The Graveyard Book - May 2020 Book Group discussion thread

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mrs shanksi May 2020 1:31pm, 30 May 2020 10,678 posts	0 mrs shanksi We're certainly a well-read bunch 😀. Good review Peregrinator.
Peregrinator May 2020 2:34pm, 30 May 2020 611 posts	0 Peregrinator Reading back: interesting points. Columba + McG: we should really analyse the number of stories where a child is orphaned or growing up separated from it's parents: Dahl has the parents in "James and the giant peach" eaten by a rhinoceros. In coming of age books maybe it provides a less distracting background. Linds. Yes, I like the point about showing characters in the story not understanding what the reader above the story understands. McG: but at least Gaiman acknowledged it was not a good thing to have done. I hadn't picked up the parallels with Jungle Book, but the episodic nature would be good for reading over a number of days. There were some detours like the dance that I didn't get the point of, but I did twig Silas and Miss Lupesco. Waiting for Diogenes' thoughts. I can't score books on a 0-10 - hence all the words. I know there are classrooms full of teachers here - I'm sure we'll cope!
McGoohan May 2020 2:41pm, 30 May 2020 45,536 posts	0 McGoohan Not sure Dio is going to read it - I think his might be the sole 1-star review (?)
Sharkie May 2020 2:41pm, 30 May 2020 16,101 posts	0 Sharkie Orphans or pretend orphans are a key feature of children's literature dating right back to the first 'Golden Age' of same. Boarding schools are popular for th esame reason - a fact JK Rowling was cannily aware of. Isn't Harry Potter an orphan anyway? Off the top of my head: Mary Lennox in the Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, the Fossils in Ballet Shoes (1930s) ...
McGoohan May 2020 2:42pm, 30 May 2020 45,537 posts	0 McGoohan (i.e. as a joke...)
Diogenes May 2020 2:54pm, 30 May 2020 49,257 posts	0 Diogenes Yes, I read the free Kindle sample. I thought it ended rather abruptly. I would like to read it but I’m unable to get it via my online library, or cheaply online. I shall put in a proper vote one day.
GregP May 2020 4:09pm, 30 May 2020 120,142 posts	0 GregP Mike Ross was an orphan...
LindsD May 2020 5:59pm, 30 May 2020 37,266 posts	0 LindsD That's the only problem with Kindle. I can't lend you my copy.
Serendippily May 2020 8:52pm, 30 May 2020 17,884 posts	0 Serendippily I can lend you mine fmail me Dio I borrowed McG but it was in such startlingly pristine condition I got one I could read in the bath
Columba May 2020 10:03pm, 30 May 2020 19,816 posts	0 Columba I have a copy I'm happy to pass on to anyone, - fmail me if you would like it. Also I have a mug (bought at the Foundling Museum) which lists lots of people from literature, film, myth, children's stories, who were orphaned or fostered, including Romulus and Remus, Scarlett O'Hara, Rapunzel, Tom Sawyer, Tom Riddle, Smike, Princess Leia, Superman and many others.