The Graveyard Book

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Neil Gaiman

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Here's a fantastic ghost adventure story, laced with menace and humour.

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard?

Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family.

A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?

©2008 Neil Gaiman (P)2008 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Thrilling, elegant and joyously macabre. You will love it to death." (Holly Black, author of The Spiderwick Chronicles)

Enchanting!!

One of the rare crossover books that will delight and terrify all ages. A delight and beautifully read. Mr Gaiman reads as well as he writes

Neil's narration is incredible

I was enraptured with the impeccable and talented narration and knowing the author was reading his own fantastic funny and touching story gave the listening journey extra intimacy! Thanks so much Neil for sharing both with us highly recommended escape into fantasy.

perfect

Neil Gaiman has provided a wonderful reading of a lovely book. I would recommend this book to anyone.

A fantastic story

This is one of my favourite books. I love everything about it. Mr Gaiman, you are wonderful.

Something different and worthwhile!

Hard to believe a toddler could grow up in a graveyard cared for by spirits. But it works! This story is delightful, sad, out-there, mysterious and more.

Goosebumps this aint.

The Graveyard Book (Audiobook) tells the story of a small boy who is spirited away by a handful of graveyard-inhabiting ghosts on the night of his family's murder, and his ensuing experiences growing up in these unorthodox circumstances.

Like many of Gaiman's works (Stardust & American Gods to name a couple) the narrative comprises a wonderful blend of real world relationships and fantastical themes. Many of the interactions between the boy and the other denizens of the novel (living or dead) effectively illustrate connections that any child will make growing up. The boy's posthumous guardians act and feel like true family members for him, rather than the cliched collection of evil ravening ghouls that we might have come to expect from a children's novel set in a Graveyard (although I should mention that the book does have ravening ghouls in it too!).Your typical Goosebumps (TM) novel this isn't, folks.

The audio is wonderfully performed/voiced by Gaiman, who has proven in this & other recitations that he is not simply a great writer, but a decent reader too. I particularly enjoyed the rough voices of the afore-mentioned ghouls, who sound to me like they just stepped off the docks of an old town somewhere in England.. although probably a very genteel town, the book being fairly suitable for younger listeners, despite the grim opening scenes.

If I have any nit-picking to do about this book it would be that there is always a certain vagueness about the fantastical elements within Gaiman's stories. This is of course to be expected to some extent, as the fantastical will, and probably should always be at least slightly inexplicable, but I found myself on several occasions hungering for more information on the why or how of things. Why are the ghosts waiting around in the graveyard? How is it that they are so different from the ghouls? Many questions like these are never explicitly answered within the book, but I expect the book would probably be twice as long if it did enter into these details.

For those of you looking for the short version of this review: The Graveyard Book is a well-told story of some of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs that any kid might experience growing up, effectively wrapped in an enthralling package of fantastical adventures that will keep any listener's ears following it through to the finish, almost regardless of the age of said ears. Highly recommended.

Compelling story great narration

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this on vacation with my girlfriend. The story is great and it really comes to life with narration of Neil Gaiman, I recommend this to anyone.

A Magical Bon-Bon of a Story

The Graveyard Book was a delight to listen to from start to finish. So rarely do I come across a book that grips me from the start --- but this did. It definitely is for the younger audiences but even those young at heart (I'm 34) can enjoy this as well. The author can have a second career as a narrator. He was simply brilliant and shone the characters in their proper light.

Fabulous story and narration

I simply did not want this audiobook to end as it was pure inventive pleasure. The story is in turn funny, compassionate, scary and moral tale. There are so many threads in this story that I am sure another author might turn it to a six volume airport series, however Neil Gaiman is an excellent wordsmith and paints pictures that do not require HBO specials. Of course the added plus is that the author reads his own work and thereby adds colour to such a well written tale. Do yourself a favour and listen

the narrator is amazing

listening to the actual author reading it to me was amazing. feels like I understood everything perfectly.