Gaimans next novels American Gods and Anansi Boys didn't exactly keep my boat floating either. In my view, they were written to attract more adult readers. And sure, Gaiman succeeded in getting a larger crowd and selling millions of copies. But the style he used in these two novels, was in my opinion, somewhat different from the earlier, witty style which was seen in Neverwhere. These two novels seemed to be just reporting what the characters did, everything revolving just around the story line, and not so much attention was left for the characters themselves, I think. Of course it's just my own thing, that I happen to like books which have rich characters.
When Coraline came out, I was quite suspicious about it at first. After all, it was a children's book. But boy was I amazed when I started reading it. Was this story really for children? What? Remember those button eyes of the Other Side "replicas"? They gave me such heebie-jeebies that one can only wonder what kind of kid wouldn't get nightmares from that book!
But the style of Coraline was absolutely wonderful. Although the story line is pure fantasy/horror, Gaiman is able to present the happenings in a way, that makes them seem somehow quite possible and even normal at points. He did an amazing job with this novel, without going over the top with the horror side, which happens quite often in this genre.
The latest novel from Gaiman is also one that can be found in the children's section, namely the Graveyard Book (I actually prefer the translated title Hautausmaan poika). It's about a boy who is raised in a Graveyard. By ghosts. And some other supernatural beings. And it all seems to make perfect sense when you read it! I mean, yeah, you wonder what's going to happen next, but you don't stop every other minute to rant about how this and that is impossible (like one might, when for example reading about glittering vampires...) After all, it's all natural to Bod who's been living in the Graveyard almost all his life and knows no other way of living, and since Gaiman is able to depict the story so well through Bod's point of view, the reader can just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The story line in itself is probably not groundbrakingly good. But it works. A lot of things in the book are actually left unexplained; if Bod doesn't know the answer, the reader most likely won't either. This might irritate some readers, but in my view it serves the feeling of normality you get while reading the book. You just go along going "Huh, so there's a portal in every graveyard" without really questioning it that much further.
Considering that the happenings of the book do mainly take part in a Graveyard, and therefore there's quite a lot of talking about how the ghosts died and so on, Gaiman is able to keep the style quite marry-go-round cheerful. Except for the parts where the mysterious murderer Jack appears. Then the atmosphere is gloomier than one might see suitable for a children's book. But the Graveyard and the "Real World" create an interesting juxtaposition of the two. Ghosts, for example, are normally seen as something, well... spooky. Scary, even bad. But here the Ghosts are the good guys and there are some much more lively beings than them, that represent the bad guys, and most of them walk in the "Real World" instead of the Graveyard. Interestingly enough, the Ghosts and the mysterious Silar who's doing his part in taking care of Bod, all try to keep Bod stay inside the boarders of the Graveyard, stating that it's safe there for him, but not outside in the world of the living. Which proves to be quite right.
Reading the Graveyard Book reminded me of Gaimans brilliance and made me want to read Neverwhere and Coraline again. That said, I'll start waiting for Gaimans next novel. And perhaps read Neverwhere for the zillionfirst time.
