I loved this book! I am a huge fan of Harry Potter and I put The Graveyard Book into a similar category. Both involve orphan boys with malevolent beings with dreams of world domination out to get them. Both are this strange realistic fantasy genre where the real world exists and interacts with their worlds, but the fantasy worlds are contained within borders. With fantasy books like that, it’s easier for me to buy into the fantasy worlds. I can suspend my belief better than with a book like Skellig where the fantasy is too intertwined with reality.\
To me, this book was just a fun read. It was 300 pages, but it didn’t drag. I didn't understand every word (some I had never even seen before!), nor did I understand everything that was always going on in the book, but that didn’t stop me from just reading straight through and enjoying myself. This book didn’t feel like work to read; it felt like a break or a reward.
I’m actually surprised I had not heard of this book before I read it. This book feels like it would be very popular with a lot of kids. It feels like it could be turned into a movie (after researching, it is supposed to become a movie). It’s even been the New York Times bestseller and winner of the Newbery Award - so why haven’t I heard of it before this class? I’m not sure, but I will make sure to pass this book on to students and adults, because I’m sure most will feel the same as I do, especially if they are fans of fun, humorous, well-written fantasy.
I enjoyed how well this book fit into the fantasy genre - the graveyard is its own world, governed by its own rules and secured by its own boundaries. This book is about a fight between good and evil and how good can triumph evil with teamwork, ingenuity and caring. Most importantly, what works well for this book is its importance it puts on the human world. Bod is alive and needs to live in his own world; therefore, he cannot stay with the world of the dead forever.
The reason I bring this out as a positive of the book is because I have to juxtapose it with another fantasy novel, Twilight. My biggest complaint about that series was the glamorization of the vampire world. There were no drawbacks to that fantasy world and it made me feel as though being a human were a terrible thing.
The Graveyard Book does not do this; it celebrates life. The graveyard is an exciting place with great stories and beautiful places, but Bod will be able to go back to the graveyard in time. Life is so short and precious that it is imperative that he lives it while he still has the chance. This may involve leaving his family and friends behind, but he cannot miss out on something so wonderful as life.
I also feel that I need to comment on the structure of the novel. When I first started to read it, I thought the stories were disjointed snippets. I appreciated when I saw the ends created from the other chapters tied up. There is no smooth transition from chapter to chapter, but each chapter is important in making the ending believable to the reader. Everything mentioned in the book had a purpose, even if that purpose was just to show the importance of being human and the consequences of mixing the worlds of the living and the dead (as in the case of Bod going to school). Although, now that I think about it, what was the point of the danse macabre? Perhaps it was just to show Bod is not dead, even though he can consort with the dead and harness some of the powers the dead have.
This was really a good book. I also was not familiar with it, but I plan to add it to my book shelf and encourage my student to read it. I like the point you make that everything in the book had a purpose. I didn't initally realize that each chapter was suppose to be a short story as we discussed in class. However, I agree that in the end all the loose ends from each chapter was tied up and it was clear that there was a specific reason for every detail that Gaiman added. I love the message that life should be celebrated and lived and the Bod needs to have that experience before he can become a permanent member (through death) of the graveyard. I also questioned the dance of the macabre. Unless the purpose was to provide an opportunity to remove the border between the living and the dead. However, I am not sure why that was necessary to the story. Great response!
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