Braddy Reads The Graveyard Book

I first learned of Neil Gaiman as one of the big names in comics writing. He’s most famous for writing the Sandman series, which helped launch DCs Vertigo imprint for mature readers… or something. I knew him best from the miniseries Books of Magic, which may actually be one of my favorite comic stories of all time.

Well, turns out, Mr. Gaiman’s also a novelist. I don’t care much for his “grown-up” books, but his children books are among my favorites. I picked up Coraline last year after hearing about it’s dark take on Alice in Wonderland (it’s not NEARLY as good as Carroll’s book, but that’s not saying much – it’s still a great book). Then, just about a week ago, I checked out one of his newest books – The Graveyard Book.

Neil Gaiman writes The Graveyard Book like he’s writing a comic book. The first chapter gives the origin story of Nobody Owens, a living boy raised by graveyard ghosts. The subsequent chapters show Nobody meeting a living girl, getting kidnapped by ghouls, and having basically one grand ol’ adventure per chapter.

The real PLOT doesn’t kick in until about halfway through the book – and that involves a secret international organization of supernatural murderers all named Jack, something that wouldn’t look the tiniest bit out of place in an actual comic book (I hear they’re facing off against Spider-Man in next month’s issue).

It seems to be a common formula for children’s books to go this route – spend a couple of chapters introducing characters and throwing them into silly, unrelated adventures, then having the central difficulty (the one most “adult” books tackle from the beginning) come in at the halfway point. Sometimes, to give the appearance that the whole thing was planned out from the beginning, the separate plot threads from the first half are brought back and used in the final resolution. And, I guess, for children’s books, it works pretty well.

The Graveyard Book feels like it’s written from a formula, but the formula’s not an inherently BAD one. It’s not an inherently SPECIAL one, either, so I guess I’m about out of things to write about it. If you’re in to supernatural children’s literature (???), then I’d recommend The Graveyard Book.

I just needed something to give me a bit of space between the death-filled Tuesdays with Morrie and my next book, The Sociopath Next Door. Man, talk about a downer.