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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Other Mother is going to get you
Coraline
Neil Gaiman
I read the re-issue Harper Perennial "P.S." edition pictured below
I didn't know Coraline existed until this reprint came though, and since I thought it looked cool and several of my coworkers clearly thought it was crazy that I hadn't heard of it, I read it. And it's Neil Gaiman, so you really can't be dissapointed.
This is a kids' book, technically, but that doesn't stop pure Gaiman from showing up. The man is fantastically creative in my opinion and comes up with full, rich stuff in all his books.
Coraline is a young girl who loves adventure but finds her domestic surroundings to be pretty boring. One day, she finds a door where a door should not be and steps into the world of her Other Mother, who looks a lot like her real mother except for the part where she's some sort of evil thing with shiny black buttons for eyes. However, at first Other Mother seems like a tempting option, with great food for lunch and neat toys and such, and wouldn't Coraline just like to stay and play forever? Coraline is tempted, but being a smart girl, she's a little uneasy and is allowed back to her own life when she makes the wise choice to get the hell out. However, Coraline is later faced with the task of going back into the realm of Other Mother in order to rescue her real parents.
Even though this is a kids' book, it won the grown-up Hugo award and is pretty darned creepy. The drawnings in this edition I thought were really creepy, and even though this edition is packaged for a slightly older reader, I think it would give the readers in the original age group total nightmares. However, the general though seems to be that kids' see the whole book as a neat adventure story and it's the adults that get the nightmares.
I didn't get nightmares...but this story kinda stuck with me. If you haven't read any Neil Gaiman, try him sometime, even if it's not this book. "American Gods" was good (if you're super duper religous you might not was to go there) and he also just realised a collection of a ton of his shorter works in a hardcover compilation that I should really know the name of. darn it.
ok, here:
posted by ~e at
2:20 AM
3 Comments:
Neil Gaiman. Hmm...
I've heard excellent things about Coraline, including from people who didn't like his other works. I read his collaboration with Terry Pratchett (Good Omens), and it really irked me, while I honestly couldn't stomach more than 30 pages of American Gods. But I think I might try this, as well as Neverwhere, which I've also heard is very good.
Yay for some fantasy!!! I used to read a ton, not so much nowadays.
10/01/2006 11:12 PM
Oh, yeah, one more thing for the benefit of Kat and ket. Marisa read this book and thought it disturbing and sick. Make of it what you will : ).
10/01/2006 11:20 PM
Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys is excellent! I listened to it on CD and the reader did an amazing job. I highly recommend it! I've also read Neverwhere, which is really good as well, and Stardust, which I thought was just okay.
10/04/2006 8:05 AM
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