When I find myself pacing through the aisles of a bookstore, sometimes for hours, I try to find something that stands out. Whether it’s an unusual name or just a strange premise, these are the hooks that normally pull me in. My latest read, “Coraline,” has both of these. “Coraline,” written in 2002 by award-winning British author, Neil Gaiman, is a dark, fairy tale-like story.
It follows the life of a young girl named Coraline Jones, who moves with her parents into an old house that has recently been converted into four apartments. Coraline’s workaholic parents, from whom she receives little attention, send her off to explore her new surroundings.
She soon meets a group of eccentric neighbors, including a couple of retired actresses that still have a taste for the theatrical, a strange, lanky man training a group of rodent musicians and a mysterious black cat.
Coraline finds a tiny door in one of the rooms of the house that leads her to another house exactly like the one she lives in, complete with a set of parents just like hers, except they have buttons sewn on their faces in place of eyes and offer Coraline every thing she desires.
At first, the “other world” she discovers seems fun and exciting. In this alternate reality, Coraline is given her every wish, but soon finds that it is too good to be true.
When she returns to the real world she finds that her real parents are missing. She must return to the other world and face her other mother whom is determined to keep Coraline in her world forever.
Gaiman does a very good job of developing unique and interesting characters in a short amount of time. Over the course of 150 pages he is able to create characters that all have distinct personalities.
I really enjoyed the dark style of the “other world” in this book. From the living toys in her room, to the three ghost children she encounters, this book isn’t short on supernatural elements. I think many of us in our childhood have wondered what it would be like to visit a place where we could have anything we desired, although we may have never considered what the consequences might be.
There was a 2009 movie adaptation of the book that featured the addition of a new character, Wybie Lovat, which I thought was unnecessary. He was a bumbling, shy, meekly irritating kid.
In the movie, Coraline even makes a joke at his expense, calling him Whyborne. As in, why was he born? He seemed to be a time-filler. I found his appearance in the movie to be an annoyance and unnecessary.
Other than that, the movie was pretty close to the book. Of course ,a few parts were cut and others added. One aspect I liked about the movie that was not in the book was the addition of a morbidly creepy doll given to Coraline that was a replica of her. It was used to lure her into the other world. The ending was also a little different, but not much.
If you are a fan of the “Chronicles of Narnia” or the Harry Potter series I think you probably have a good enough imagination to enjoy this book. I would definitely suggest that you make a spot for it on your bookshelf.
