The Graveyard Book

Narrated by Neil Gaiman

Bloomsbury (2008)
ISBN: 9780747569015
$27.95
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Reviewed by Tehani Wessely Oct 2009


The Graveyard Book is the latest multi-award-winning young adult novel by master storyteller Neil Gaiman. The narrative is all the things you’d expect of such a popular and critically acclaimed novel, but to listen to it read by Neil himself is something special.

Nobody Owens, usually known as Bod, is an orphan who was taken in by the ghosts in the graveyard after the brutal murders of his family. With mysterious guardian Silas almost ever-present in his life, the loving care of “parents” Mister and Mistress Owens, various ghostly teachers and governess-type Miss Lupescu, Bod grows up mostly unaware of his unusual circumstances. When he makes a friend in the human girl Scarlett, however, his awareness changes, and Bod begins to realize what it means to grow up. Unwittingly haunted by the killer of his family, Bod must eventually take steps to protect himself, and those he loves.

A simply gorgeous tale of the supernatural made natural, The Graveyard Book is deserving of the many accolades it has been awarded. Gaiman has a gift for story-telling, both in the written word and the spoken, as this audio attests. Unabridged, at seven disks, the audio takes some time, but listeners will find themselves unwilling to turn it off, due in part to the narrative itself, in part to the power of Gaiman’s reading. Hearing a book read by the author, as the author intended it to be heard, is a delectable experience indeed.