As of late, I have been enchanted with Neil Gaiman’s novels. Oh, how regretful I must be right now for not giving his books some attention, that Stardust has been sitting in my library for so long already! After reading Fragile Things,( review, to follow ) I have decided to scourge Powerbooks for more Neil Gaiman books, and I got myself The Graveyard Book.
The Graveyard Book has a very interesting plot, that it starts with a family being massacred on a grim night, with one sole survivor, a little baby, who, by destiny, stumbles ( yes, stumbles! ) into the graveyard as it becomes his new abode, to grow up with ghosts, and elements of the graveyard. A little weird, isn’t it? I felt that it was somewhat belonged to the same genre as Harry Potter, weaving fantasies, and playing with the mind. Oh, how my mind enjoyed wandering in the realm of imagination while reading this. I very much enjoyed reading Nobody’s ( yes, this is the protagonist’s name! ) adventures, walking in the world of the living, and the dead, being able to have the “right of the graveyard.”
Aside from being inspired, and enchanted by Neil Gaiman‘s imaginations that runs as far as we cannot fathom how he gets his ideas, The Graveyard Book also gives us another perception about death. Reading the book, it made me cherish life even more, because with death, everything is permanent and you can’t change things anymore. We only get one shot in this life, as long as we are breathing, we can make things happen, live our dreams, as the world is for our taking. With death, it is the end, and even as we wander the world after our passing, we can only be shadows of our past.
I myself am not a great fan of death, as I honestly fear it. At this age, I am still not yet ready to face it, or be faced with a situation of a loved one passing a way, which would really crush my soul. But reading this book, just imagine a boy who grew up in a graveyard surrounded by the dead, without any fear of death, as he has seen death amongst his peers there? What would happen, if I close my eyes, and they never get to open again? Where would I go? Would I just reunite, as a force, a part of the universe? Is there really heaven and hell? Are we just a part of nature’s love story? Too much questions, and there is no way to answer that – no one ever got it right, at least while he is still living.
This book is good to be read by the youngsters, and those young at heart like me. ( haha! ) I am definitely happy to have read this book as it gave me a lasting impression on death, and even love.
