Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

6 reviews

riverofhorton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book was unexpected. I went into it knowing nothing, apart from that it was written by Neil Gaiman, only assuming that a significant in some way. My only concrete expectation was that it would enjoy it, as I have almost all of Neil Gaiman's other books. That expectation was definitely met, and I will be re-reading this in the future. I am a little surprised that this is considered a children's book, it handles some very difficult topics, opening with a description of a man murdering two parents and a child. Thankfully, the murders themselves aren't described, just the moments after the final one. That said, it was an incredibly enjoyable book, following the childhood of a boy growing up in a graveyard with an adoptive family who are all either dead, or on the border between (I took that to mean a vampire). Ironically, I found the ghosts to be more fleshed out than the living characters of various other books by different authors, truly a testament to Gaiman's writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

caitlincrtr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Death of parent

baponthecob's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A truly phenomenal book. Definitely holds up 9 years after the first time I read it in grade school.
My only real criticism is that we dont see enough of the Owenses. It really seems like Silas is the one who raised Bod. (I mean, Bod literally called him dad that one time.)
Of course, I know that his parents love him so much, but it would have been amazing to see them being a family more often.
It feels like for the most part, they dismissed Bod a lot bc they wanted to protect him. Silas was the only one who was straight with him.
Also, I'm glad the massive fucking tree trunk eventually fell out of Miss Lupescu's ass, but why was she such an asshole at first anyway???
Overall, I loved seeing Bod grow up and learn about the world and make friends :( it was really heartwarming to see how much everyone in the graveyard cared about him.
The ending was really bittersweet, and it hits different as someone who is supposed to have hit adulthood and gained independence already. But, yk, the time comes when it comes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Car accident, and Alcohol

binreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A great read. At moments, I really had to try and use my imagination to the best of my ability to really understand what was happening.

It was a slow burn, but it’s builds up and the story just gets better up to the very end. I loved following Bod through his adventures in the graveyard. Bittersweet ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, and Abandonment

a_d_a_m_h's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Child death and Confinement