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Unless otherwise noted,
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is written by Brian Murphy
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Review Archive
BOOKS
Coralineby Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins; New York, NY; 176 pages; Hardcover; $15.99
Illustrations by Dave McKean
I first ran into Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere years ago while working on a ranch in Wyoming. One day during lunch I was reading a discarded newspaper and came upon a review of the book. Sounded interesting. There was little to do in the evenings on the ranch but drink, hang out with co-workers, or read. Most nights I found myself reading or writing. On my next day off, I drove to Laramie (a few hours away) and bought Neverwhere. Since then, I've read Good Omens, the Sandman series, Angels and Visitations, Smoke and Mirrors, American Gods, and a handful of other stories. These days I buy Gaiman books sight unseen. If his name's on the cover I'll buy it. I implicitly trust that he will deliver the goods.
Coraline is marketed as a children's book for adults. I find that a very apt description, though there are moments in Coraline that some children might find too scarey. I'm an adult and I found some scenes intensely creepy.
This book is along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, in that, there is much more happening here than just the story and the words on the page. Gaiman is invoking some age-old fable-telling traditions and themes. Critic and author John Clute has performed a nice literary biopsy on Coraline over at Science Fiction Weekly (the place of my employment). He points out these themes and traditions better than I ever could—so for a more detailed analysis, head on over there and read his "Excessive Candour" column.
Most children will love this story because it's about a little girl, Coraline, who goes off exploring into the "other" side of her house. A mirror image land where everthing looks the same as her regular house—but things are very different and very scarey. Her "other" parents are there, but they have buttons sewed onto their eyes and they want Coraline's love, almost as if it were an object. Ultimately Coraline is an adventure story on a miniature scale, never leaving the confines of the house and its surrounding property. It's the quest of a little girl to make her world right again and Gaiman uses perfect child-logic to pull this off.
Every now and again I read Neil Gaiman's web journal at NeilGaiman.com. He sometimes mentions how he reads to his youngest daughter or how, when he's off on a book tour, he misses reading to her. I think Gaiman might've written this book so he could have another wonderful tale to read to his daughter before she goes to sleep at night. In a few years, when my own child is old enough (and I'm positive that he/she won't be too terrified by the button-eyed other mother with her clickety-clackety claws, or by the thing in the basement that looks like a caramel melting on itself) I have every intention of reading Coraline to him or her. The cadence and word usage is perfectly suited for children. It's simple but powerful—even adults will find it a compelling read.
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