Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard BookThe Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman

What is there to say except I HEART NEIL GAIMAN!! When I first heard of him I didn’t understand how people could be so obsessed. Then, I read Neverwhere and began to understand but I love him even more after The Graveyard Book. The funny thing is that when I think about the story I can’t even really place what makes me love him. It could be quotes like:

“You’re always you, and that don’t change, and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Pg298

That may be part of it, I just know that every time I close one of his books, whether for a moment, or after the final page, I feel a giddy, delightful connection. You would think I would feel sad to let go of the characters, but I don’t. I think I said something similar at the end of Neverwhere.

One of the most interesting things to me was that while reading I kept thinking about Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Neffenegger. The graveyard and ghosts all felt familiar and my feelings while reading both were very similar. Then, I got to the end of the book and under the “acknowledgments” Gaiman talks about Neffenegger.

“A lot of what she told me crept into Chapters Six and Seven.”
Pg 311

This may seem like more of a review on Neil Gaiman than a review of the Graveyard Book but if you haven’t read him yet, DO! If you need a place to start, The Graveyard Book is wonderful. What more do you really need to know?

**Source: Much love to my local library for having this book available for me!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this book too! And I thought it was cool that Neil and Audrey are good friends and both wrote graveyard-centered books at the same time. How can I get in that circle of cemetery friendship? Can you imagine the cool dinner parties I would have with Neil on my left and Audrey on my right?

Jenny said...

Aw, this book was sweet. It's not my favorite of Gaiman's books, but only because he's written so much amazing stuff. I feel like I spend my life thinking I CANNOT WAIT for whatever he's going to write next.

nat @book, line, and sinker said...

i haven't read anything by neil but did watch coraline--does that count? lol. i'm now following him on twitter and enjoy his tweets from the tundra of MN. i keep promising myself to pick up one of his books and now you've talked me into it! in 2011, i'm going to branch out and read outside my comfort zone!!

Jess - A Book Hoarder said...

@nat @book, line, and sinker Is this what it feels like when you change a life? Because Nat if you read finally read Gaiman your life will be changed. Yes I blog for the greater good!