The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is a creepy and scary book that keeps me on my toes the whole time. It starts out with a murder, like many stories like this, and a daughter and a mother and a father are murdered by a man named Jack. However, the youngest family member, our main character known as “Bod”, escaped by crawling out of the house and somehow makes it to the graveyard, to which Jack follows.

There is a man, named Silas who is not quite dead or alive, who finds Bod, wipes Jack’s memory so he won’t bother Bod, and claims guardianship over him since he is the only one who can get Bod food. Everyone else in the Graveyard is a ghost. The story is told over Bod’s life, and he gets older by two years every chapter. We follow his adventures throughout the graveyard, since he is never allowed to leave for his safety. 

While most of his friends are ghosts, he does become friends with another human, Scarlett, who believes him to be imaginary. He is very sad when she has to move away, however she shows up again when he is finally able to convince Silas to allow him to go to human school. He causes trouble by using the ghostly powers he’s been given to fight bullies, and there is definitely some suspicion over the man who is now with Scarlett’s father. Could it be Jack reentering Bod’s life? Has he found his memory?

I loved this book. It was very different from many other things I’ve read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can definitely see myself reading it again and again. I do tend to enjoy Gaiman’s works, I think he has a very creative imagination, and I always enjoy his writing. It’s not super complex, it’s very straightforward which is something I very much appreciate in a book. 

All in all, I recommend this book. If you’re not into super creepy stories, however, I would read it. But if you want a novel full of scary stories and laughs, then this book is for sure the one for you.