Elitist Book Reviews

The father has gone to the corner store to get milk for breakfast. Unfortunately, while he's there he runs into a little trouble that keeps him from returning home in a timely fashion: the delay involves a time-traveling stegosaurus, pirates, aliens, and wumpires. It's a miracle he even gets home.  When he tells his kids the story for some reason they're a bit skeptical.

FORTUNATELY, THE MILK is cute. Adorable even. It's little book with a whimsical story and fun pictures. You could probably read it from cover to cover while in the bookstore and make a decision about it for yourself.

Gaiman's storytelling is smooth and full of everything strange and amazing. The idea that the morning milk could be so crucial to a father's adventure and escape is, of course, absurd, but that's part of the story's charm. Certainly this book isn't on the level with his other works, but I get the feeling that Gaiman wrote it on a whim, and perhaps even as a vehicle for the illustrations by Skottie Young.

You see, it's the illustrations that make FORTUNATELY a gem. Sure they're only black and white line drawings, but they're quirky in their detail, energetic, and gloriously hilarious. I easily spent more time staring at the illustrations than I did actually reading the story. The illustrations are the story.

If you love Gaiman and have to own everything he writes you won't be embarrassed to buy this book. However, FORTUNATELY, THE MILK is meant for parents looking for something fun and new to read at bedtime that won't bore you to tears--and may even make you laugh.

Recommended age: 5+ to be read to, and probably 8+ to read on their own
Language: None
Violence: None
Sex: None

Find this book here:

FORTUNATELY, THE MILK

Neil Gaiman's last published novel, ANANSI BOYS, was clear back in 2005, so imagine the squees of fans (female and male alike) with the knowledge that June 2013 meant the relief of the drought with THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE.

Gaiman's works are hard to truly define. In this case, OCEAN is rather like his YA books, such as CORALINE and the GRAVEYARD BOOK; it's a fantasy with moments of horror, hints at mythology, with the tone of a fairytale.

The PoV character is an unnamed man returning to his hometown to attend a funeral. While there he visits the old farmhouse of his childhood friend Lettie Hempstock. It's while gazing at the duck pond at the end of the lane where he recalls the events of the summer when he was seven years old.

A reserved and bookish boy, the narrator begins his memory building up the events that lead him to meet Lettie and her mysterious family, and the results of her allowing him to see a part of her world; but part of her world follows him back to his, with disastrous results. The rest of the story is how the boy and Lettie must deal with the fallout.

It took me a few days to sort out my thoughts about this book. OCEAN is short, really more novella length, and can be read in one sitting. I was hoping for something longer and more exciting like the astounding AMERICAN GODS. Here Gaiman I think is trying to make the fantastical elements of the boy's experience more accessible to a wider audience, and the result is part adventure part dark fairytale. It's different from Gaiman's usual stories (which may disappoint some fans), yet contains many of the same elements and themes he's used before.

OCEAN is an easy book to read. The prose is precise and fluid, simple and lovely--it's easy to tell the care Gaiman took in crafting it. He creates the boy and his setting with the intent that we understand not only the boy, but probably also Gaiman himself, their points of view showing what it was like to be a child and the constraints caused by the demands of adults. Such adult-created rules are supposed to keep children safe, but in this case the boy only had to walk through his back yard to find trouble.

Take the book at face value--for what it is, not what you want it to be--and you will like it. We all could do with remembering the adventures of our own childhoods, especially the ones where we had to learn a hard and painful lesson.

Recommended Age: While 16+ could read it, I get the feeling that it's a story adults would understand best
Language: None
Violence: Some peril and death, but not detailed
Sex: A vague brief scene and references

Find Gaiman's newest novel here:

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE

Lest you dear readers feel we have a prejudice against novels that are written for young adults or children, we are here today to prove you wrong.

Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is a prime example of a brilliantly written children's book. Granted, as a children's book it's a simpler read, and in many ways not as beautifully complex as the anvil sized tomes we prefer. But some of the most brilliant and enjoyable things in the world are easy and simple (bashing on TWILIGHT for example is the easiest, simplest thing in the world--and yet both enjoyable, and a mark of intelligence).

In addition, while THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is a simple read, it is by no means simple.

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is a brilliant twist on Rudyard Kipling's THE JUNGLE BOOK. It's a story about a boy who escapes the murder of his family as a toddler to be raised by a host of undead creatures--ghosts, vampires, ghouls and werewolves--in an ornate graveyard. Like Mowgli before him, Nobody Owens learns from his tutors, explores the world around him, and eventually must face the murderer of his family--Shere Khan for Mowgli, and the sinister man Jack for Bod Owens.

It shouldn't surprise anyone (least of all, us), that Gaiman's work shines here in melding the sense of an innocent fairy tale with depth, darkness, and meaning. We think the genius of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK lies in it's subtle and powerful examination of humanity. Oh, it's a children's book, yes. But even something so mundane as school takes on an unusual cast--it's part of life, part of living, and something Bod desperately wants. While Bod struggles to learn what it means to be alive, and to be human, the other-worldliness of the book is enjoyable as well, and we watch Bod learn the traits of the dead: instilling terror, projecting himself into other's nightmares, and fading completely out of view. While the story is enjoyable, and a fun read, it's this depth of meaning we love.

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK deserves it's two awards--the 2009 Newbery, the 2009 Locus award for the Young Adult Category--and is in the running for more: The 2009 Hugo (we voted for it), and the 2009 World Fantasy Award. Not even we are elitist enough to know the other award's it's surely been nominated for.

If the simplicity of a children's book is just too much a price for someone to pay for such a brilliant, masterful tale, then perhaps they just aren't as self-confident connoisseurs of creative storytelling as we are.

We know all you dear readers care as much about such things as we do.
Check out THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Neil Gaiman's Now.

Recommended Age: We would have enjoyed this in the third grade--other readers? Perhaps 10 and up.
Language: None.
Violence: The violence causing Bod's situation may be something to be aware of for younger readers. Nothing gratuitous or graphic.
Sex: This book is ages 10 and up. Seriously? You're checking for this? Move on.

We'll be covering more of Gaiman's work, as he is one of our favorites. Visit his website at http://www.neilgaiman.com/ and then check out whether The Graveyard Book wins the Hugo this Sunday at http://www.thehugoawards.org/.