Tuesday Book Club; Coraline by Niel Gaiman
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Hey there Earthlings,
Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend an ear.
Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky and
wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.
Book blog day boo yah. As
you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we talk anything and
everything and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on the book
Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
Coraline
Jones and her parents move into an old house that has been divided
into flats. The other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible,
two elderly women retired from the stage and Mr. Bobo, initially
referred to as "the crazy old man upstairs," who claims to
be training a mouse circus. The flat beside Coraline's is unoccupied,
and a small door that links them is revealed to be bricked up when
opened.
Coraline
goes to visit her new neighbours. Mr. Bobo relays to her a message
from his mice: "Don't go through the door." Coraline also
has tea with Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and Miss Spink spies
danger in Coraline’s future after reading her tea leaves.
Despite
these warnings, Coraline decides to unlock the door when she is home
by herself. This time, she finds the brick wall behind the door is
gone. In its place is a long hallway that leads to a flat identical
to her own, except inhabited by the "Other Mother" and
"Other Father," who have black buttons for eyes. The Other
Mother is notably taller and thinner than her real mother. Her black
hair seems to move by itself, her skin is paper-white, and her nails
are long and red. Coraline finds the "Other World" more
interesting than her own; the Other Mother cooks food that she
actually enjoys, both of her Other Parents pay more attention to her,
her toy box is filled with animate toys that can move and fly, the
Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible perform a never-ending act in
their flat, and the Other Mr. Bobo performs a mouse circus. She even
finds that the feral black cat that wanders around the house in the
real world can talk. The cat identifies itself as the same cat that
lives in the real world, and possesses the ability to travel through
the gaps between the two worlds. Although intentionally rude and
unhelpful for the greater part of the conversation, it briefly
praises her for bringing "protection," then vanishes.
After
Coraline returns to the copy of her flat, the Other Mother offers
Coraline the opportunity to stay in the Other World forever, but in
order to do so, Coraline must allow buttons to be sewn into her eyes.
Coraline is horrified and returns through the door to her home. Upon
return to her apartment, Coraline finds that her real parents are
missing. They do not return the next day, and the black cat wakes her
and takes her to a mirror in her hallway, through which she can see
her trapped parents. They signal to her by writing "Help Us"
on the glass, from which Coraline deduces the Other Mother has
kidnapped them. Though frightened of returning, Coraline goes back to
the Other World to confront the Other Mother and rescue her parents.
In the garden, Coraline is prompted by the cat to challenge the Other
Mother, as "her kind of thing loves games and challenges."
The Other Mother tries to convince Coraline to stay, but Coraline
refuses, and is locked within a small space behind a mirror as
punishment.
In
the small dark closet space, she meets three ghost children. Each had
in the past let the Other Mother, whom they archaically refer to as
the "beldam,"
sew buttons over their eyes. They tell Coraline how the Other Mother
eventually grew bored with them, leaving them to die and cast them
aside, but they are trapped there because she has kept their souls.
If their souls can be rescued from the Other Mother, then the ghosts
can pass on. The ghost children implore Coraline to escape and avoid
their fate.
After
the Other Mother releases Coraline from the mirror, Coraline proposes
a game: if she can find the ghost children's souls and her parents,
then she, her parents, and the ghost children may go free. If she
loses, then Coraline will let the Other Mother sew the buttons into
her eyes and become a loving daughter to her. The Other Mother agrees
and they both swear on their right hands.
Coraline
searches through the Other World and overcomes the Other Mother's
obstacles by using her wits and Miss Spink's lucky stone (the
protection the cat referred to) to find the marble-like souls of the
ghost children. She also deduces that her parents are imprisoned in
a snow
globe on
the mantelpiece. The ghost children warn her that even if Coraline
wins, the Other Mother will not let them go, so Coraline tricks the
Other Mother by announcing that she knows where her parents are
hidden: in the passageway between the worlds. The Other Mother cannot
resist gloating by opening the door to show Coraline that her parents
are not there. When the Other Mother opens the door Coraline throws
the cat at the Other Mother, grabs the snow globe, and escapes to the
real world with the key, and the cat quickly follows. While escaping,
Coraline forces the door shut on the Other Mother's hand. Back in her
home, Coraline falls asleep on a chair. She is awoken by her parents
who have no memory of the events.
That
night, Coraline has a dream in which she meets the three children at
a picnic. The children are dressed in clothes from different periods
and one seems to have wings. They warn her that her task is still not
done: the Other Mother will attempt to get her back and will try to
get the key to open the door between the worlds. Coraline goes to the
old well in the woods to dispose of the key. She pretends to have a
picnic, with the picnic blanket laid over the entrance to the well.
The Other Mother's severed hand attempts to seize the key, but steps
on the blanket and falls into the well. Coraline returns to the
house, greeting her neighbours (who finally get her name right), and
getting ready for school tomorrow.
- Coraline Wiki
Coraline was written by
Author Neil Gaiman and published under the Genre of Dark Fantasy by
Bloomsbury(UK) and Harper Collins (US) on February 2nd
2002. Coraline has been printed in various languages as well as being
released as an E-book as well as an audiobook.
Neil Gaiman was born on
November 10th 1960 to parents David and Sheila Gaiman,
Neil has two younger sisters Claire and Lizzy. Gaiman started reading
at the age of four and has stated that reading was a pleasurable
activity for him. As a child and teenager Gaiman read the works of
many of the fantasy masters; C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis
Carroll, Mary Shelly and more. At the age of 19 Gaiman wrote to his
favourite science fiction writer R. A. Lafferty a letter and a
Lafferty Pastiche (a work of art, literature, theatre or music that
imitates another's style) he had written. Lafferty sent an
informative and encouraging letter back along with literary advice.
Gaimen wrote his first book in 1984 which sold very well even though
he thought he'd done a bad job, when he went to relinquish the rights
he'd found out the publishers had gone bankrupt. Thanks to pursuing
Journalism in the early 1980's Gaiman managed to write interviews for
many British magazines occasionally using Pseudonyms doing so. He
quit Journalism in 1987 due to British newspapers printing untruths
and wrote Don't panic: The Official Hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy
companion and writing a few comics after forming a friendship with
comic-book writer Alan Moore.
Coraline became a movie and
was released in 2009 as an American stop-motion animation written by
Henry Selick and released by Laika as its first feature film to great
reviews and a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Coraline was put up for
Best Music, Best Character Design and Best Production design in an
Animated feature Production with the Annie Awards and won them (3
awards) as well as a nomination for an Academy Award for Best
Animated Feature and received Golden Globe award nomination for Best
Animated Feature Film.
I came across Coraline via
the movie I'd been unaware of the book and hadn't even heard of it
until long after watching the movie in both the cinema and on DVD. It
took me some time to find and buy the book, I ended up having to send
a copy back due to buying an Italian copy rather than an English one.
Once I got the book I read through it rather quickly and noticed the
differences between the book and the movie. Difference one is that
Coraline is more cautious and more aware in the books rather than in
the movie, Difference two is the Character Wybie and the fact he is a
movie character not a book character, Wybie was written into the
story to add both some backstory and to lengthen the movie overall
and Difference three is the fact that the corridor between worlds
feels more strange and ominous to Coraline in the books whilst the
movie makes next to no mention of this until Coraline's last escape
from the other world when it changes from the grey dusty corridor to
a long and glowing one.
I LOVE Coraline and I
recommend this from children ages 8 upwards, Young adults and adults,
and I give both Book and Movie an 8/10.
WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
And
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