How exactly did I miss reading and seeing Coraline before now? Seriously. Luckily for me, HarperCollins sent me the 10th anniversary edition to Gaiman's book.
Gaiman's prose is poetic, even while describing some pretty horrific scenes. While not exactly "Halloween" themed, this story is creepy, both physically and psychologically (mostly the latter). Coraline finds herself trapped in an "other" world--other mother, other father, other room, other flat. An adventurer by nature, she sets off on a challenging quest to get herself--and her parents--home. Coraline is a great character--scared but brave, mature but a child, stubborn but willing to accept help. I liked her relationship with the cat. (Of course.) The supporting characters also living in the divided-up house are interesting, and add some British quirk to the novel.
This is short but exciting, written well even if a bit simplistically at times, and a sort of horror version of the home-away-from-home tale. Gaiman taps into one of childhood's most common secret desires: "why can't I just have different parents--then my life would be so much better!" and spins it on its ugly head.
It was also interesting reading the interviews at the end of the book. The original Q&A is included along with one for this edition. It's neat to read Gaiman's response before and after the success of Coraline.
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