Coraline

Definitely creepy, honestly a little surprised it's marketed as juvenile fiction. Granted, there's nothing super horrible that happens, but some of the imagery I could totally see scaring the little ones pretty bad.

I was confused having watched the movie first, because Wyborn is not in the book. The movie is pretty dang true to the book, so I had to look into it to see why a whole character was made for the movie. Apparently, he was made to fill the gaps in the movie where Coraline's thoughts were on the page. So it's at least understandable. Honestly I felt like Coraline literally being on her own to get everything figured out and get away from the other mother added some additional suspense to it.

It is nice to have a character that is scared but still manages to put on a brave face and meet the challenges head on.

This is one that I'll be saving and revisiting another time. The audiobook with the full cast was amazing, cannot recommend it enough!

Coraline is a children's book good enough to be organically read by adults. As it's fairly similar to the movie, I'll cover some not-so-obvious interpretations I had:

Throughout the read I couldn't help but feel like Coraline's other mother was a perfect embodiment of a BPD parent. Aside from the obvious BPD characteristics exhibited by the other mother, I felt the following quote summed everything up beautifully: "It was true: the other mother loved her. But she loved Coraline as a miser loves money, or a dragon love its gold. Int the other mother's button eyes, Coraline knew that she was a possession, nothing more. A tolerated pet, whose behavior was no longer amusing."

After reading the book, I found a great blog analysis that touched on the many thoughts I had throughout the read: pensievely.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/seduced-by-borderline-an-analysis-of-coraline/

BPD-aside, very fun book. Made me laugh a few times, a bit creepy, and was nice to finally read the book. I adore the movie.

Wonderfully whimsical tale that once again shows Gaiman's marvellous use of the strange and absurd to deliver commentary on the mundane and ordinary things in everyday life.

There's something about the way Neil Gaiman writes that appeals to me greatly. He doesn't WASTE words. No flowery, adjective laden descriptions or ridiculous cliches. And yet, I never feel cheated. He'll often move a character from one place or situation to the next, and if you're new to him or have been reading someone else you might think for a second "That was abrupt", but he does it well and it serves the story.

More importantly, Coraline is an engrossing tale. Firstly, while Coraline the character isn't particularly warm or cute, she's smart, inquisitive, polite... you feel bad for her in the boring life she's so unsatisfied with, and in the journey she takes from there. And she's brave, while still admitting her fears and insecurities. And all of this is done without wasting words and while maintaining a reading level that kids could follow.

The best part about Coraline is the fun, interesting, vivid story. Neil Gaiman creates an imaginary world here that still feels like it could exist. He doesn't explain away the differences between the book's world and ours with magic or science; his fantasy world exists in or world, and it doesn't feel like it couldn't or shouldn't. And what a world it is. "Other" parents in a house just like yours but better (and far worse) in the subtlest of ways. Keys, mists, a talking cat and ghosts... all done with a class and timelessness that others in the genre (that I'm familiar with anyway) have failed to pull off (but not to attempt).

It also seems like Coraline is just begging to be read aloud. Plenty of other books are this way too, but it's obvious that Gaiman knows how to write a story that kids and parents will enjoy cuddling up together with.