Coraline
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| Author | Neil Gaiman |
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| Illustrator | Dave McKean |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | 2002 |
Coraline (2002) is a short novel for children and adults by the British author Neil Gaiman. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers.
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[edit] Plot
Often compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books because of its surreality and its alternate-reality based plot, Coraline is the story of a young girl aptly named Coraline ("Cora-LINE" like Caroline, but not), daughter of loving but terminally distracted and preoccupied parents, who finds a key to a locked door in the family apartment which previously opened onto a bricked up wall but now opens onto a dark corridor, down which she finds another apartment, seemingly an exact copy of her own, inhabited by her Other Mother. Once there, her Other Mother 'traps' Coraline in the other world, wanting her to live there forever.
The novel deals with concerns about identity, familial love and belief in one's self.
[edit] Characters
- Coraline Jones: The titular young heroine and self proclaimed explorer. Young, clever, and as curious as they come. She is often aggravated by rain, crazy grownups (as they all seem to be) and not being taken seriously. Perhaps her single biggest pet peeve is that everyone mistakes her name for Caroline (everyone in the real world at least, except the mice and her parents).
- Mummy and Daddy: Coraline's parents, loving but distracted computer workers, who do most of their work from home. They look nearly identical to their other counterparts except shorter and not as pale, and with normal eyes, while the others are the first people with black button eyes the young Coraline meets.
- Cat: A black cat that comes from the regular world. The cat acts like a mentor to Coraline and guides her through her journey. It claims to have no name because cats do not need names to tell each other apart. It can talk but only talks in the Other Mother's world. It helps Coraline obtain the last soul of the third child, and helped Coraline distract the Other Mother so they could escape.
- Other Mother: The person (or thing) that 'created' the 'Other' world. She is described as being tall, having long black hair that seems to move by itself, black button eyes, paper-white skin, and long fingers with sharp nails that always twitch. She cannot create, but only copy things and change them. So far, she has kept three other children, but stolen their lives, souls, and hearts. She then placed them behind a magical mirror. She lost her right hand while Coraline escaped and tried to get the key, but got it trapped down a well at the end.
- Other Father: A 'creation' of the Other Mother. He follows the Other Mother. He gets locked away in the empty flat for talking to Coraline behind the Other Mother's back.
- Miss Forcible and Miss Spink: A pair retired actresses that live next flat from Coraline. They own several Scottish dogs. In the 'Other' world, they are young, pretty and perform unendingly in front of these talking dogs. During the challenge they merge together into a giant blog-egg sack.
- Mr. Bobo: Normally known as the Crazy Man Upstairs. He is a retired circus performer and now is training mice to start in a band, although the mice refuse to play the way he wants them to. In the 'Other' world he does not exist, but is 'made up' of rats.
- Three Children: These former 'children' of the Other Mother. She stole their souls and lives, and put them behind a mirror. Coraline has to find their souls in order as part of a challenge.
One of them is a boy and the other two are girls, one with strange characteristics of a butterfly, or fairy. Judging by the way the talk, they must have been there very long. The night when she saves their souls from the Other Mother, Coraline has a dream where they all go out for a picnic.
[edit] Film
Laika Entertainment House (formerly Vinton Studios) is in production on an upcoming film based on the book to be directed by Henry Selick.
[edit] Graphic Novel
A graphic novel adaptation is in the works. It is being illustrated by P. Craig Russell and lettered by Todd Klein.
[edit] Translations
- Koralina (Polish), ISBN 83-89004-34-8
