(11/06/2022)
If I ever was to pick a favorite kind of place, old graveyards would be it. Not the ones where marble graves are neatly lying side by side like fake teeth that don't belong in the body's imperfections, making death look artificial, gray and sad. But the ones where you almost can't read names from crumbling tombstones, where plants built their kingdom and powerful roots of ancient trees are taking back what's theirs. Where death is at home and she doesn't scare you, doesn't make your body shiver at thoughts about lying in that ground, rotting, being eaten by worms, your whole life pointless, you already disappearing but your resting place taking all that space in one last doomed effort to not be forgotten.
No, in those old ones, where stone crypts look like they're growing from the ground, where nature took back not only the bodies but their final homes as well, where the graves are scattered and uneven, mossy and beautiful, there you feel at peace. There, the cycle of life doesn't seem terrifying, a devouring monster you can't escape, but right, like something you want to be part of, something you welcome. There, you wouldn't mind lying in that grave overgrown by ivy, listening to a blackbird sing, being one with nature and a part of it – your body nourishing earth, your soul leaving a place for others, a memory of life only you remember now and it's alright that way. There, you can rest.
Or grow up, like one boy did. Nobody Owens, casually living my dream – growing up at old graveyard, being raised by ghosts (and other creatures cooler than your basic living humans), discovering his dark and mysterious past, learning how to fade from people's attention (please, I really need that) and having adventures in worlds I would not step foot into but with people who may persuade me to do it… what more can one wish for?
I went into this book with expectations, because the whole theme just seemed made for me, and also with bias from the first page. And I will hit a straight five here, because if nothing else, I could live my very specific dream through somebody else and that's worth a lot.
But that aside, I do believe the rating is deserved. Opening a children's book with triple homicide and basing the story in the presence of creatures usually associated with fear and a place that may drag it to morbidity takes courage. But managing to make it also sweet and joyous and adventurous and not make it unnatural or overdone takes skill. And both are present here. It's a charming balance between it all and the only problem it has, is the fact that there is not more of it. That idea and world and all kinds of interesting characters would deserve it and I would love to read more of it, but at the same time, maybe it would lose some of its mysterious magic – tempting us with fragments and leaving space for imagination.
As a final word, I wanted to say one encouraging “more killing in children's books” but rooting for stabbed family members doesn't seem completely right, so let's just say – don't be afraid of children and what they can take, because they truly can take a lot. And then us adults can get books like this.
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