Coraline - A Book Review

Over the past week, I finished the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. It was recommended to me by my best friend and since I had just seen the movie, I figured it would be a good time to read it (that and it has been forever since I've sat down and read a book from start to finish. I just looked and my last book review was on Feb 9 and that book wise is a ridiculously long time ago, although I did start two books that I haven't finished between then and now.) Neil Gaiman could easily become one of my favorite authors once I begin to read more of his books, seeing that Coraline is the only one I have read. Mirrormask, a movie which came out in 2005, was written by Gaiman; I totally recommend that movie, especially if you liked movies like the Dark Crystal and the Labyrinth.

Anyhow, Coraline is a book about a young girl named, you guessed it, Coraline. I am typing that correctly too, in case you haven't heard of the book or movie, her name is not Caroline and this does play a part in the book, although knowing the character's name, I almost continuously read the book as Coraline even when Caroline was on the page. Coraline moves into a flat converted from part of an old house with her parents. Her parents seem ever busy and a bit clueless as to what to do with Coraline, so Coraline goes off exploring her new surroundings by herself. She explores the property and meets the new neighbors and then she finds a door in her flat that when opened leads to nothing but a brick wall separating her flat from another. But that's what happens only sometimes. When she opened the door again the brick wall was gone and she enters what I imagine to be a very creepy and supernatural air duct and finds herself in a mirrored version of her own flat, complete with parents. These parents take complete interest in her, almost as if their world revolves around her, and even the neighbors get her name right. These parents however have buttons for eyes and tell Coraline that she can stay with them if she accepts her own set of button eyes.

Instead Coraline asks to go home, which these other parents agree to, but when she gets to her real home, she finds her parents missing. Coraline knows that her "Other Mother" must have stolen them. So she goes back to her "Other Flat" to rescue them. Throw in three dead children locked behind a mirror and an unlikely ally in a talking cat, and you have one creepy, but very smart and creative, story.

What children would see as a story about a courageous girl trying to save her parents, adults probably would find this book to be a bit darker. The button eyes alone were enough to creep me out. I think that this is one of the stronger elements of the story as it is often difficult to write a children's book that can truly appeal to adults on a different level. This clearly is a demonstration of Gaiman's talent, but I'll hold out on any more judgement until I read another one of his books.

There are numerous parts of the movie that closely follow the book, but new elements were added in, to what benefit I'm not sure now having read the book. Since I saw the movie first, I actually enjoyed these additions including Wybie, a boy near Coraline's age who plays an important part in the movie (even though the role is somewhat small), and a doll that looks exactly like Coraline, only with buttons for eyes, that Wybie gives to her after finding it at his grandmother's house. As creepy as the doll is, it didn't play much of a role in the movie, and isn't in the book at all, so beyond it tying into Wybie's character and his believing in Coraline, I wasn't disappointed by this change from book to movie. I was a bit disappointed however that Wybie's character was not in the book (most likely stemming from my having seen the movie first, had it been the other way around I probably would have thought that he was an unnecessary element). I still recommend seeing it, especially in 3D (totally worth the extra money for that format).