Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book (English)

One and all will hear and stay
Come and dance the Macabray
9/10
Ooohh... *starry-eyed* Ooohh, good book...

(Klicka här för svenska versionen.)

I'm not going to write too much about the plot, not to rob anyone of their sense-of-wonder; as to that I'll settle for a rewrite of the available info: A small boy's family is murdered, he escapes and finds sanctuary in a graveyard. He is adopted and raised by the ghosts and... other beings among the graves.

If it sounds slightly familiar, try exchanging the graveyard for a jungle, the ghosts for wolves, and the other beings for, say, a bear and a panther. I warmly recommend that you read / reread The Jungle Book before you read The Graveyard Book - it's not released until September-October so you have plenty of time - it will give you that extra dimension which lifts the book from Oohh, good book... to Ooohh, good book...

Now can you imagine what Neil Gaiman could do with this mixture? He does all of that and much more. In no way derivative or "just" myth-retelling: This is Neil Gaiman at his story-telling best, his own as much as anything can be, death and all. (Better'n Kipling, there, I said it.) Wonderfully told wonderful story. I could do it justice if I quoted all of it. And those who are put off by its classification as YA deserve nothing better than to miss out on all this wonder.

I want to reread it right away, but that'll earn me a beating from my colleagues waiting to read the Advance Reader's Copy. Instead I'll definitely buy it when it's released for real: also, then it will include the illustrations by Dave McKean! (And meanwhile, there's the trailer for Coraline... And waiting for special features on Mouse Circus...) *happy sigh*

Narrativitis

Word of the day: narrativitis.
A malady which can afflict stories.
Symptoms: the storyteller sees an obvious/natural effect/consequence looming - and avoids it through intricate machinations in this vein: No, sorry, that consequence is not possible in this particular story; you see, in this world I've created things are like this and like this and like this [plentiful footnotes and technical/magical/psychological facts] which leads to this and this and this [plentiful footnotes and technical/magical/psychological facts] which means that the plot cannot take the obvious route but must, for better and worse - and in the name of more pages - involve itself in further complications.
In its benign form the malady can make a good story better, but it spreads and infects swiftly and in its malign form it can destroy the most promising story.
Having been afflicted once gives no immunity. The only available vaccine induces an abnormal addiction to originality.

Dagens ord: narrativit.
En sjukdom som kan drabba berättelser.
Symptom: berättaren ser en uppenbar/naturlig verkan/följd närma sig - och undviker den genom avancerade grepp vars kärna är: Nej, tyvärr, den följden är inte möjlig i just denhär berättelsen; i världen som jag har skapat är det nämligen såhär och såhär och såhär [omfångsrika fotnötter och tekniska/magiska/psykologiska fakta] vilket leder till dethär och dethär och dethär [omfångsrika fotnötter och tekniska/magiska/psykologiska fakta] vilket gör att handlingen inte kan ta den uppenbara vägen utan måste på gott och ont - och i de fler sidornas namn - vira in sig i ytterligare förvecklingar.
I sin mildare form kan sjukdomen göra en bra berättelse bättre, men den sprids och smittar mycket snabbt och i sin gravare form kan sjukdomen förgöra den mest lovande berättelse.
Att en gång ha drabbats ger ingen immunitet. Det enda tillgängliga vaccinet leder till ett sjukligt beroende av originalitet.