This week, I’m going to be discussing Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, a story about a boy who is brought up by ghosts.
The Graveyard Book
Don’t be put off by the ‘Young Adult’ tag – it simply means that there is a little more humour and a little less darkness than some of Gaiman’s adult novels, which renders this book accessible to everyone and a rather joyous adult fairy tale.
Origins
When I first started listening, I was worried that there was a bit too much of the Harry Potter origin story – a baby escapes a murderer who is intent on killing his entire family, a baby who then grows up to have supernatural friends and powers! However, the tale quickly diverges into something quite different and very much its own quirky animal. Although, if you love Harry Potter, as I do, you’ll certainly enjoy this novel.
In place of the Dursleys and Hogwarts School, which come to define Harry Potter by affecting his early development, The Graveyard’s Book’s antagonist, Bod, is left in a graveyard to be brought up by ghosts and ghouls. This means that Bod is effectively forced to learn about life from the dead. Just as Harry is haunted by the spectre of Voldemort, Bod also comes to the realisation that the murderer of his parents has not finished with him either.
There is an interesting structure to the book – in each successive chapter Bod is another two years older, so that we quickly follow him from infancy to young adolescence and through a series of exciting adventures. Bod learns useful ghost powers, such as the Fade, which allows him to hide in plain sight, and he grows up to be a thoughtful and sensitive soul, who I found myself really caring about. This is particularly so when Bod is challenged by the Jacks, a group of villains who are every bit as fascinating as Gaiman’s curious little protagonist, and who possess an intriguing, dark mythology all of their own.
Narration
I often enjoy it when authors read their own books on Audible because their love for their characters and the mythology they created can really shine. There is a caveat to that, in that the authors have to be capable performers. I love hearing JK Rowling read small parts of the Harry Potter books, for instance, but there’s a reason that she chose Stephen Fry to read the lengthy tomes for Audible. Luckily, Gaiman, who possesses a sonorous tone, with a touch of Alan Rickman, is more than up to the task of narrating his own work, even managing a pretty decent Glaswegian accent for one character.
Conclusion
The Graveyard Book is a beautiful fantasy, encouraging us not to be constrained by our origins, however terrible they might be, but to go out and live life to the full.