Coraline is the story of a
young girl who lives in an old house, with typically British parents and some
eccentric neighbors.  One day when she is looking for some way to avoid
boredom, she goes through a door that seemed to lead nowhere.  But it leads her
into an alternate world very similar to her own, with duplicates of her mother
and father as well as her cat.  She soon notices some differences between this
world and the one she just came from; in this one, for example, her cat is
willing to talk to her.   Coraline meets many mysterious and unhappy characters
who live in fear of the "other mother," the powerful being who has
created this twin universe, and before long she confronts her other mother
directly.

Neil Gaiman will be best known to
many as author of the Sandman series of graphic novels, and he is author
of many fantasy novels and some British science fiction television shows.  If
he hasn’t written any Dr. Who episodes, then he should.  He has a
wonderful imagination, creating characters and stories that are reminiscent of
other works of fantasy and in some ways feel very familiar, but are distinctive
enough to avoid being derivative.  There are echoes of Alice in Wonderland
and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe here in Coraline, but
this story is of course set in modern times. 

Artist Dave McKean nicely
illustrates the paper version of the book, with spooky black and white drawings
of crucial episodes.  The audiobook on CD is nicely packaged, with some of the
same drawings.  The author reads his own story, and his understated performance
in his British accent works well in bringing the characters alive.  The audio
version has some archly humorous songs by The Gothic Archies, who have also
contributed songs to the audiobook recordings of Lemony Snicket’s Series of
Unfortunate Events, and they are an excellent addition. 

Link: Author
website

© 2003 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.