Friday, June 15, 2007

Coraline

Gaiman, Neil. 2002. Coraline.

Coraline is an interesting but odd book. The main character, Coraline--never call her Caroline unless you want to get on her bad side--is a young girl who loves adventure. She loves to explore. She loves to hunt out adventure. One day she gets a little more than she bargained for. When Coraline unlocked the ‘fourteenth’ door in her house, she opens up a magical but dangerous world. This other world has her other mother and other father. This seems like fun for a few hours. But soon Coraline is weirded out by the whole otherness of the experience and wants to go home. The problem? The other mother is pure evil and is not going to let her go easily. Sure Coraline makes her get away easily the first time. But that’s only because this other mother knows she’ll be back. When Coraline returns to the real world, she finds her parents are missing. Vanished. But Coraline has a feeling--a bad feeling--that it is all her fault. Could her other mother have kidnapped her parents in order to force her to return? Can she find a way to save her parents--and other lost souls--without losing her own? One exciting, slightly creepy, adventure has begun!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This book was incredibly creepy to me, but I loved it! I can't wait to see the movie version!

Framed said...

I don't usually like creepy books, but I just discovered Neil Gaiman and I think he's great. So I will probably read this soon and sleep with the lights on for a while.

Petunia said...

I was told that the book on CD was read by the author and that it was wonderful. It was. Neil Gaiman has the perfect read aloud voice and knows just how to draw lots of interest into each character and each level of the adventure. If you can get your hands on it I would highly recommend it.

Becky said...

Petunia, thanks for the suggestion. I've seen this one in my library...but I haven't checked it out yet. But I'll have to see if I can find time to fit in with everything else I'm trying to get read. I do love to listen to a good story now and then.

My favorite audio books so far (out of the ten or twelve I've listened to) are Cupid by Julius Lester and the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Both were read incredibly well.

Carl V. Anderson said...

Glad you enjoyed it. It is a wonderfully creepy, fun story. If you haven't read any of Neil Gaiman's other works, I hope you get a chance to. He is an amazingly wonderful wordsmith.

Faith said...

Becky, this book has been on my reading list for ages, and after reading your review I added it to one of the challenges I'm doing. I found a copy at Half-Price Books yesterday for 50 cents, and devoured it. Good book. Thanks for the recommendation!