The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I try not to read too many reviews of a book that I just know I'm going to read. I don't like going in with too many preconceived notions about a book. And when I first started seeing The Graveyard Book around I knew I wanted to read it. I haven't read any other Neil Gaiman books (although I do have Coraline on my TBR pile) so I wasn't sure what to expect. When this book won the Newberry Award and I saw it everywhere I quit reading reviews about it. :-)

It was Friday the 13th last week and I found myself looking through my shelves for a new book to read. I decided on The Graveyard Book just because Friday the 13th seemed like a good excuse to read a book centered around a cemetary.

I really REALLY wanted to like this book and started it very enthusiastically. But, after the first couple chapters I wasn't sure what I thought. I plowed ahead and am really glad I did. I ended up truly liking this book. It's the story of Nobody Owens who narrowly escapes danger as a baby to end up living in a graveyard his whole life. Ghosts and other supernatural/paranormal characters become his guardians and best friends. As he gets older, he longs to learn and be around people who are alive. After trying out a "normal" school, it is decided the graveyard is where he should be. The danger he experienced as a baby still surrounds him and the graveyard is the only place he is truly safe.

I was expecting a book that flowed well through the boy's life but found the story rather choppy. It took me until Chapter 4 to get into the flow of the book. Each chapter could be a short story within itself and the next chapter doesn't necessarily flow from one to the next. There are large time jumps between chapters. Once I got used to this, I really enjoyed the book. In reading the acknowledgments at the end of the book, Gaiman says he actually started writing the book at Chapter 4 and filled in the earlier chapters later. It's interesting that is the point at which the book really grabbed me.

This book has adventure, a tad bit of mystery, fun characters, and I see it as an allegory (hmm...did I use that word correctly?) for life or growing up. Even though all of this happening in a graveyard is very abnormal, the boy had people (his adoptive parents and guardian) to love him, teach him, and protect him. He learns life lessons that help him along his journey and he grows up and moves on outside of his "family" just as many of us do. I love the end of the story and the promise it holds for Nobody Owens after the dark childhood he had.

I recommend this book and say stick with it even if it doesn't quite grab you in the beginning.

Other reviews of this book:
Hidden Side of the Leaf (Dewey listed 11 other reviews too! And a book trailer!)
Thoughts of Joy
A Life in Books
Bloggin' About Books
Maw Books Blog

YA Weekend

I don't know, I've had some good alliteration going with Mystery Monday, so I thought I'd try YA Weekend since I have several to post.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I'd come across this book in a few different places, and I'm so glad I picked it up in the last post-Christmas gift-card-fueled trip to Borders. This is an unusual coming-of-age tale, a chronicle written after the events that unfold in the narrative, giving witty, insightful foreshadowing that made the events themselves even more delicious to read about. Frankie Landau-Banks, privileged sophomore at a posh boarding school, has always tried to be sweet and accommodating, but something snaps when her boyfriend, coveted senior Matthew, blows her off one too many times to hang out with "the guys." Frankie wonders if Matthew actually respects her, or if he most values her adorable sweetness. After some basic surveillance, she discovers that he's a member of the Order of the Basset Hound, the very exclusive, all-male secret society to which her own father belonged. After giving Matthew several openings to tell her about the Society, she decides on a different tack: infiltration. The "disreputable history" that follows this decision is brilliant, funny and subversive, as Frankie turns the lax Society into a real secret society, performing pranks she learns from the disreputable histories of the Bassets and other secret societies, infusing the beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking group with a mission of social commentary and changing outdated traditions.

Lockhart's snappy writing and Frankie's appealing earnestness make this book a delight to read. I couldn't wait to find out what happened, but I also didn't want it to end. Frankie is a complex heroine searching for her place in the world. By the end of the events chronicled here, she is well on her way to finding out the kind of person she'd like to be. She's gained perspective on tradition, vandalism, exclusivity, and social norms, and she makes us think about them, too. What traditions are worth keeping? What social rules should be respected and which should be challenged? Frankie's search for answers is satisfying and wickedly funny.

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
I had a hard time getting into this book. It does have an appealing, noir-ish feel, but the heavy foreshadowing (along with overdone 1940s slang) felt clunky to me, and by the time the events foreshadowed were clear, it felt anti-climactic. The first several chapters were filled with foreshadowing and mood, but little else. I didn't really get to know the heroine (if that's the right word), Evie, so she wasn't enough to pull me through the obvious, though mildly interesting, intrigue. Evie's stepfather comes home from WWII and promptly begins a successful business venture. After a few calls from an "army buddy," he drags the family to Florida, where they meet up with a nice couple, the Graysons (the woman takes Evie shopping; the man may have a business proposition for Evie's stepfather) and Peter, the very "army buddy" they left New York to avoid. Evie (who is 15, mind you) promptly develops a crush on 23-year-old Peter, who reveals the truth behind her stepfather's activities in the war. Eventually, Peter and Evie's parents go off on a boat trip together, just before a hurricane strikes, and the obvious happens, giving Evie a big decision to make. The subplots with the Graysons and Wally seemed more convenient than anything else, and I wasn't thrilled with the ending. I'm giving this three stars for the well-established period mood and discussion possibilities.

Note: The Disreputable History... had a National Book Award Finalist sticker on it, so I looked up what the winner could possibly have been. I was shocked to find that What I Saw... had won. To me, there is no contest between these two coming-of-age stories, so I'm mystified by the outcome of the awards.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I first read the Westing Game in my sixth grade English class. I remember loving it. To me at the time, it didn't seem "classic" or boring. I loved mysteries so I just thought it was fun. It didn't seem like work to read it like some other things you have to read for school. I've been wanting to read it again and was excited to pick up a copy at our library book sale.

Hmmm....reading it as an adult, I didn't like it quite so much. I still enjoyed parts of it. But it jumped around a bit for me and seemed a little disjointed. I think this was purposeful on the author's part. Maybe she wanted the reader to feel as lost as the characters did, just grabbing at tidbits of information as they came to you to try and figure out the puzzle. I really did enjoy the last third of the book though. I liked the epilogue and was satisfied with how the characters ended up.

There are some books (like Catcher in the Rye) that I read when I was younger that I just LOVED. I'm a little leery about rereading some of those because I'm afraid as an adult I won't like them as much. I sort of like hanging on to the memory of how much I did enjoy them. So sometimes I'm torn about whether to reread childhood favorites.

Also reviewed here: Blogging for a Good Book, A Reader's Journal, and The Hidden Side of a Leaf.