A Short Book Review of The Graveyard Book and an Update!

A Short Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I personally have always been a fan of Neil Gaiman's work and for the very first time, I had some mixed feelings with his novel The Graveyard Book. Personally I loved the overall story. This was a fantastic idea. However, I felt like the middle portion of the story to be the most boring part of the novel. I understand that Neil had a great task to explain the story of a young boy growing up but, it was just so frightfully boring. The story was great to start and I absolutely loved the conclusion. The basic gist is that this is a story about a young boy named Nobody, also known as Bod, who grows up living in a graveyard after his family was brutally murdered.

Now, I only have a few minor complaints. I really wish we, the readers, could have gained more knowledge at the beginning to the story explaining the Jacks of All Trades. It would have made more sense and I honestly think it was needed to help push readers in terms of wanting to finish reading the book. In addition, this battle that occurs towards the end with the Guardians, I really wish that this battle was built up a lot more. It felt too rushed, too sudden, and slightly confusing.

Besides the few complaints, this was an enjoyable read. Although I would have liked a little more interesting action in the middle of the book, it did redeem itself in the end.

In addition, I really liked how Neil never explains exactly 'what' or 'who' Silas and Miss Lupescu were. I think there was enormous amounts of evidence which suggest that perhaps Silas is a vampire and Miss Lupescu is a werewolf. Miss Lupescu's name even suggests that she is a wolf. Remember the Harry Potter books and Professor Lupin? His name suggests the same thing. However, Neil never confirms nor denies who these characters are. In fact, by not going into detail, Neil touches upon one of his many important themes of his story and that would be a characters identity. In the novel, it really isn't important to explain to others 'who' or 'what' you are because what is important is for Bod to acknowledge that he already knows exactly who he is. A friend of mine really pushed the idea that the vampire and werewolf identities were really important however I disagreed because Silas isn't a vampire, Silas is simply Silas. That's what really is important to Bod. Just like Miss Lupescu isn't a werewolf, Miss Lupescu is Miss Lupescu. In terms of identity, it's all about accepting who you are. There is no point to explain what you are because it is more important to know who you are.

Hopefully that makes sense because I feel like I could explain it better in person instead of attempting to type out my explanation. Anyways, this was a very good book.

The next book that I have started reading is called Don't Read This Book: 13 Forbidden Tales From Mad City. This book consists of many authors who wrote short stories based on a game called Don't Rest Your Head. I've played the game before and it was such a fun experience that I wanted to read other alternative story lines. It is a horror game and a horror novel that is so delightfully demented...kind of like if Alice visited a very gross and f***** up Wonderland. I recommend playing Don't Rest Your Head and so far, I really love this book. Again, I'm not entirely sure if I will do a book review of this one. Perhaps I will recommend or comment on which short stories I liked the most although most of them are very good so far.

So until next time, have a happy reading time!

-Missy