Review: _Coraline_, by Neil Gaiman
P. Korda
Coraline is an ordinary girl with ordinary parents. Her family has
just moved into part of a big, old house which has been broken up into
flats. The other inhabitants of the house aren't so ordinary; they're
rather eccentric-- Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are a couple of nice
old ladies who like to drink tea and reminisce about their younger
days in the theatre. The crazy old man in the attic flat, Mr. Bobo,
claims to be training a mouse circus, whose performers talk to
him. Finally, there is an empty flat which shares a wall with
Coraline's, and there is a door which used to connect the two, but
which was bricked up when the house was divided. Now, the door opens
onto a brick wall.
One day, however, when Coraline is feeling particularly neglected by
her busy parents, she opens the door and sees, not a brick wall, but a
dark hallway. Since Coraline fancies herself to be someting of an
explorer, she naturally goes through the door to see where the hallway
leads. What she finds is a strange mirror version of her house,
containing alternate versions of her parents and her neighbors. Her
"other mother" and "other father" are attentive, they give her lots of
cool toys and clothes, and feed her her favorite foods. Also,
everybody in the alternate world has black buttons sewn onto their
faces, instead of eyes. The "other parents" wants Coraline to stay in
their world, which is lacking an "other Coraline," but she declines
when they threaten to replace her eyes with buttons. Of course, that's
not the end of it, for Coraline's parents are kidnapped into the
mirror world by the "other mother," and it falls to Coraline to rescue
them. She quickly realizes that the mirror world, and the people
therein are not at all what they initially appeared to be.
Since it is by Neil Gaiman, it goes without saying that Coraline is a
well-written, engaging story. I recommend it without reservation for
the under-twelve crowd.
I also recommend it for older readers, including adults, but with a
warning. Coraline is an excellent children's book, but it is very
definitely a children's book. Like most kiddie-lit, it lacks the
complexity of style, plot, and characterization that makes for a great
grown-up novel. Coraline is infused with the spirit of childhood: from
the excitement of "exploring" familiar territory like the back yard or
one's own home to being a picky eater:
Coraline's father stopped working and made them all dinner.
Coraline was disgusted. "Daddy," she said, "you've made a _recipe_
again."
"It's leek and potato stew with a tarragon garnish and melted
Gruyere cheese," he admitted.
Coraline sighed. Then she went to the freezer and got out some
microwave chips and a microwave minipizza.
(I think the stew sounds quite yummy, myself, but you know how kids
are.) Even the scary bits reflect childlike fears: being abandoned by
one's parents, or having your parents replaced by cruel strangers,
terrible things that creep around at night, always out of direct view,
a witch with black buttons for eyes who eats beetles like popcorn. So,
if you're like me, and can put yourself in the right frame of mind to
appreciate children's literature for what it is, go for it. But, if
you dislike kid's books in general, this is not going to be one of the
rare exceptions.
One final tidbit: in Gaiman's other novels (graphic and textual), the
protagonists tend to be fairly passive. They react to, or simply
observe, the plot, but rarely initiate it themselves. Coraline is a
different bird altogether-- she's much more active, and in control of
her own fate, than the other Gaiman protagonists I can think of. I
wonder if this is because Coraline is a female[1], or because she's a
kid, or if Gaiman just decided to try something new. In any case, it's
a refreshing change.
Oh, and the book has some nifty illustrations by Dave McKean, if
you're into that sort of thing.
[1] The only other female protagonist from one of Gaiman's novels that
I can think of is Death, from the two Death mini-series. I don't
remember either of them well enough to say whether Death was an active
or passive heroine in those.
--
Pam Korda
kor2 @ midway.uchicago.edu
Home Page: http://home.uchicago.edu/~kor2/
Book Log: http://home.uchicago.edu/~kor2/booklog/
Kate Nepveu
[...]
>I also recommend it for older readers, including adults, but with a
>warning. Coraline is an excellent children's book, but it is very
>definitely a children's book.
[...]
>Even the scary bits reflect childlike fears: being abandoned by
>one's parents, or having your parents replaced by cruel strangers,
>terrible things that creep around at night, always out of direct view,
>a witch with black buttons for eyes who eats beetles like popcorn. So,
>if you're like me, and can put yourself in the right frame of mind to
>appreciate children's literature for what it is, go for it. But, if
>you dislike kid's books in general, this is not going to be one of the
>rare exceptions.
Nice review. I'd waffled about putting my own comments up here, since
I listened to the audiobook. Short version: liked it. Long version:
<http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2002_07_01_archive.php#link_85225875>
That's a good point about it being very definitely a children's book.
I think there's something about the other mother that speaks to some
adult fears, or at least adult issues, taking fear of childlessness to
an extreme; but by and large I agree.
>One final tidbit: in Gaiman's other novels (graphic and textual), the
>protagonists tend to be fairly passive. They react to, or simply
>observe, the plot, but rarely initiate it themselves. Coraline is a
>different bird altogether-- she's much more active, and in control of
>her own fate, than the other Gaiman protagonists I can think of. I
>wonder if this is because Coraline is a female[1], or because she's a
>kid, or if Gaiman just decided to try something new. In any case, it's
>a refreshing change.
[footnote relocated]
>[1] The only other female protagonist from one of Gaiman's novels that
>I can think of is Death, from the two Death mini-series. I don't
>remember either of them well enough to say whether Death was an active
>or passive heroine in those.
Death was more active; the first time we met her, she kicked Dream out
of his funk in "The Sound of Her Wings."
Gaiman has an essay about how stories have gender at
<http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/essay02.asp>; it's not clear to
me whether this necessarily maps with active/passive protagonists,
because I don't remember all of the stories that well.
>Oh, and the book has some nifty illustrations by Dave McKean, if
>you're into that sort of thing.
Though I wanted more of them.
--
Kate Nepveu
E-mail: kne...@steelypips.org *new*
Home: http://www.steelypips.org/
Book log: http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/
Joe Bernstein
<ko...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
> Neil Gaiman turns his hand to children's fantasy.
But wasn't <The Day I Traded My Dad for Two Goldfish> children's
fantasy? (Well, OK; you describe <Coraline> as good old-fashioned
classic *written* children's fantasy a la E. Nesbit or C. S. Lewis,
but still...)
> One final tidbit: in Gaiman's other novels (graphic and textual), the
> protagonists tend to be fairly passive. They react to, or simply
> observe, the plot, but rarely initiate it themselves. Coraline is a
> different bird altogether-- she's much more active, and in control of
> her own fate, than the other Gaiman protagonists I can think of. I
> wonder if this is because Coraline is a female[1], or because she's a
> kid, or if Gaiman just decided to try something new. In any case, it's
> a refreshing change.
> [1] The only other female protagonist from one of Gaiman's novels that
> I can think of is Death, from the two Death mini-series. I don't
> remember either of them well enough to say whether Death was an active
> or passive heroine in those.
Um, both of the Death stories are told from human POVs. The first
starred a teenaged boy, who definitely fell into the fairly passive
category; the second starred a lesbian couple, one of whom was not,
to my mind, nearly as passive as usual. (I'm also not entirely sure
I buy Richard Mayhew of <Neverwhere> or Tristam Thorn of <Stardust>
as either of them being all *that* passive. Perhaps this is because
in each case they're in mind-bogglingly weird circumstances, just
dealing with which fact requires all their attention. Thorn is more
passive anyway - partly because we see that he adapts to those
circumstances, but doesn't start making independent decisions anyway.
But neither is on the same level as, well, Dream. What's nice about
Foxglove as protagonist in the second Death series is precisely that
weird circumstances are not, for her, mind-boggling any more; so she
can, and does, deal with what happens, and with despatch. This series,
more than the first one, makes *much* more sense if one's already
read the relevant piece of <Sandman>.)
Death is definitely the driver of the plot in the first series, and
is, in a meaningful way, quite passive in this role; which is weird,
but possible.
Anyway, nit-picks aside, that was an excellent review. Thanks.
I'm disappointed to find that I'm now *two* Gaiman books behind,
but life will go on.
Joe Bernstein
--
Joe Bernstein, writer j...@sfbooks.com
<http://these-survive.postilion.org/>
P. Korda
Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>In article <JO6W8.23$Y4....@news.uchicago.edu>, P. Korda
><ko...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>
>> Neil Gaiman turns his hand to children's fantasy.
>
>But wasn't <The Day I Traded My Dad for Two Goldfish> children's
>fantasy?
I couldn't say, I haven't read it. Although, as somebody pointed out
in the "How do I introduce my two-year-old to science fiction," before
a certain level of development, the distinction between fantastic
fiction and "realistic" fiction is pretty much irrelevant. Really, I
think one could classify much of children's picture-book stories as
"fantasy," what with talking dogs, sentient trains, magical
pasta-pots, and the like.
>> One final tidbit: in Gaiman's other novels (graphic and textual), the
>> protagonists tend to be fairly passive. They react to, or simply
>> observe, the plot, but rarely initiate it themselves. Coraline is a
>> different bird altogether-- she's much more active, and in control of
>> her own fate, than the other Gaiman protagonists I can think of. I
>> wonder if this is because Coraline is a female[1], or because she's a
>> kid, or if Gaiman just decided to try something new. In any case, it's
>> a refreshing change.
>
>> [1] The only other female protagonist from one of Gaiman's novels that
>> I can think of is Death, from the two Death mini-series. I don't
>> remember either of them well enough to say whether Death was an active
>> or passive heroine in those.
>
>Um, both of the Death stories are told from human POVs. The first
Well, there you go. As I said I don't remember either of those stories
particularly well at all.
>starred a teenaged boy, who definitely fell into the fairly passive
>category; the second starred a lesbian couple, one of whom was not,
>to my mind, nearly as passive as usual. (I'm also not entirely sure
>I buy Richard Mayhew of <Neverwhere> or Tristam Thorn of <Stardust>
>as either of them being all *that* passive. Perhaps this is because
>in each case they're in mind-bogglingly weird circumstances, just
>dealing with which fact requires all their attention.
Yeah, "passive" is not exactly the right word, now that I think about
it. I used it because that's how others have described the characters
in past discussions, so it popped into my head. Perhaps a better
description would be "reactive" (as opposed to "proactive," or whatever).
>Anyway, nit-picks aside, that was an excellent review. Thanks.
>I'm disappointed to find that I'm now *two* Gaiman books behind,
>but life will go on.
Well, _Coraline_ is really short, so you could probably reduce your
Gaiman deficit to one (_American Gods_, presumably) with little effort.
William December Starr
kne...@steelypips.org said:
> Nice review. I'd waffled about putting my own comments up here,
> since I listened to the audiobook.
[ *snip* ]
>> Oh, and the book has some nifty illustrations by Dave McKean,
>> if you're into that sort of thing. [P. Korda]
>
> Though I wanted more of them.
The audio book had illustrations?
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
Kate Nepveu
>In article <fodkius59nj8h28e2...@news.earthlink.net>,
>kne...@steelypips.org said:
>> Nice review. I'd waffled about putting my own comments up here,
>> since I listened to the audiobook.
>>> Oh, and the book has some nifty illustrations by Dave McKean,
>>> if you're into that sort of thing. [P. Korda]
>> Though I wanted more of them.
>The audio book had illustrations?
We bought the paper book too.
The audio book had songs.