Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of Coraline
Book Review: Creepy and fun
Summary: 4 Stars
What a creepy little story; written for children it's a fantasy tale adults will enjoy it too.
Coraline has moved with her parents into an old house that has been divided up into several flats. She is happy to spend her days exploring outside and meeting her new neighbors. On a rainy day with nothing to do Coraline explores her flat, and discovers a door that opens upon a brick wall. Her mother explains that it was closed up when the house was divided. Fascinated by this door Coraline decides to explore it one day when her dad is too busy working and her mom has gone shopping. Only this time when she opens the door it opens on a flat that is the mirror image of her own. Things seem a lot more fun on this side of the door, everyone is nicer to her, her room is prettier, everyone says her name correctly and even the food is tastier. Except for one problem, Coraline's other mother and other father don't seem to want to let her go back home to her real parents. They want to keep her forever and make her their own little girl. Worst of all they don't have real eyes, just shiny black button eyes.
Lots of creepy little things that go bump in the night populate this book. But the best part of the book is Coraline herself. She is brave, even when she is most afraid; and above all she is clever. She is going to need all of that bravery and all of her brains to get herself back home because her real parents have disappeared and Coraline is the only one who can save them.
I can see my children really loving this book when they were younger. It's full of lots of creepy rats, spooky mirrors and mysterious basements, trap doors and a mean `witch'. It's also got a lot of humor in it. It reminded me a lot of Roald Dahl's darker children's books and my girls adored them. It might be a bit scary for really young children but most kids and adults will love it.
Book Review: Wonderfully Original & Refreshingly Creepy
Summary: 5 Stars
A personal quote from Neil Gaiman concerning "Coraline"; "It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares. It's the strangest book I've written, it took the longest time to write, and it's the book I'm proudest of."
Neil Gaiman's "Coraline" is a fantastic young adult's novel which follows the seemingly uneventful, and dare say boring, life of one supplanted Coraline Jones. Freshly moved into a new flat, Coraline spends her days exploring the grounds and her quirky neighbors while largely ignored by her stay-at-home, workaholic parents. It's only until she discovers a little door leading to another world that her adventures really begin. Beyond the door, Coraline finds a world like her own, but far more interesting. Her toys fly, cats talk, neighbors perform acrobatic feats and recite prose, everything that could possibly delight Coraline exists on this side of the door. But so does her other mother and other father, with their black button eyes. They love Coraline, and would do anything for her, just so long as she lets them sew buttons into her eyes. One big, happy family indeed. It is up to Coraline to rescue herself, and others, from the phantom world created by her other mother. It will take all her good fortune, wisdom, and courage to defeat this terror; good thing she has them in abundance.
Despite its intent as a young adult's novel, "Coraline" effortlessly appeals to both children and adults alike, creating a fantastically twisted world that is sophisticated and approachable without being overly condescending to the intelligence of its younger readers. So if you tire of hackneyed, sickeningly cheery stories thinly constructed as a vehicle for the teachings of moral lessons, then "Coraline" is certainly for you.
Book Review: A parrallel Universe in an old house behind a locked door
Summary: 5 Stars
Coraline is bored. It is the holidays and she and her parents (who both do "something" with computers according to Coraline) have moved into a large old house. Upstairs is Mr Bobo, who is training mice for a mouse circus, but they are not ready yet, they cannot go oompah oompah. Downstairs are the retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible who have highland terriers all called Scottish names like Hamish. And then there is the locked door in their parlous. The parlour is the good room, full of her grandmother's old furniture - and locked door. Her mother shows her behind the door - but there is just a brick wall. Then her mother doesn't bother to lock it - opening the way for the parallel universe to get in.
In the universe are her mother and father, but taller, white, and with black button eyes - and her mother seems a bit taller, wtih longer redder mails, and longer teeth. But they are so nice. They don't make 'recipes' but they give her everything she likes to eat - and teh toys are alive too.
It seems nice, too nice, and the talking cat in the garden lets her know this too. Coraline has 'protection' and she goes home again - however her parents are now missing, and she knows it is her other mother and father who have got them trapped somewhere. She knows, to be truly brace she must got back into the other universe to find them.
This is not a story I would read to younger or nervous children. It is a very creepy story - there is sinister menace in the strange unfolding of events. Coraline is amazing, a strong character, and determined - but quiet and undramatic.
This was a real page turner for me - I thought it might be suitable for the kids, but I think I will have to wait a while. I really loved it thought. it was a clever slightly twisted story which really appealed.
Book Review: Well written, but......
Summary: 3 Stars
Young Coraline isn't all that happy with her life. Her parents work too much and, as young children are wont to be, she's bored. But when she discovers her alternate life behind a hidden door, she begins to think that her real life isn't so bad. Evil lurks behind every corner as Coraline tries desperately to regain her "old" life.
Advertised for ages eight and up, Coraline is, for all intents and purposes, a horror book for kids. Scary, but without the gore.
And although I haven't interviewed any eight year olds on the matter, I suspect Gaiman largely succeeds in scaring the pee out of them. The alternate world Coraline stumbles into strangely mirrors her own, containing another set of parents who, despite their outward declarations of love and devotion, don't seem quite right. (Black buttons instead of eyes are a pretty big clue here.)
The alternate world Gaiman creates is quite well thought-out. And while the themes of the novella may not be original, the conveyance of it certainly is.
As rich as the plot is, however, there is something lacking in Coraline. We know she is a kind girl and even quite a smart girl. But that's about all we ever get to know. Ultimately, she's rather one-dimensional in a cardboard cutout sort of way. Perhaps this was by design, but I missed getting to know Coraline.
Hmmmmm. Here's the brutal truth: the thrill just wasn't happening for me. By no means is this an awful book. It won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, and the Bram Stroker Award.
I read it. I didn't hate it. But neither am I running out and buying copies for every kid I know. Maybe I missed something. It's been known to happen.
I do, however, have high hopes for the forthcoming film version.
Book Review: For children (and adults) who like to squirm
Summary: 5 Stars
Coraline's family has just moved into a new flat. Her parents are always busy with their own work and Coraline (please don't call her Caroline) has no friends or siblings to play with. She spends her time exploring her new apartment complex and the surrounding grounds. She's got some eccentric neighbors: two little old ladies who love to reminisce about their time on the stage and an old man who trains mice to sing and dance.
But what's really strange is the extra door in Coraline's flat. It doesn't go anywhere. Coraline's mom says it used to connect to the vacant flat next door, but now it's bricked up. Except that it's not always bricked up... sometimes it does go somewhere...
Coraline is a terrific little heroine. Curious and brave, but appropriately cautious, she sets out to discover what's in the vacant flat. And though what's there seems rather wonderful at first, Coraline soon realizes that it's actually rather horrible. Not in a bloody gory kind of way, but in a spooky, spine-tingling, why-the-heck-is-this-so-scary kind of way.
Neil Gaiman understands creepy: buttons for eyes, long red tapping fingernails, long dark hallways, talking rats, trapped and soulless children... I'm not sure why, but just the thought of an "other mother" automatically evokes goosebumps -- How incredibly disturbing! The eeriness is accented with excellently terrifying drawings by Dave McKean (who did the Sandman covers).
Coraline is excellent fantasy for sensitive but brave children who like to squirm. I read it to my daughters, and I'm sure I squirmed just as much as they did. My girls enjoyed Coraline's adventure and maybe now they'll even be a little less put out when Mommy is too busy to play.