A boy raised by Ghosts, Vampire and a warewolf....

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Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

Okay, first things first… I like Gaiman’s books. I do not follow controversies, and I can’t bring myself to mix my reading pleasure with the author’s personal life. Yes, the man is accused of bad things, but that doesn’t diminish the brilliance of his words, or the complexities of his stories. So, NOPE. Won’t be mixing Gaiman’s personal life with my literary enjoyment.

So, in our this year’s mission of “Try something new”… off we go with a YA. Young Adult Novel. Well, if I’m being really honest, I have been reading YA for a long time. I mean, most of my fav books come from this particular genre. However, I usually read about young heroes of some sort… Greek Demigods, or young wizards or girls who are incarnations of Gods… etc etc… so when I read that Neil Gaiman wrote a book about a baby that was adopted and raised by the ghosts and other paranormal residents of a graveyard… I felt intrigued.

So.. The Graveyard Book is a story of a boy, Nobody ‘bod’ Owens, who is raised by paranormal residents of a graveyard, after his family is brutally murdered. The book was released in UK and US simultaneously. And the book has won a bunch of awards….. including the best children’s book of the year.. in both UK with Carnegie Medal and in the US with the Newbery Medal. It’s included in Time Magazine’s 100 best Young-Adult books of All time. So if you have not read or heard about the Graveyard Book… you are in for a treat.

 The novel opens up with a gruesome scene of a family being murdered. We see the things only as through the eyes of the child…. Who at the beginning of the novel, has no name. the kid, crawls out of his nursery and out of the house in the middle of the night.. while a man, titled Jack is busy murdering his family. This one and half year old child, finds himself crawling up a hill near his house, out of the curiosity that is true for all young kids. And then he wonders off to a cemetery at the top of the hill. Like a true toddler, he has no notion of fear. And absolutely no idea why a midnight stroll through a cemetery might not a good idea. However, this little thing actually ends up saving his life.

The child is first discovered by Mrs. Owens. Who is a ghost in the cemetery and who saves the kid because the child’s murdered mother implores her to save the kid. Mr. and Mrs. Owens decide to raise the child themselves. Naming the kid “Nobody Owens”… which is a play on nobody owns. Like saying, nobody owns the kid. As a part of this adoption by ghosts, Nobody, who is then called Bod by everyone, is granted something called “Freedom of the Graveyard”. Which, basically means, he can pass through solid objects when he’s on the grounds… including tombstones, or gates.

 

The novel is a story of all the adventures this little kid goes through. Mysteries of the graveyard, the conspiracy of his parent’s murder, the novelties of all the paranormal residents of the cemetery. As you would expect in a spooky place, you have a variety of things in this place. Of course, there are ghosts, like Mr. and Mrs. Owens. A mysterious character, named Silas, agrees to be Bod’s guardian. Who is said to dwell between the borders of life and death… which we are encouraged to assume to be a Vampire. An ancient being or a creature called Sleer, which Bod meets in a prehistoric burrow within the cemetery. Sleer is guarding a treasure and is waiting for his master to arrive. Ghouls that Bod meets. These are creepy corpse eating creatures, who try to kidnap Bod, and take him to an alternate dimension, that they access via a special grave called Ghoul Gate. We also meet Bod’s second caretaker, called Ms. Lupescu, when Silas leaves for some mysterious work. Who in time we learn is a warewolf.

We also meet a girl called Scarlett Perkins, who as a child is brought to the cemetery by her parents, to play. Don’t ask me why would a kid be brought to play in a graveyard. Maybe the parks are too mundane for her parents. But as a side effect of that… she befriends Bod. And they form a beautiful friendship. Unfortunately her family moves out of the town and their friendship is then put on hold while she’s away. She comes back a few years later and reunites with Bod. Bringing with her, the climax of the story of Bod’s parent’s murder.

There are a lot of small stories woven in the bigger narrative by Gaiman. Smaller stories that move the larger plot ahead. And we DO find out the what and why of Bod’s parent’s murders at the end.

But if I tell you the whole story in the review, what’s the fun left?

What worked for this novel, is the unique way that Gaiman weaves the paranormal into the mundane. I mean, it isn’t a horror story, even when it has all the elements that could make it so. Ghosts, and Ghouls, and lost treasures and mysterious murderers and Vampires and Warevolves. Even with all those, this is a story about a kid who is learning his place in the world. Who is trying to find what works and what doesn’t for his growth. It’s a story about growing up. About friendships and love and heartaches and heartbreaks even. It takes us through a journey along with Bod. And it is a journey that’s filled with laughs, and joys, and a little thrills and chills.

When you are in mood for a trip through some good chill, Give Nobody Owens a try. He might just teach you something.