Well, he's done it again.
The first work I ever read by Neil Gaiman was American Gods a few years ago. I had no idea what I was getting into and was consequently blown away. I never became a Neil Gaiman fanatic, although I did read Stardust, Anansi Boys, Coraline, and recently the first volume in his graphic novel series The Sandman. And as much as I enjoyed each of those works, I believe The Graveyard Book may be his most satisfying novel. (Here's the limited edition published by Subterranean Press.)
As the book opens, a savage murderer known only as Jack breaks into a house and kills a little girl, her mother and her father. But a baby boy manages to escape his crib, crawl downstairs and wander across the street to... the graveyard. Jack figures out what's happened, but he's too late. After quite a stir and much discussion among the graveyard's deceased, the ghosts of a Mr. and Mrs. Owens (who never had a child while they were alive) decide to adopt the boy and raise him in the cemetery. They name him Bod (short for "Nobody").
Yes, the book is a take-off on Kipling's The Jungle Book, but it stands on it's own without comparisons and you certainly don't need to have read Kipling to enjoy The Graveyard Book. And although the book is in our library's J-Fic section, young adults and adults will enjoy it.
Why? Because Gaiman knows what so many writers don't. In lesser hands, this would simply become the story of a graveyard orphan and his adventures/misadventures. But Gaiman shows us in subtle ways that the world of the living is far scarier than the world of the dead. There are elements of adventure, mystery, humor, but most of all - and the one quality most writers seem to lack - wonder. Highly recommended.
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