Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 372
The Graveyard Book March 16, 2010
Jenifer M. Delemont (Suwon, South Korea)
This was a really fun book. I love Neil Gaimen and even though this is clearly a kid's book and I may be a bit old for it, I loved it anyway!
Wow. Boring. March 6, 2010
Jake Hocker
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book cover to cover. Not terrible, just really uninspired.
I really could've put this book down at any moment, because it failed to draw me in. I was really expecting it to get interesting since I found it in "Award Winning Fantasy".
It's a very inoffensive and easy read. You could keep this in a classroom as a loaner, or burn through it in a couple of hours.
not for me February 28, 2010
Grey Gyrl (Dallas, TX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had heard from lots of folks that I needed to check this one out. I'm a book nerd and read a lot. However i really struggled with this one. It really couldn't keep my interest. The strange thing is I love paranormal style books but this one just wasn't my style. I found the writing to drag a bit and in some cases i was drifting thinking of other things. I was easily distracted with this one. Perhaps it is just me but i felt this wasn't one of his better novels.
Pretty good February 27, 2010
Thomas E. Smith (Cambridge, Ma United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I finished this the other night, and I did enjoy it very much. It was a bit like, as other reviews said, Neverwhere for kids. I did feel the end was a bit rushed. It read a bit like a movie to me. A movie which I would go see.All and all a good read for Gaiman fans.
The Graveyard Book: Dead on Arrival February 24, 2010
Narayan Kavach (N.Y.)
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Graveyard Book is apropos of nothing. The plot is like sand falling through your fingers and considering the basic idea, Gaiman reveals a shocking lack of creativity. Neil Gaiman is a vain writer who relies on little tricks of speech and labored "wit" rather than building memorable characters. You'd think ghosts in a graveyard would be exciting but the reader is confronted with an array of helpless and unmemorable stock characters. Gaiman's writing is soulless, just cold manipulation. Gaiman's cynicism shows in the awful way his protagonist seeks revenge and betrays his only friend. J.K. Rowling and even Stephanie Meyer have a lot of heart compared to Gaiman's morbid and miserable stories. I wouldn't foist this piece of misery on any kid. Although Gaiman has adapted a serviceable prose style, his writing is ultimately childish and well... goofy. Over and over, Gaiman's characters are victims, paralyzed emotionally, unable to conclude anything, detached observers who speak ambiguously as if ambiguity was depth, which it is not. Gaiman uses the same stock characters; all powerful gods who will smite you, mean villains who chase you down, woman as props or witches. There is no complexity in Gaiman's characters, and therefore his plots are derivative and plod along, eventually dissolving in a wave of ennui. No wonder he appeals to depressed teen goths. Gaiman has also made a study of throwing together a manuscript with the least amount of effort or thought, every novel reads as if he can't be bothered to do a rewrite, they are disappointing with lame plots and forgettable characters.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 372
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