Coraline by Neil Gaiman
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Book Summary Author: Neil Gaiman Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2006-09-01 ISBN: 0061139378 Number of pages: 192 Reading Level: Young Adult Publisher: Harper Perennial |
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Book Reviews of the Coraline
Customer Review: Delightful and Engaging!
Summary: 5 Stars
I received the audio CD of Coraline in the mail yesterday in the early afternoon. I'd read the book, and heard parts of it read by the author here and there, so I put it on for background, while I did other things. The "other things" didn't even get started for roughly three hours.The recording begins with a verse from a quirky Gothic Archies tune in which Stephin Merritt sing-songs, "You are not my mother, and I want to go home," over layers of atmospheric dings and bonga-bongas. The song echoes the story's cohesion of humor and spookiness, and is split into three parts, playing a bit before each of the three CDs.
The story itself is a delight. Coraline is a typical child-explorer, examining the house and grounds to which she recently moved, uncovering the strange personalities that inhabit her world, and discovering that a door in her home which was previously bricked-up actually leads to a misty echo-world where old, hungry, button-eyed creatures masquerade as her other parents, having parent-napped her real parents, while trying to convince her to stay there forever so that they can keep her soul . . . Well. Perhaps her story is not so typical. Not typical, also, are the fantastic characters who pop in and out of the story, such as the Slavic mustached man who lives in the upper flat and is training a mouse circus, and his other-self, or the pair of dotty, but kind, retired theater mavens who read tea leaves and worry about their dogs' tummies, and their less-benevolent, other-world counterparts. Like any true exploration story, Coraline has an assistant for the more dangerous times, in the form of a condescending, snarkily witty black cat. And like every true exploration story, there are acts of great courage and startling discoveries made along the way.
Neil Gaiman is an engaging and expressive reader, as well as writer. He infuses the characters with a spark all their own, changing cadences and even accents, always to the benefit of the story. The pacing is smooth and quick, with minute dips and well-placed pauses that give the shivers a chance to manifest before the story is once again plunging on to the good stuff.
Coraline is a story that begs -- no, demands -- to be read aloud. Usually the problem is that someone has to be the reader, while the listeners get to experience the full effect and thrill of the story. Let the author be the reader, and indulge yourself in the sheer delight of hearing a wonderful story told well.