The Jungle Book
Sometimes I think Neil Gaiman is a bit too clever for his own good. Having read Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Gaiman's Graveyard Book makes a lot more sense. And with The Jungle Book to compare to, I find that I'm liking The Graveyard Book a lot more.
Both stories follow a young boy being brought up in extraordinary circumstances. Mowgli is raised by wolves, with a panther and a bear to teach him. Bod is raised by ghosts and receives similar tutelage from a vampire and a werewolf. Mowgli is plagued by the tiger, Shere Khan, who has been trying to kill him since he was a baby; Bod has a similar relationship with the man Jack.
The Graveyard Book is more linear than The Jungle Book. It also sticks with (what I assumed to be) the main character for longer. The entirety of The Graveyard Book is about Bod, but Mowgli is only featured in the first three of The Jungle Book's seven chapters. That actually confused me a great deal, and I spent most of the story about the seal wondering how it would connect back to Mowgli. I should have paid attention to the hint that the remainder of Mowgli's story was a tale for adults and, therefore, had no place in a children's book.
My favorite part of both books ended up being the scene that Gaiman rewrote almost exactly. Mowgli gets kidnapped by monkeys and has to use his most recent lesson from Baloo (which he was reluctant to learn) to call for help. Bod's adventure with the ghouls is nearly identical.
I also really liked what ended up being the key difference between the two stories, and it's the main reason I'm coming around the The Graveyard Book. The attitudes of the two boys is completely different. Mowgli is dismissive of humans, goes to live with them only when he is forced to, and returns to the jungle with great reluctance. Though the story hints that Mowgli eventually does go to live with humans full time, that's not included in the scope of this book. Instead, the story ends with Mowgli choosing to live with the wolves.
Bod, however, is eager to join the world of the living. The only thing holding him back is the constant threat of the man who wants to kill him. But even that doesn't prevent Bod from attempting to attend school and, when that fails, spending his time reading in the library. Bod is curious and wants to learn and have adventures. When his time finally comes to leave the graveyard, he hesitates only long enough to bid farewell to his friends and family. Of course, part of this difference in attitudes could be that the graveyard is stagnant while the jungle changes almost too fast for Mowgli. By the time he is ten years old, leadership of the pack is shifting and Mowgli is forced out.
Of the remaining stories in The Jungle Book, I liked "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" the best, though that could be because I was actually familiar with it. The elephant dance in "Toomai of the Elephants" seemed like it could have been the inspiration for Bod's Danse Macabre, but I'm not sure. The story about the seal was a little weird, and the final story, with various animals gathering in a camp before a parade, bored me.
All in all, there were some interesting stories in The Jungle Book and I like The Graveyard Book a lot more than I did.
Both stories follow a young boy being brought up in extraordinary circumstances. Mowgli is raised by wolves, with a panther and a bear to teach him. Bod is raised by ghosts and receives similar tutelage from a vampire and a werewolf. Mowgli is plagued by the tiger, Shere Khan, who has been trying to kill him since he was a baby; Bod has a similar relationship with the man Jack.
The Graveyard Book is more linear than The Jungle Book. It also sticks with (what I assumed to be) the main character for longer. The entirety of The Graveyard Book is about Bod, but Mowgli is only featured in the first three of The Jungle Book's seven chapters. That actually confused me a great deal, and I spent most of the story about the seal wondering how it would connect back to Mowgli. I should have paid attention to the hint that the remainder of Mowgli's story was a tale for adults and, therefore, had no place in a children's book.
My favorite part of both books ended up being the scene that Gaiman rewrote almost exactly. Mowgli gets kidnapped by monkeys and has to use his most recent lesson from Baloo (which he was reluctant to learn) to call for help. Bod's adventure with the ghouls is nearly identical.
I also really liked what ended up being the key difference between the two stories, and it's the main reason I'm coming around the The Graveyard Book. The attitudes of the two boys is completely different. Mowgli is dismissive of humans, goes to live with them only when he is forced to, and returns to the jungle with great reluctance. Though the story hints that Mowgli eventually does go to live with humans full time, that's not included in the scope of this book. Instead, the story ends with Mowgli choosing to live with the wolves.
Bod, however, is eager to join the world of the living. The only thing holding him back is the constant threat of the man who wants to kill him. But even that doesn't prevent Bod from attempting to attend school and, when that fails, spending his time reading in the library. Bod is curious and wants to learn and have adventures. When his time finally comes to leave the graveyard, he hesitates only long enough to bid farewell to his friends and family. Of course, part of this difference in attitudes could be that the graveyard is stagnant while the jungle changes almost too fast for Mowgli. By the time he is ten years old, leadership of the pack is shifting and Mowgli is forced out.
Of the remaining stories in The Jungle Book, I liked "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" the best, though that could be because I was actually familiar with it. The elephant dance in "Toomai of the Elephants" seemed like it could have been the inspiration for Bod's Danse Macabre, but I'm not sure. The story about the seal was a little weird, and the final story, with various animals gathering in a camp before a parade, bored me.
All in all, there were some interesting stories in The Jungle Book and I like The Graveyard Book a lot more than I did.
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