A Surprise Freak Out

TITLE: Coraline
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
PUBLISHING DATE: August 4, 2002

FROM GOODREADS: Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.

What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. 

MY THOUGHTS: So I don't scare easily.  And no, this book didn't really scare me, but it did take me back to a time where the movie terrified me.  When the movie first came out on DVD, I rented it one evening when my husband was away working late.  I knew he wouldn't be home until about 2am so I started watching it around midnight...with the lights out, and a storm outside.  That creepy other mother with the button eyes and the blob in the basement really freaked me out. I know it was the atmosphere but still...  So when one of the challenges for the #booksinthefreezer readathon was to read an adaptation, I knew this was the one.

"Coraline" is the kind of tale I'd have eaten up as a child.  It's a quick-paced fun creepy read.  Gaiman's writing almost has a magic about it.  The book just flows.  So we meet Coraline, an inquisitive young girl with preoccupied parents.  She loves to explore their new home and interact with her new neighbors.  However, one day her love for exploration gets the best of her and she encounters a door that leads to an alternative dimension of her home and her family - the "other" mother.  Coraline's newfound mother wants nothing more than to keep Coraline with her forever, but Coraline realizes what she is really missing and the world that initially seemed fun, quickly turns terrifying.

I really loved Coraline.  She loved to explore and was basically me as a child in that she is quite often always bored.  The tale was pretty much as I remembered it and the book was an creepy little read.  I wasn't lucky enough to score the copy I showed, but I did have the original which had some great eerie artwork.  

Overall, I'm glad I gave "Coraline" a chance. It was a perfect October read and I would highly recommend it.  I'm even hoping to give the movie another go this month... without the storm and preferably with someone else home.

RATING: 4 PAWS