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| ★★★✰✰ |
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Synopsis: "When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?"
***
Review: I don’t think it really deserves the fantastic reception it has been getting. The idea is original and very clever. The structuring, 2 years to a chapter or so is also interesting and works quite well – this book if anything certainly is distinctive. Some of the language is also great, it’s a book you’ll find yourself wanting to memorize quotes from. It also has some lovely artwork at the beginning of each chapter, and the cover alone was what drew my attention initially.The first chapter begins with Nobody Owens as a toddler, and immediately draws the reader in. My only problem in the first chapter or two really was the repetition of ‘The man Jack.’ Little bit too much. Other than that, Gaiman’s quirky style is gratefully apparent although changed in what needs to be suitable for younger reading. Each chapter goes on to cover one or two events every second year of Bod’s graveyard life up to the age of 16. Each chapter is like a short story, each indepedant of the other.
Structurally this is great, I love how so short a book can cover 16 years and not seem like it’s leaving too much necessary information out in terms of plot, but I think a lot of the unnecessary detail would have been welcomed. Each chapter is a short glimpse into a new aspect of life at the graveyard that will leave you wanting more – though not necessarily in a good way. I found it rather hard to care what was happening to Bod by the end of the book as I felt I just didn’t know him. Sadly, the idea is rather riveting, it’s original, it’s quirky, it’s funny and it hints at a whole world we don’t see. We meet many characters briefly, but hardly none in depth. The only character I really liked by the end was Silas, Bod’s guardian. Perhaps the witch ghost too, though she was forgettable enough that I don’t even recall her name. Laura, I think?
As for the actual story, well, nothing really happens. The story begins well, and then we spend 14 years waiting for something of relevance to happen. All the time Bod is discovering life in the graveyard theres a whole world out there, a whole organization and plots and things that are barely hinted at until the final chapter or two. The actual causes of the initial attack on Bod’s family are quite interesting, but it’s explained away very quickly without any real build-up to what it might be. As such I found the middle of the book very difficult to read, as it just seemed to be going nowhere.
I think the story and characters are underdeveloped. Perhaps it is simply because it is a book also aimed at a younger audience that I find it to be quite basic and understated. Although if that’s the case, Gaiman would have benefited from filling the story out and presenting it to an adult audience, because it hints at an exceptional concept. It is based on ideas from The Jungle Book and contains many vague references, but given that I don’t like The Jungle Book either, it never looked good. The whole book read like a plot outline – it failed to combine a potentially-great adult story with a children’s structure, and maybe it’s simply that Gaiman can’t appeal to both at once. Other books have been written that appeal to all age groups – and I just think that being rewritten in depth for adults with proper explanations and histories for the characters, events, organizations etc would have made this an absolutely brilliant read.Nothing to get too excited about, but admittedly worth delving into for the experience, I don’t know if or when I’ll pick this book up again. I’d recommend it only for a child or if you are an avid fan of Gaiman.
Rating: 3/5
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