"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

After I read Peter Pan I was thoroughly impressed with Barrie’s imagination. Although I am well aware of the story of Peter Pan it wasn't until I read the book that the imagination of the book really began to sink in. I boy that never grows up, the concept off the lost boys, boys that fight pirates, four communities that live on one small island together that are constantly at odds with each other, fairies, a crocodile that has not just a taste for humans, but a particular human, a crocodile that ticks everywhere he goes; even the directions to Neverland just made me impressed with all of the imagination that was involved in creating the story of Peter Pan.

With that being said the Graveyard Book left the same impression on me. I was impressed with Gaiman’s imagination and how far he could take it. His invention of small concepts were just as astounding  as his invention of large ones and I could not help but be jealous of the imaginary worlds that Neil Gaiman is capable of creating for himself.

In the Graveyard Book, Gaiman introduces the audience to a character named Nobody Owens. The story is set in a Graveyard in London and it tells the tale of the adventures of the small boy living in a graveyard being raised by those that, the only all encompassing description that I could give them is, they are not quite living the human existence.

Nobody Owens, which is affectionately shortened to Bod almost immediately, was granted the Freedom of the Graveyard when he was a baby to protect him from the menace that massacred his family. He was adopted by the Graveyard’s own Mr. and Mrs. Owens, two of the dead that had always wished they had had children (kind of reminiscent of Mr. and Mrs. Kent) and a guardian who is apart of the non-living named Silas. Bod goes on many adventures in the graveyard. Some incredibly dangerous, some just unique adventures for a unique boy. The Freedom of the Graveyard allowed him to do things that all other living boys couldn’t, like fade into nothing and squeeze through the tightest cracks.

The imagination that went into the Freedom of the Graveyard was one of the most impressive concepts that I have had the privilege to read. It offered special boundaries that he could bend but there were also things that he could not change and limitations to the privileges that were given to him.

Gaiman also asserted his own idea into concepts that we had all heard before. I loved this because it added something new to a dimension that was entirely his own. Why bother using old concepts in a new universe, might as well make them new and improved while you can.