Neither Alive Or Dead

The Graveyard Book

Silas is a minor character in The Graveyard Book by Nail Gaiman. Silas is Bod’s guardian. He has volunteers to raise Bod, when Bod was adopted by the Owens. Silas’s duty is to bring food to Bod and to educates him. I choose Silas because, he is my favorite character.

The Graveyard Boy

Bod, short for Nobody Owens, is not your ordinary boy. Human he may be, but the world he lives in is not your ordinary world. He was adopted by the dead couple Mr. and Mistress Owens.  He was raised and educated by the people of the graveyard. His life is full of exciting adventures: the gate which lead to the ghouls’ city, the not ordinaries guardians he has, the witched whom he befriended and the exciting life of the graveyard.

Nobody Owens

I readed a novel called “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman and I picked the main character of book for my analyse. His name is Nobody Owens, also known to friends as Bob.

Nobody Owens got his exceptional name from Mr. Owens and his wife Mrs. Owens. They found him from the street when he was only two years old. His parents got killed at the same night by a cold-blooded killer who tried also kill Bod, but he found only a teddy bear from the cot. Bod’s curiousity saved him from sure death. He is a blond hair boy with courage and passion.

Bod lives in the graveyard. He is teached by Silas and Miss Lupescu and they train Bod to survive and decide his own destiny. He learned many helpful skills.

Here is snatch from the text, when Bod meets the oldest one in the graveyard: “Are you the oldest? asked Bod.” “The oldest in the graveyard? I am.” “So you were the first to be buried here?” A hesitation. “Almost the first,” said Caius Pompeius.”.

10 difficult words and translations:

1. debate = väittely, kiivas keskustelu
2. determined = määrätietoinen, päättäväinen
3. reluctantly = vastahakoisesti
4. withering = musertava, kuihtuva
5. conquered = vallata, voittaa (imperfekti-muoto)
6. encountered = kohdata, tavata sattumalta (imperfekti-muoto)
7. punctuated = höystää, katkaista toistuvasti (imperfekti-muoto)
8. hesitation = epäröinti, epäröiminen
9. boulder = lohkare, järkäle
10. coiled = kiemurainen

Mindmap

 

Bibliography:

Neil Gaiman, 2008, “The Graveyard Book”, United Kingdom

A boy who lives in the graveyard

The Graveyard Book

 

by Neil Gaiman

 

 

 

I selected from the list a book called The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. In my opinion it was a bit creepy to read and I guess the book is for children. Especially the beginning in the book was scary; “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”, “a blade finer and sharper than any razor.”. Consider that in your mind.

 

The main character in the book is called by Nobody Owens, but his friends are calling him as Bod. I noticed one thing in the main characters name. If you research his name, you could see that the finnish translate for a word “Nobody” is “kukaan”. Then if you pronounce a word “Owens”, it almost sound like an english word “own”, which is “oma” by finnish. So if you put them together and try to translate that by finnish, the name would be “ei kenenkään oma”. That describe the beginning of the book, when the cold-blooded killer called Jack, kills Bods mother and father and his sister, who was older at that time than Bod, who was only two years old little boy. Jack the killer tried to find Bod, but all what he found from the cot was a teddy bear. Hunting has began.

 

So I meant by the research that Bod hasn’t anymore parents. He wasn’t biologically no-one’s child anymore.

 

As I said at the beginning, in my opinion the book was exceptionally absorbing and a pleasant reading experience. The book was easy to read, but sometimes I needed to check out som words and translate them.

Not Alive Nor Dead, But Something In Between

Silas is a minor character in Neil Gaiman’s novel The Graveyard Book. The book’s protagonist, a toddler named Bod, finds his way to the graveyard where Silas dwells. He’s adopted by a ghost couple and Silas is assigned as his guardian, mostly due to the fact that he is “neither living nor dead”, so he isn’t bound to the graveyard like the ghosts are and thus can leave it to get food. I chose Silas for me to look more into because he’s the character that left the biggest impression on me, for whatever reason.

Life With the Dead

The story is set into motion when a curious character, the man Jack, kills the protagonist’s family. The protagonist himself, only a small child, manages to slip away and wanders into a graveyard where he ends up being adopted by a pair of ghosts. From then on he’s called Bod, short for Nobody, and raised by ghosts and other creatures.

The premise is certainly interesting, and the book managed to fulfill my expectations. Each chapter reads like a short story of it’s own about Bod and the trouble he gets into as he grows. This style helped to keep my interest and kept me reading and reading until I was done. The pictures thrown in also spiced up the text. By the end of it I was already so attached to Bod that the ending, though I knew to expect it, still managed to make me sad and happy at the same time. All in all I enjoyed the book a lot and would recommend it to everyone who likes fantasy and action and would like a quick, easy read.

Bibliography

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. The Graveyard Book. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury

Life in the graveyard

The Graveyard Book  by Neil Gaiman is a story about Nobody Owens whose family was murdered by the man Jack when he was just a toddler and since then he has been living in the graveyard. He will be raised and educated  by the ghosts, werewolves and other cemetery denizens.

The book begins with sentence: “There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife” this captivating opening made instantly impression on me and really rouse my expectancies of the book. Each  chapter of the book is a short story in itself detailing events that occur as Bod grows up in the graveyard.

I was a little bit disillusioned with characters depiction because I had read earlier Gaimans book Coraline where characters were almost described tactual and in The Graveyard Book characterizing remain in sketching level. But after all the book was enjoyable reading experience and it’s thrilling to followeth bods maturing when the book moves ahead.

This book would be a great choice for them who like abominations and fantasy with a pinch of truthfulness.

Bibliography:

Gaiman, Neil. 2009. The Graveyard Book. Great Britain: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 36 Soho Square, London, WID 3QY

-Kristiina Matikainen

Bod – more dead than alive

Murderer called The man Jack kills The Dorians family but the youngest only a little over year old toddler  managed to avoid his family’s murderer. The boy ends up in the graveyard and he will be raised and educated by the ghosts, werewolves, other cemetery denizens and he also has a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the dead nor the living. They protect the Boy, Nobody Owens, called Bod for short untill he turns up fifteen years, to a young man and is ready to encounter his childhood enemy.

Nobody Owens

10 challenging words

1. mausoleum = mausoleumi

2.accumulation = kasaantuma, karttuminen

3. suspiciously = epäluuloisesti

4. regretfully = valitettavasti

5. unquestionably = kieltämättä, ehdottomasti

6. irrelevancies = epäolennaisuuksia

7. enormous = jättiläiskokoinen

8. dismal = ankea, kolkko

9. instruction = ohje, käsky

10. generosity = anteliaisuus, jalomielisyys

Character analyses

  Nobody Owens is the main character in this story. Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bob, is perfectly normal boy. Nobody Owens is a typical boy except for the fact that he calls a graveyard his home.  His family was murdered when he was a toddler and Nobody only saves himself from a similar fate by being innately curious.

   The overall story of Nobody Owens is captivating and endearing.  Nobody is an easy to love character and at the end of the book, i almost wish i could follow the boy to see where he might end up.

 I really like what he said at the end ” I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. Iwant to leave a footprint on the sand of desert island. I want to play football with people. I want everything.”  I think the world has a lot of people just want same like him and I am one of them.

mind map

http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show/68484674

Bibiliography

Gaiman, Neil.  2008.  The Graveyard Book. London

The Graveyard Book Trailer Narrated by Neil Gaiman

 

Graveyard

The book begins when a mysterious character “Jack” kills  family. he reaches the nursery and find out that family’s two-year-old son is missing.  Jack starts hunting the boy.

The story opens with death and book is dark in tone, only because it happens to be situated in a graveyard that happens to be populated by unnatural creatures. The graveyard book is a pretty good book, because the atmosphere has remained during the entire book. The book is included at the beginning of fear, in the middle of love and at the end of a little bit sadness.

 I think everyone can read it because it is really gook book. it is also famous in the world