Author Extraordinaire Neil Gaiman

photo: Rosette Rago for The New York Times

just finished the Graveyard Book and overall I really liked it but also I do not like bittersweet endings

so like

please send me all your fics about Nobody having an awesome, supernaturally touched life of epic adventures.  Afterwhich he is buried in his childhood graveyard, bonus points if he has a husband when he passes on and a not-quite-human daughter than visits post death.  

I just

i just want stories about Nobody having a good life and being reunited with his family

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

#BookReview -The Graveyard Book by #NeilGaiman A sweet and melancholy coming of age story that turns a ragtag bunch of ghosts and monsters into a beautiful found family :) #amreading

4 out of 5 Stars The Blurb Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead. There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of…

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Miren lo que llegó a mis manos gracias a mi pareja. Él me conoce tanto que me regaló algo que no sabía que necesitaba en mi vida. Luego les cuento como me fue.

These are the books I bought recently.

I got the first three book in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. I already read the first book, and I'm so exited to get to the rest. I've heard good things about the second book, so I'm really looking forward to reading it.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I got this one because I've been wanting to read more books by Gaiman, seeing I've only read three. I'm not sure what to expect with this one, guess I'll just have to read and find out.

Mind the Gap Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. This is the third book in the Dash and Lily series, which is a real cute fluffy story about a boy and a girl who get to know each other through a red moleskin notebook. I read the first two books multiple times and I watched the mini Netflix series. It's a great story when you just want to turn off your brain for a second and enjoy a lighthearted book.

Mort by Terry Pratchett. I already read this one a couple of days ago. It was truly a fantastic read. I laughed out loud multiple times reading it.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy this one as much as enjoyed Mort.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Usually I prefer modern fantasy, but I want to read some more classics. (if anyone has any classic recommendations, please feel free)

And last but not least, Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. This story is set in Seoul, and has Korean mythological creatures, which I really love. 

Tim's Journey Part 1- a Halloween comic I'm making :)

The fact that @neil-gaiman started a children's book with:

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife."

And

"The hunt was almost over. He had left the woman in her bed, the man on the bedroom floor, the older child in her brightly colored bedroom, surrounded by toys and half-finished models. That only left the little one, a baby barely a toddler, to take care of."

and the book was still massively successful, proves the fact – well known by children and woefully ignored by parents – that children like stuff that's darker than we'd expect.

How many times have you heard someone say, commenting on a famously spooky bit from a children's film, something along the lines of "That's scarier than most horror films!" But children will still watch it and like it.

And that's neat.

22.08.20 || Didn’t know where i was going with it until i realise it is Nobody’s home from The Graveyard book. The porpotion looks awful. But blending was never this satisfying

"Ghûlheim, which Bod could not see from where he was, had to be above them. To his left was a sheer drop. He was going to have to fall straight down, he decided, onto the steps, and he would just hope that the ghouls wouldn’t notice that he was making his break for it in their desperation to be home and safe. He saw night-gaunts high in the red sky, hanging back, circling.

He was pleased to see there were no other ghouls behind him: the famous writer Victor Hugo was bringing up the rear, and no one was behind him to alert the ghouls to the hole that was growing in the sack. Or to see Bod if he fell out.

But there was something else….

Bod was bounced onto his side, away from the hole. But he had seen something huge and grey, on the steps beneath, pursuing them. He could hear an angry growling noise."

© The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Some The Graveyard Book fanart sketches

Ok, so I recently figured out that Neil Gaiman wrote good omens which I honestly should of known but did not. And honestly I was very surprised to learn this because he is one of my favorite authors but not because of good omens. He wrote a book called the graveyard book that is AMAZING! It’s a really cool book that I think if y’all like good omens you might like this. Idk y’all might already know what it is but I thought I should share cause it is amazing.

Nobody Owens (Bod) and Silas from Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

The boy is living in the Graveyard, his foster parents are ghosts and Silas, who is a vampire, is his guardian. He takes care of Bod's needs and teaches him about the world.

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book

Note: The following article is a personal review and analysis of The Graveyard Book. Illustrations inspired by the book (drawn by the blogger) are present, as well as illustrations from the book itself. Both illustrations and writing may contain spoilers.

“THERE WAS A HAND IN the darkness, and it held a knife.”

The beginning of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book thrills the reader, starting with the description of a murderer’s hand. The narration is almost casual, as it continues to state details of the knife’s handle and the sharpness of the blade. The deed done by the knife is described in a roundabout manner, even though it is rather obvious what had happened;

“The knife had done almost everything it was brought to that house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet.” 

(Chapter 1, page 5)

We look through the eyes of the murderer, as he ascends the staircase to finish his objective. For a moment it seems as if he has succeeded, as he readies to bring the knife down on the still form in the crib. Alas for the killer it is only a doll. The child had disappeared through the open door, into the swirling mist.

             (Illustration by Dave Mckean, from The Graveyard Book)

As the babe climbs into a graveyard of all places, some of the resident ghosts take interest. While the elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, vote to take the child in, the rest of the ghosts hesitate. Then a spectral lady on a ‘grey’ (a white horse) appears, and speaks,

“The dead should have charity”

(Chapter 1, page 30)

             (Illustration by Dave Mckean, from The Graveyard Book)

The ‘Lady on the Grey’ is a being more ethereal than the ghosts themselves. She is reminiscent of an Angel, or Death on her pale horse. She appears once more during the Macabray, and talks to the baby, now named Nobody.

Nobody

Nobody Owens, ‘Bod’ for short, is the protagonist of the book. Wandering into the graveyard and taken in by the Owens, he is given the name Nobody because he “looks like nobody but himself”. Under the care of the graveyard’s ghosts and Silas (the caretaker), Bod is taught the various abilities that ghosts have, like fading and haunting.

Once, with a girl named Scarlett, Bod visits an ancient tomb in the graveyard and encounters the Sleer. The Sleer is a frightful being, whose sibilant voice is reminiscent of multiple serpents, and Bod only properly sees it at the end of the book. With a snakelike body and three heads tattooed in indigo patterns, the Sleer guards its master’s tomb and treasures.

                             (The Sleer: Illustration inspired by the book) 

Bod meets many other interesting people and not-people during his life in the graveyard. His meeting with the ghouls is one example where the lesson ‘Stranger danger’ should be seriously considered. The ghastly beings drag Bod into their own ghoulish world, where night-gaunts fly under a dead sky.

                             (Ghulheim: Illustration inspired by the book)

The description of the desolate ghoul-world is both repulsive and exotic. The dull sky of day feels suffocating, and the sun is no more than a dying orb. The night sky, by contrast, seems to glow with eldritch life, as two moons glare down at a broken city. Luckily, Bod was spared the fate of being trapped in the ghoul’s world thanks to the timely intervention of his guardian.

And yet, Bod’s life is still in danger. The murderer of his family, Jack, is still looking for the missing babe, and the graveyard cannot protect the boy forever. The second half of the book reveals the truth behind the murder of Bod’s family, and the fate of our main character.

The (ab)Normal Life 

The Graveyard Book is a fantastical story, with Neil Gaiman’s peculiar and yet matter-of-fact narration bringing out the bizarre other worldliness in Bod’s world. For those not familiar with the author’s other works, some of the characters may seem outlandish, like Silas’s allies that are later introduced. While supernatural beings make up the majority of the characters, the problems Bod face are rather realistic, like bullying, relationships, and self-identity. Barring the ghosts and mythical creatures, The Graveyard Book is about a growing boy who struggles to find his own place in the world.

Another interesting feature of the book is its illustrations, a few samples shown in this review (not counting ‘Ghulheim’ and ‘The Sleer’). Dave McKean’s black-and-white drawings bring out the crooked, subdued mood of the graveyard, adding on to the sometimes whimsical, sometimes chilling atmosphere. The beginning illustrations in Chapter One are especially striking, as the thick lines twist and contort the features of Jack and the house, giving everything a grotesque, Picasso-esque vibe.

(Illustration by Dave Mckean, from The Graveyard Book)

Back to the world of the Living…

All books, in the end, are stories about us. While the details of Bod’s life are surreal, the base of many of the conflicts he face are real-life problems. Through trial and error Bod stumbles through life like any growing individual, meeting various people and circumstances. Featuring the daily life of a child with otherworldly powers and a dash of supernatural characters, The Graveyard Book is a great read to those of us, like Bod, who continue to explore our purpose in life.

Korean version in Naver blog

—————————————————————————————

[Book info]

Title: The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Illustrator:  Dave McKean

Publisher: HarperCollins

ISBN: 978-0-06-053092-1

[Personal Illustrations inspired by book]

Titles: “Ghulheim”, “The Sleer”

Artist: Sotdae / Sotdaescape (Suyung Cho)

Does it still work if you found it in a library book? Because I would love some romantic gifts.

Dear Neil Gaiman

I’m sad that I will never be able to perfectly mirror the romance shown in Good Omens in any work I do. That’s all, good on you. You are a cool dude. My dream is to high five you and miss awkwardly.

Quick Good Omens Realization

Okay, so here’s a little bit from one of Neil Gaiman’s other books, titled “The Graveyard Book”. 

It’s very good (highly recommend if you like G.O.), but what stuck me was this: the description of Silas and his bag. The bag is described above, and Silas is said to be a pale man in dark, formal clothing. So...

Could this be Silas?

Yes, I realize it’s probably just Crowley (wearing the same dark suit and all), but if it actually was meant to be Silas, it’s a very cool easter egg by Neil.