The other day someone said I only blog once a month. Actually, that's not true at all - but I suppose I could post more regularly, however due to the sad lack of feedback I receive it is actually kind of hard to motivate myself into blibbering about nothingness. Yup.
Anyway, I decided to do some REVIEWS. Just because I feel like it. OK, so this post basically goes out to Coraline, my friends. A fantastic story about a girl who feels neglected that journeys through a door in her house to another world - exactly like her own, only better in every way imaginable. Coraline is wowed by this other world, and her "other mother" and "other father," both whom shower her with love and attention! It's a marvellous adventure; until she discovers that all is not as it appears to be.
By the way, Coraline is not scary. Well, no, it might be. I suppose if you are afraid of dolls, and jumping mice, and dopplegangers and 'menacing themes'......... It's a story where the more grown up you are, the scarier it seems, I think. So child yourselves and watch/read it! It gives you the chills, a bit, I reckon. IT'S AWESOME! It's definitely worth your time, I promise :)
(Following contains quotes and hints, but no actual spoilers)
CORALINE: the book
Just this week I read Neil Gaiman's Coraline. It was a pretty lucky that I saw it in the library, because I had no idea that Coraline was originally a novel. And wow, it's unlike anything I've ever read before. Completely unique - it seems to have been written for kids...but is it really? The language is so simple, so immensly easy to read. It doesn't waste time on long, flowery descriptions, leaving a lot to your imagination - yet it's been so expertly written to really produce a thrilling, disturbing effect. My favourite thing, was that in the book, you can find so many creepy and cool excerpts that really just stick with you:
'Why does she want me?' Coraline asked the cat. 'Why does she want me to stay here with her?'
'She wants something to love, I think,' said the cat. 'Something that isn't her. She might want something to eat as well. It's hard to tell with creatures like that.'
'Darling,' said the woman. 'Why did you ever run away from me?'
'But how can you walk away from something and still come back to it?'
'Easy,' said the cat. 'Think of somebody walking around the world. You start out walking away from something and end up coming back to it.'
'Small world,' said Coraline.
'I swear it,' said the other mother. 'I swear it on my own mother's grave.'
'Does she have a grave?' asked Coraline.
'Oh yes,' said the other mother. 'I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.'
Part of the odd thing, is that Coraline is mostly written from a third person dramatic/objective point of view (thank you, it appears I might have learned something in English class after all). So a lot of the time, we aren't given Coraline's thoughts and feelings - only her actions and words. Kind of weird when you hear another character make a creepy statement, and you can only imagine how you would feel in Coraline's position. That is the beauty of this book, I think. TES described the novel as 'Alice with attitude in a dark, creepy, graphically described Wonderland.' I have to agree with this completely, and say that Coraline is an incredible work of literature. I would absolutely recommend! 4/5 stars
CORALINE: the movie
CORALINE: the ds game
