The Graveyard Book (2008, Harper Collins)
In 1985 author Neil Gaiman was inspired by the sight of his then 2-year-old son riding his tricycle around a nearby graveyard. However, deciding that his craft was not yet honed enough to do any potential story justice, he held off for several years before writing what would become the 2008 young adult novella, The Graveyard Book. Modeled after Rudyard Kipling‘s The Jungle Book (1894), it is the story of an orphaned boy who is taken in by the ghostly residents of an obsolete graveyard to shield him from a murderous cabal that want to keep him from fulfilling an ancient prophecy predicting their demise. Each chapter is a little story within itself usually taking place at two year intervals.
The boy, is given the name Nobody, Bod for short, by his adoptive parents, the late Mr. & Mrs. Owens and then given the Freedom of the Graveyard, which grants him special access, powers and protections within its confines. Since most of the spirits cannot stray far from their final resting places, a reformed vampire, Silas, agrees to take him under his wing and sponsor him, taking care of his corporeal necessities such as clothing, food, etc. As the familiar adage goes, “It takes a village to raise a child”, so Bod is reared and educated by the collective denizens of the graveyard.
Bod’s guardian, the vampire Silas by Chris Riddell.
Bod encounters many memorable characters during his adventures in the graveyard from whom he learns valuable life lessons, even sometimes in spite of their well-meaning but antiquated advice. Things get sticky when he is old enough to want to learn about the world outside the graveyard, thus exposing himself to the scrutiny of wrongdoers and the making his presence known to the people who mean him harm.
This is an amazing book! For a kid’s book it is very dark and complex, however it does have a lot of heart. There are some real tender scenes, particularly between Bod and his spectral foster parents, as well as his guardian, Silas. I also liked the endearing relationship between Bod and the Witch, Liza Hempstock. In her day, Liza was accused of ensorcelling the sweetheart of another woman and was dunked, burned and buried in the unconsecrated ground of the cemetery. Liza and Bod become friendly when she heals his injuries after he takes a tumble out of an apple tree. They remain fairly tight friends until he grows into a young man and she becomes unaccountably temperamental around him.
The Witch, Liza Hempstock by Chris Riddell.
Another great chapter for me was the Danse Macabre where, on a special night, the dead are given a temporary reprieve to leave the cemetery to dance the macabray with the living residents of the nearby town. Bod senses something is up, but no one in the cemetery will talk openly about it, and so he decides to follow them as they partner up with the living, who seem to be enchanted. As he walks the line between the realms of the living and the dead, Bod seems to be the only one who can interact with both sides and retain his self awareness. He dances for a spell with Liza, and eventually dances with the Lady on the Grey, who is an avatar of Death. Silas, clandestinely watching from the shadows, is the only one who cannot participate as he lives in the limbo of the undead.
Bod and the Lady on the Grey dance the macabray.
There are some genuinely scary moments, like the scenes featuring the minatory Jacks of All Trades, and the chapter on the ghoul gate is appropriately creepy, as well as reminiscent of Kaa’s Hunting, from the Jungle Book. In it Bod stumbles into the hands of the ghouls and is saved when he remembers to use a call for succor in the language of the night-gaunts, which he was taught by his occasional governess, Miss Lupescu. The episode is very tense and exciting, although I did have a hard time reconciling the fact that night-gaunts, a creature from the Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, are traditionally depicted as not having any face at all, much the less making any vocal sounds.
“..But Carter preferred to look at them than at his captors, which were indeed shocking and uncouth black things with smooth, oily, whale-like surfaces, unpleasant horns that curved inward toward each other, bat wings whose beating made no sound, ugly prehensile paws, and barbed tails that lashed needlessly and disquietingly. And worst of all, they never spoke or laughed, and never smiled because they had no faces at all to smile with, but only a suggestive blankness where a face ought to be. All they ever did was clutch and fly and tickle; that was the way of night-gaunts.” [excerpted from the novella, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath 1927/1943 by H.P. Lovecraft]
Night-gaunt
In 2014, artist P. Craig Russell adaptated the story as a graphic novel, which was originally released in two volumes. This is the medium in which I first read the story. It is beautiful rendition and well worth checking out. A few years later, when I began getting into Gaiman’s audio recordings (he is a superb reader and has done recordings of many of his own books) I checked out a recording of the book from the library and was enchanted with Gaiman’s attention to detail and the pristine prose as well as his charming portrayal of the various characters.
Cover art for volume 1 of the graphic novel adaptation by P. Craig Russell of The Graveyard Book (2014, Harper Alley)
The original book came out in two distinct editions in the UK and the USA, respectively, each with illustrations by distinctive artists. The US edition is illustrated by Dave McKean and the British by Chris Riddell, who has illustrated several of Gaiman’s books. Talk of a movie adaptation has been bandied about since 2009, but nothing concrete has materialized as of yet.
manny's book of shadows 