Neil Gaiman's "THE GRAVEYARD BOOK"
Book review by Dennis D. McDonald
Had this book been available when I was 12 or 13 I probably would’ve loved it, despite my total devotion in those days to science fiction and books about airplanes, rockets, and space travel.
Reading it now, it’s still extremely enjoyable. I liked it so much I put down the other two books I’m reading and just concentrated on this one.
The story: a toddler‘s family is murdered. He runs out the front door and into a nearby dilapidated old graveyard. There he is adopted and raised by the ghosts of those buried there ove the past centuries.
The story follows him from his arrival to adolescence. Along the way we watch him mature as he experiences a series of adventures, some of which are quite scary.
According to the author, he waited till he had experience raising children to write this book. It shows. He deftly paints the personalities of the main character at different stages of his young life.
The writing is a times both lyrical and poetic. You can tell that certain phrases and sentences I’ve been worked on extensively in order to communicate an intended fact, feeling, joke, or emotion.
Cleverness abounds. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t mind reading this book again.
Book review copyright 2022 but Dennis D. McDonald
