"Coraline" is one of those rare young adult novels which works well for both children and adults. I read it first to myself and then to my kids, and I was surprised to find that they were as delighted by it as I was, even though they were not as disturbed by some of the imagery of the book that got to me. The Dave McKean illustrations throughout the book serve to enhance the story rather than distracting from it, and as with most Gaiman/McKean collaborations, the pictures are almost ideally suited to the printed words, and vice versa.The story is simple, and at its basic level, it's one we've heard before. A young girl, bored and trapped inside on a rainy day, explores her house and finds a hidden passage into an alternate version of her house, in which things seem... different. Wrong, somehow. Though at first the differences are vague, they become more and more clear as the story progresses. When the inhabitants of the alternate house, specifically the twisted other-mother, somehow trap Coraline's parents, she finds that she must face the potential danger to get them back. Her companion for much of the resulting adventure is a cat, which can talk when it's of a mind to do so.
Lewis Carroll would be proud... "Coraline" is a book easily in the tradition of his Alice books, with all of the wonder and magic that he somehow captured, coupled with Gaiman's canny observations, witty dialogue, sprinklings of literary reference, and all-around good writing. There's plenty of story here to keep kids enchanted with the story, and plenty of meat for adults to chew on as well. "Coraline" is truly a book for children of all ages.
Perhaps it is only the perspective of an adult which makes some of "Coraline" so disturbing. Specific images from the book (long fingernails clicking against black-button eyes, for example) have stuck with me as both especially memorable and intensely chilling. Gaiman has a talent for such things, and I've come to admire him for it.
It is also Gaiman's best book to date, and this is coming from an avowed fan of Neil Gaiman. I enjoyed "Neverwhere" and adored "American Gods," but "Coraline" is a novel of another caliber entirely. In it, Gaiman walks the fine line between children's fantasy and adult terror, and what emerges is a story which is capable of addressing both, while not diluting the wonder or the horror.
Truly, a great book to be treasured for everyone in the family.
