Monday, December 13, 2010

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

It's almost midnight here in the Philippines, but I cannot wait for tomorrow to post my review about the amazing book of Neil.




Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to the neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy - an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack-who has already killed Bod's family.


First of all, I want to say that this review will not just be a plain review about the book. It will include some life reflections and lessons I've learned and want to share with you.

The book was narrated by neither the author nor the characters. It is called the persona. Sometimes, we just say that the narrator is the author since he composed the story.

According to Gaiman, the book was inspired by The Jungle Book, where instead of ghosts, animals took care of the boy.

Bod is a very clever man for his young age. He was taught lessons by ghosts teachers. This includes some magics, since he owned the Freedom of the Graveyard. He met Scarlet, who played a great role in shaping his life. Silas, his guardian, who always at his side.

The beginning of the story is kinda boring. Of course, because it is a children's book and look, I'm 16! But I'm very thankful I read this book. You will find the thrill, the excitement and the climax after the 200 page mark out of 307 pages. See, it will be boring. But there is a hidden message of making the first part boring.

Let's continue the review in a reflection.

The book was ( I think) intended to be boring at the first part. The first part included Bod who was still learning from his teachers while he is adventuring the whole graveyard. In life, when we are still young, we are learning, but we find it boring. That is why we need to cherish our childhood. It is only once in a lifetime chance to be a child. The book then will be interesting at page 200 and up. In life, again, this stage is our teenage stage. Where all the excitement happens. We have now our minds to decide what will make us happy. At the end, the book will turn to a very lonely tone, like that we are leaving childhood and taking a new life to adulthood.

I've learned a lot from this book. One is to cherish our childhood and the other is that everything has an end. Like book, you need to feel every page as it has an The End.

1 comment:

  1. I have been looking forward to read this book
    They havent published it in Indonesia

    ReplyDelete

Hello. I want to hear from you:) Please take sometime to comment. I'll really appreciate it.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...