The Graveyard Book

It's been a while since I've written - this sentiment feels like an obligatory admission at this point - and there is so much I could write on. There's video games, for a start - I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and God of War, both really wonderful. It's been a terrific year for mythology. And speaking of that, there is Neil Gaiman's book on Norse Mythology - an audiobook I've heard at LEAST twice, a book I've read, and now a radio drama I've heard two and a half times as well! (If you have even the least interest in myth or in radio drama, I will provide a link here, as it won't be online forever. If you're reading this within 20 or so days of posting, please go here. It's only an hour and a half and well worth it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001rjt ). But it's always easiest to write just after being immersed in the words of a great author. And I've spent several hours over the last few days and now this morning doing just that, listening to Neil Gaiman read another of his works, The Graveyard Book.

I don't have that much to say about it, honesty. I wrote a short review for my friends, and thought that while I was on the subject, I might as well post it here.

The Graveyard Book, if you want a summary, is about a young boy who is adopted by a family of ghosts. Adopted by a graveyard as a whole you might say. A living boy raised by the dead. It has been described as a children's book, and I've seen it published with pictures and all. I suppose it is that. A Young Adult Novel, most certainly. It ticks those boxes. But it really does feel quite timeless. I haven't actually ready Kipling's The Jungle Book, upon which it is somewhat based, and definitely inspired. But as that is a classic, this feels somewhat the same. As I wrote to my friends, the reason my mind hesitates to call it what it is, a Young Adult Novel, is how it sidesteps the shortcomings of the genre. Not the least by it's length.

The Graveyard Book is only 8 chapters. It's about 8 hours as well, if you hear it the way I did. But more importantly, it is a single book. One of the marks of Young Adult Fiction these days seems to be the requirement of everything to turn into an often too-long series. The rise and perhaps fall of the Queen of this genre, J.K. Rowling, I believe, attests to that. The Graveyard book creates just as interesting a world - a world beside and within our own, a world we all speculate about and perhaps do, perhaps to not want to believe in. But it is not an exploration of or expansion upon its world. It is simply a story, the story of a boy. It's story is told without assumption, and without formula. It is a coming of age story, that is for sure, it is about the progress from the cares and wonders of a child to a man, about important lessons learned along the way, and the friends that help you get there. There is adventure and there is mystery, bravery and cunning. But somehow, it is all set in a place that feels quite real. Like it could be the same winter sunrise, and the same summer sunset. The same brick houses and patch of nettles and grass. The same as wherever you are, really. Perhaps it comes from living in England for a time, but it all feels just familiar enough.

Mostly, I like the tone of the Graveyard Book. I like it's characters, yes, and its story. And perhaps the tone of Gaiman's voice helped, but I found the book exceedingly pleasant. It is a story you like hearing. I story where you care at every turn, without ever being worked up or agitated. It's odd to call it pleasant, as dark as it is, but it achieves both at the same time, in a way that leaves you feeling rather calm, and wanting a spot of tea, while at the same time preaching about the bright opportunity of life. The best way I can describe it is that it lets the pleasant be pleasant. It lets the melancholy be melancholy. Lets the macabre be macabre. It lets the simple be simple, lets the frightening be frightening, and the mundane be as it is.

One of the highest ways I can find to compliment something, or I should say, the thing I find I respect the most, is when a work of art accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. Achieves its potential, in a way only it can. When works fail to do this, I find myself a stream of suggestions - couldn't the characters have done this, and wouldn't it have been good if that - but with this book, I can think of none. It should be just as it is, and it is just as it should be. I am very glad I read it. It may not change my life, but it will change my day, and my week, and make them better for it. I may not dream of being Bod, may not stay up late swapping stories with friends based on his own or his world. But it's a story that will always be there for me, and which I would love to share.

I find that things like The Graveyard Book it is easy for this world to mock, or let go, or not care. It is easy to lose the importance of a simple "I enjoyed it!" in the flood of voices about this new film or that new comic. And there is nothing wrong with all the new things of course. But it was nice to have this pleasant little book to myself, for a time. Without anyone else's opinions. And nice to share it with you.

If you have time, I really do suggest The Graveyard Book. Especially the audio version, if you can.

And now I really must go and find some decent tea.

Thank you for reading.

Rissa

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.