision that may have lasting consequences -- and all of his choices do have consequences, some more immediate than others -- he must make the decision on his own.
Ultimately he must make a choice on the value of life. And once he makes his decision, he finds he walks alone more than ever before....
This is simultaneously a grim and uplifting tale. While I'm not sure I would recommend it for readers younger than twelve, given some of the more gory, graphic, and suspenseful elements of the plot, it is definitely meant to be a children's story. There are a number of weaknesses to the overall plot that, while easily discernible to adult readers, would probably be of less significance to a younger audience more prepared to suspend disbelief and less concerned with minor irrelevancies.
Excerpts
"'It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.'" (p. 104)
"'You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.'" (p. 179)
"'You're always you, and that don't change, and you're always changing, and there's nothing you can do about it.'" (p. 298)
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Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2008.