Gabbing About Gaiman's Graveyard: The Platypus Reads Part XCIX

I grew up surrounded by graveyards.  They intrigued me by day and creeped me out by night.  Some of them had witches, some of them had apostates, not a few had a charnel house, and a few had ghost-stories. I've also liked Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" since seventh grade.  With that in my background, you'd figure I'd have picked up a copy of Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" sooner.  Fortunately, a friend gave me a copy for my birthday and I've just finished reading it.  I can see why Gaiman took away the Newbury medal for this piece of work.  It is a compact and delightful retelling of "The Jungle Book" that seamlessly blends its source material into the dark and weird world of Gaiman's fiction.  The characters are well-drawn and compelling and the story unfolds at just the right pace.  Though the main character is a child, there is nothing childish about the work.  Each sentence is the work of a mature author at the height of his career.  If you haven't read it yet, this is well worth the read.

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