Friday, January 14, 2011

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman

*****

One of my all-time favorite Gaiman books. Gaiman seems to blend whimsy and danger and innocence and evil almost effortlessly. He is, I think, at his best when writing for younger audiences. The darkness of his tales keeps the story from being too light, but his humor and light tone buoys a fairly frightening story. Silas's character (as voiced by the author) is a brilliant exercise in subtlety. This might be better than Neverwhere.

ADDENDUM: Much as I love Gaiman's writing, I think the words improve when read by the author himself. Which is another way of saying: as good as the book is, the audiobook is better. Gaiman tells the story at an almost sedate pace, quiet and calm, so that it actually sounds and feels like a graveyard sort of tale. As Gaiman himself might say, the dead do not hurry. And Gaiman voices Silas better than my imagination ever could.

No comments: