Cover from publsiher's website, Bloomsbury
Coraline – Neil Gaiman
Published 2002
Published by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins
Pages: 201
Audiobook: (Just under 4 hours - I do love a novella!)
I have a confession; I love Neil Gaiman. In fact, he’d be a contender for my favourite author, and at any hypothetical dinner party, it’s likely he’d make an appearance. He is an absolute gem, and I have had the pleasure of enjoying a number of his works as audiobooks – and, it gets better – he performs his own books! (Not many authors can make that claim) – and, his voice make the stories even better. He’s originally British, but has been living in America, and so his accent is a deliciously blended in-between. It’s heaven to listen.
I have consumed just about everything Gaiman has written over the years, with one exception – ‘Coraline’. It’s been on the outskirts of my list of things to get into, but it just hadn’t happened. That was until now!
Overview:
Ok, fair disclosure. While most of Gaiman’s works are written for adults; with at times graphic sex and violence in pockets of his work – this one is the opposite, and it’s written for children. The language is accessible and the main character is about ten years old. Her name, as the title suggests, is Coraline. She is an only child and her family has just moved into a new home, with some former thespian sisters living together as one neighbour, and an odd-ball old foreigner living above. They of course form some quite humorous vignettes, as the mice tell the old gentleman that ‘Coraline should beware the rats’. In communicating this to her, he offers that the mice often get things wrong, like her name – as he calls her Caroline. It wants to be funnier than it is and this made it feel a bit kiddy – and in the first half hour I nearly call it quits.
But… I plodded on. In a nutshell: Coraline goes through a locked door to a separate apartment – but what she discovers is another world. Here, she encounters her ‘other mother’. This felt like it carried a bit of whimsy, and we see everything on this side of the door is exactly as on the other – except her parents have buttons sewn on for eyes. Coraline is an explorer, and so she sets about exploring the world and soon discovered it is a ‘made’ world – and on the edges of their garden, the trees start to become blurry and are not really there. A cat warns her to be aware of the mother figure – and with good reason.
You see, the mother figure, despite her appearance and voice sounding like Coraline’s real mother, maintains an ‘otherness’ about her. She desperately wants Coraline’s love and affection, but Coraline refuses and she is thrown into a locked cupboard. There, she meets what is left of the spirits of three other children, who had all been caught by this witch-sorceress creature. Each of them had displeased the mother, and had their souls stolen. This leads into the complication of the text, as Coraline realises the direness of the situation. This witch hadn’t just stolen the children’s souls, but also, those of her parents.
Coraline in turn puts it to the other-mother that she would play a game with her: that she would seek out and find all the children’s souls and that of her parents, and if she did, the witch would let them all leave this created world. If she could not find them all, the witch would win and Coraline would stay in the world and pretend to love the other-mother. This all starts then to look like a ‘Hero’s Journey’ kind of a story, and as Coraline hunts for souls around the house she learns about herself. Eventually, she collects them all – but the cat had warned her not to trust the witch, offering that the witch would never let her leave. Of course, this comes to be the case, so Coraline has to trick the witch to be able to get back through the locked door to the real world. Yes, all very convenient.
The convenience continues into the final chapters – as Coraline had escaped with the witch’s key. The witch, obviously, wanted it back – so her dismembered hand was now running around the real world. When Coraline had arrived at her new home, she was warned about an old well which was hundreds of metres deep in the yard – so again, she sets up a trap where she puts a sheet over the well mouth, and the key in the middle of the sheet. Then of course the witch’s hand jumps on the sheet and falls and falls and falls – and is never heard of again.
Did I rate it? No, not really. It just became a bit too ‘meh’ in the end. If I was 12, I would have loved it – and this is probably evidenced by the fact that Tim Burton turned into a cartoon version back in 2009. But would I recommend you read it, nah, a lot better stuff out there to engage with.
I wouldn't blame adults for not liking caroline. This story was an assignment in my child literature class and as adult, not all of us liked it. I still have a copy somewhere. Also, I haven't really talk to kids who read the story; they may/mayn't like it and I kinda wonder what they think about it.
If I was being honest, I'm not sure kids read as much as they could. I think young people would be more likely to know the Tim Burton film and use that as the basis for their judgement. At any rate, while it won't be on my re-read list at any point in the future, I feel I needed to knock this one over given it's Gaiman. I guess that made it worth reading ;)
And, howdy mac, hope you're well.
Even as an adult, the book does strike as a decent storyline. Only that it is evidently for kids. And a bit 'meh'
Your post is now feautured on the Coraline by Neil Gaiman the book page!
If I didn't know any better, I'd reckon you were related with gaiman or summat 😅
Such high praise.
Which of his works would you recommend for a new reader?
This is treat! will definitely give it a go. I tend to listen to non-fiction audio books and read fiction. But will definitely give one of Neils a try.
Coraline on the other hand is definitely aimed at children. But I do get the urge to go through it all as it's a preferred author thing. I had the same feeling as Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free men. But have also read a few of his others aimed at Teenagers. Alas, something fans do. We consume so we can experience it all!
Great review btw, I enjoyed reading it !PIZZA !LUV
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The read seems to be quite long. However, I have watched the animated movie and it was very interesting to me. Perhaps because it was due to the way it was animated and I could just finish it in a shorter amount of time.