Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself." grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod's beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grow up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. --Megan Honig, New York Public Library
I read this book during October as a fun read for Halloween. Neil Gaiman also wrote "Coraline", which I enjoyed very much.
ReplyDeleteLike "Coraline", Neil takes a story line that could be very scary and disturbing, but creates a protagonist that takes potentially horrifying events in stride and makes them seem less frightening.
The first few chapters cover how Bod ends up in the graveyard, how he is adopted by the inhabitants there, and covers several seemingly unrelated adventures and events that happen to Bod during the first few years of his life. Because I wasn't really following where all these stories were taking me, it was hard for me to be motiviated to read the next chapter. After about 2/3 of the way through the book, you start to see how each of these events play a significant role in the climax of the story.
I didn't love this book as much as I enjoyed "Coraline." Maybe I'm just a sensitive mother, but I was sad for the boy throughout most of the book. It was a festive Halloween read, though.