gracef's Full Review: Neil Gaiman and Raquel Vazquez Ramil - Coraline
I've been in a writing slump lately, but I have to review Neil Gaiman's Coraline "or else". You see, I have an impatient ten-year-old badgering me to finish the book so that she can read it. The ten-year-old isn't my daughter, but rather, my daughter's best friend.
My daughter doesn't want any part of Coraline. I started reading it to her, but a dozen or so pages into the book, my daughter stopped me and begged me not to continue.
The difference in the two girls' reaction to Coraline is due to their differing personalities. Unlike her best friend, my daughter hates stories of things that go bump in the night. If it's dark and dangerous, there's a good chance that she won't like it. The one exception has been the Harry Potter books. She doesn't mind those because there was significant amount of character development before things got scary. She was invested heavily in the characters and in their survival. The Harry Potter books also smack of the "good" kind of magic that will make everything work out even when things look bleak.
Coraline isn't like that, though. The story is intended for middle school age readers. My daughter is only in fourth grade, so it's none too surprising that the book might be too much for her. But still...
The title character in the story is Coraline, an inquisitive girl who is frequently overlooked by adults, including her parents. Most adults can't even get her name right! They call her "Caroline" despite her repeated attempts to correct them.
Coraline begins not long after Coraline moves into a new house with her parents. Her new home is in an old house that has been divided into flats. Upstairs lives an old man who talks of having a mouse circus. Downstairs lives two retired stage actresses named Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Coraline has no idea who lives in the other half of the building, and she isn't really all that concerned about it. That is, until she finds the door that opens onto a brick wall. Then the mystery begins.
Up until this point, my daughter grinned at Neil Gaiman's narrative. The neighbors seemed dotty but still fun. Her parents seemed distracted, but not altogether unlikeable. My daughter laughed at Coraline's eating preferences, which weren't all that different from her own.
But when Coraline went through the door and discovered the surrealistic world on the other side? Whoa boy! My daughter couldn't get away from the book fast enough!
I understand her reaction. Coraline is meant to be a thriller for children, and the story seems constructed of things that are common in many childhood nightmares (or at least the things MY nightmares were made of). Some of the elements are similar to stories that my older brothers told me when I was a child. And there are some twists that might surprise a child but, after my lifetime of spooky stories, didn't surprise me at all.
The pen and ink illustrations by Dave McKean also reflect an odd kind of child's nightmare world. They have a somewhat frantic feel to them. Perhaps it's because the human figures are somewhat distorted and angular. Or maybe it's because faces are sometimes blurred or ragged. Whatever the case, it leaves the feeling of someone who is quickly trying to record the images and then get away from them as fast as possible.
The cover of Coraline promises that the book is a "masterpiece" and that it compares with Alice in Wonderland. I don't really agree with that. Even as an adult, Alice in Wonderland thrills me in ways that Coraline didn't. Again, character development has much to do with it, I think. Coraline is so short that there really isn't much room for character development. Most of the characters are given little dimension. Even the title character doesn't really get the opportunity to make the reader care for her before she heads through the door.
So I really didn't care for Coraline as much as I'd hoped I would. Coraline was named to the 2003 ALA Best Books for Young Adults list, so I was expecting a much better book or at least something with better character development. Instead, I got a run-of-the-mill creepy story that my daughter wouldn't read or hear. I do think that Coraline would shake up the kind of kid that is previously accustomed to Goosebumps and similar books.
My recommendation? If you like creepy stories, go ahead and read Coraline if you have an extra hour and can check it out from the library. Just do so with your expectations in check. And if you have a ten year old around that likes this sort of book, encourage them to read Coraline. (What was it my grandmother told me? Reading cereal boxes is better than reading nothing at all.) But if you like well-developed characters with your scary stories or if you just don't like freaky stories at all, skip this one.
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