... And then once I've finished ANANSI BOYS (a novel for adults) I'll write THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (a novel for kids).
The strange thing is that I suspect that THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (a kids book) will have much more sex, more death, and be deeply scarier on most levels than ANANSI BOYS (an adult book). ANANSI BOYS is, at least so far, a huge big funny enthusiastic puppy of a book that just wants to be loved, and will probably be pressed on kids by librarians. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK will be something else -- something really creepy and cool, I hope. The first few pages of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (more or less all that exists) follows a serial killer called Jack around the empty house in which he's just killed everyone in the family but the baby. He's looking for the baby.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Graveyard Book as a Children's Story
I was searching over Gaiman's blog and found this nugget. It was written in 2004, before he had completed the book. I thought this would be relevant to the discussion we were having last week regarding the degree to which it is a book for children. I wonder if Gaiman succeeded in creating the kind of "deeply scary" story he initially sought, or if the work tempered this ambition.
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"...more sex, more death, and be deeply scarier on most levels..." than the adult book? My meter for detecting deeply scarier must be completely off or the Anansi Boys, the book designated for an adult read, must be really really toned down on the scary factor. I can try to imagine myself at a younger age reading The Graveyard Book and not being all that scared by it, at least not to the point where I might have to look over my shoulder or afraid to go somewhere by myself because I'm afraid I might have missed someone who FADED into the background as I walked on by.......
ReplyDeleteThen again, this was a blurb that was from before Gaiman finished the story so maybe along the lines, themes and tones transformed or alternated..
Unless I am completely missing something in The Graveyard Book, I think he changed his direction after writing that first chapter. I was not even moderately disturbed by the book. Even the parts that could be seen as disturbing, he wrote it is such a way so that they did not hit the reader with that feeling. His method of storytelling in this book does not allow the book to be scarier than many others. I completely agree that some of the original ideas he was going to write were transformed or altered.
ReplyDeleteYeah, unless I missed the terrifying sex scenes, he had to have changed direction for some reason. I wonder why.
ReplyDeleteThis is funny to me. The only part that might have been disturbing was the very beginning when Jack went around murdering Bod's entire family. But, yeah the sex scenes definitely didn't happen and most of the book is suitable for kids.
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