In an effort to read some spooky literature for this, the high holy season of Halloween, I went for one of my comfortable standbys, good old Neil Gaiman. Winning both the Hugo and the Nebula awards in 2003 and 2004 for best novella, Coraline deserves all the acclaim it received. Clocking in at only a little over 100 pages, Gaiman works his magic to build a terrifying little universe in a short space.
Even though this book was in the children’s section of my library, I won’t lie that I was tense and uncomfortable in the best possible way throughout this story. Coraline is a tween who has moved to a new apartment in an big old mansion. A door with a bricked opening in the sitting room plies her attention when her parents are too busy working to play with her. When she opens that door on a day when her parents are running an errand, the brick wall is mysteriously gone, leading to an apartment just like hers with parents who are—not like hers. Coraline’s curiosity gets the best of her as she finds herself trapped in her house that’s not her house, and the only way out is to beat her captor, the Other Mother, at her own game.
In true Gaiman fashion, the big bad is horrendously scary, even for an adult, probably more so because I’m adult and understand the nuance of what the big bad is doing. Coraline is trapped in a closet, cut off from her family, threatened, and we get the hint that she’ll probably be eaten. Gaiman’s quiet descriptions juxtaposed against the darkness of the Other characters makes for a terrifying landscape that was just as enjoyable for an adult as it would be for children.
Although, honestly, I don’t know if I’d read it to small children without a seriously large disclaimer. I could see this being nightmare inducing in some instances, which is exactly what Gaiman was going for, but whether one wants to be up calming their child from dreams of a disembodied hand chasing them isn’t up to me. So just exercise discretion and know your kid before choosing Coraline as a bedtime story.
5 stars for Gaiman awesomeness.
Bingo Square: Award Winner
Bingo down: Reading the TBR, Science, History/Schimstory, Award Winner, Summer Read