<< Back 11/20/02 Through the looking glass door ‘Coraline’ a parable of courage and love for readers of all ages SMN Coraline by Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Dave McRean). HarperCollins Publishers, 2000. $15.99 — 162 pp. Children should learn to beware of boredom — especially in the world of fantasy literature. Take Coraline Jones, for example, a young girl (small for her age) who lives in a London flat with her parents. It is summer vacation and a rainy, foggy day. Coraline’s parents are too busy to talk to her — locked up in their separate studies, clicking the keys of their computers ... workaholics who just don’t have time to have fun. There is nothing to do ... except visit the two dotty old ladies next door who talk endlessly about the past when they were actresses and “trod the boards;” or go up stairs and visit the crazy old man who claims to be training a rat orchestra, but never lets Coraline see or hear them. Coraline is bored. “Go count everything that is blue,” says her exasperated father. “Then count all the windows and doors in this building,” ... and Coraline does that. That is how she came to find the locked door that didn’t go anywhere because there was a brick wall on the other side. Coraline was warned to stay away from the door, by the dotty old ladies (who saw a warning in their tea leaves — “Don’t open that door.”) Why not? There was just a bricked-up wall there .... well, usually. Sometimes, when the door was unlocked with the big, rusty key that hung on the wall .... sometimes the bricked-up wall was gone and there was a long corridor that went to the “other” house. That’s right, another house exactly like the one where Coraline lived — except for a few oddities. The walls were painted a different color (more interesting) and Coraline’s “other” bedroom (a more interesting version of her dull, uninteresting bedroom) had a box full of toys that were alive, and crawled under the bed to hide when she entered ... and books with “living” pictures ... and paintings that changed. There were even ... “other parents,” who looked just like Coraline’s “real” parents” ... except they had buttons for eyes. They cooked wonderful meals (which the “real” parents failed to do) and were attentive to Coraline’s every desire. At first, it was fun, having her every wish fulfilled and being followed about by her doting “other” mother ... but then she began to notice things. Outside of the other house, the world stretched away in a kind of vague fog and objects began to lose their details. Coraline was puzzled until the cat (one that was identical to the cat in Coraline’s other world, except that cat didn’t speak) told her why. “She makes it up,” said the cat. “Who?” said Coraline. “Your other mother,” said the cat. And Coraline begin to learn that the “other world” was a trap designed by a creature that wants a daughter to stay with her ... forever. Eventually, Coraline escapes and returns to her other world, only to discover that her parents have vanished. After a two-day search, she finds them locked inside the mirror in the hallway, unable to speak, but her real mother wets her finger and writes SU PLEH on her side of the mirror. Eventually, poor frightened Coraline realizes that her parents are prisoners in the “other” world, and she must return there to rescue them. Armed with a talisman (a pebble with a hole in its center) and accompanied by a talking — and very arrogant — cat, Coraline returns to find that there are other prisoners, too ... other children locked in an eerie world that is dominated by an insatiable mother with button eyes, who eats black beetles like they were popcorn and murmurs, “I love you, Coraline. You can stay here forever!” Although Coraline is advertised as “for young children ages eight and up,” it enthralled this 60-ish reviewer. Neil Gaiman has an uncanny ability to depict the eerie and fearsome, and none of these details conflict with what is essentially a marvelous little parable about the nature of courage and love. Coraline not only learns to treasure her flawed world and her eccentric, distracted parents, but she discovers what “true bravery” is. As she tells the curious cat, it is “when you are scared, but you do it anyway, that is brave.” Oddly enough, this is a lesson that she had learned from her bumbling father. There are enchanting passages and spooky happenings galore. For example, in the “other world” where all wishes are granted, the dotty old ladies are still performing in a strange theater to an audience of dogs that bark their approval — yet there is something sinister about the theater with its endless performance. Then, there are the talking rats that do an acrobatic act and sing ... but are not at all entertaining. It is possible to make a comparison between Alice in Wonderland and Coraline. Indeed, I am sure that Neil Gaiman crafted this marvelous little parable with an awareness of Alice. But, Coraline is very much her own person. Her world is as fanciful as Alice’s, but with a distinctly eerie, unique atmosphere. In addition, Coraline not only learns something, but she takes an active part in a fight to “return home” to the arms of her inept, boring parents ... and when she returns ... she is glad to be there. (Gary Carden is a writer, storyteller and lecturer whose book, Mason Jars in the Flood, was recently named Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com.)