Review: The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
Published: October 1st 2008
312 pages
I give it:

Description: Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other.

This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans.

My Thoughts: I have heard many many wonderful things about this book. Everywhere I turned people praised this book, and so I quickly pushed it to the top of my reading list. I sat down yesterday and read the first 100 pages of "The Graveyard Book" thinking to myself that my expectations for this book were set way too high. It was kind of interesting, yes, but I wasn't really into it. I was ashamed of myself, how was I going to post on my blog that I didn't really like a Neil Gaiman book?! I could see friendships breaking up, people un-following my blog, and I would be a disgrace in the YA blogosphere!

Then there was today, when I picked up the book again, and decided to read "a little bit more".... BAM! I'm hooked! I don't know why it took me so long to get lost in the story, perhaps I can blame the flu for clouding my judgment at first, (even though my flu has been reduced to the common cold)... I'm not really sure what my initial problem was, but I quickly fell in love with the book and it's many characters!

In short, the book is about a boy who loses his biological family to a brutal murder when he was only a baby. He wanders into a nearby graveyard before the killer can find him, and is protected by the permanent inhabitants of the graveyard, and is "adopted" and raised as one of their own... literally. They name him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. He is not allowed to leave the graveyard gates, as he can not be protected among the living. Although the boy yearns to leave the graveyard, and makes a few stupid, but understandable, mistakes along the way. He knows everything there is to know about the dead, and well, the undead, but he really doesn't know anything about living...

Once I got into the book, I REALLY got into it. I absolutely loved it! However, there were a few things that I found a little frustrating towards the end. I wish the villains could have been better explained... their connection to Bod was a little unclear. A little more explanation would have made this a 5 star book for me. A few other things too, that I cannot further explain, considering that it will probably give too much away!

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book! If you are like me, high expectations can sometimes ruin a good thing. So forget everything you heard about this book, and go in it with only your own thoughts. Perhaps I learned to love the book, only after first disliking it! I had low expectations on the second day I picked it up, and so I was able to discover how truly wonderful this book is! Does that even make sense?

I would like to see Tim Burton get his hands on this one too!