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Gaiman's Coraline
Aug. 21st, 2005 12:13 amI read Neil Gaiman's Coraline today. It was wonderful.
The only other Gaiman work I've read--well, halfway read--was American Gods. It ended up against the wall, I'm afraid. Once I'd figured out what the book was doing, there wasn't any thrill of discovery, no plot goodness or character revealing to keep me interested. Nice prose, though. *shrug* I understand I'm in the minority here. There were probably subtle nuances (or explosions of overwhelming brilliance) that were just lost on simple 'ol me. But I'm not the kind of person who can read for the sake of pure episodic weirdness. The good folks who voted for the Hugo and Nebula that year felt differently. Good for them.
But, Coraline... Such a lovely heroine with a POV that began as distant, almost literarily existential, and then tightened into real personality. And it worked that way. The gradually-focusing POV compliments her character transformation beautifully. Lots of quiet cleverness that makes it a nice grown-up read. Some odd Gaiman-esque dreamlike sequences that lose nothing for their weirdness. It's as if writing for young readers tightened that weirdness into relevance. Not a single wasted word, and I was able to see...a-HA! THAT's why people like Gaiman so much.
Highly recommended.
The only other Gaiman work I've read--well, halfway read--was American Gods. It ended up against the wall, I'm afraid. Once I'd figured out what the book was doing, there wasn't any thrill of discovery, no plot goodness or character revealing to keep me interested. Nice prose, though. *shrug* I understand I'm in the minority here. There were probably subtle nuances (or explosions of overwhelming brilliance) that were just lost on simple 'ol me. But I'm not the kind of person who can read for the sake of pure episodic weirdness. The good folks who voted for the Hugo and Nebula that year felt differently. Good for them.
But, Coraline... Such a lovely heroine with a POV that began as distant, almost literarily existential, and then tightened into real personality. And it worked that way. The gradually-focusing POV compliments her character transformation beautifully. Lots of quiet cleverness that makes it a nice grown-up read. Some odd Gaiman-esque dreamlike sequences that lose nothing for their weirdness. It's as if writing for young readers tightened that weirdness into relevance. Not a single wasted word, and I was able to see...a-HA! THAT's why people like Gaiman so much.
Highly recommended.
