I wouldn't call it scary either. I mean, its sort of a cutesy "isn't it fun to describe the scary things!". Ofcourse, it is sheer genius, and I loved it very much. I think the best term for it would be comfortably disturbing.

CORALINE made me a Neil Gaiman fan. Ever since I read it, I've been pouring over Neil's previous works looking for more of the excitement and thinking that Coraline produced for me. The button-eye thing will be as scary as the reader's ability to visualize it. I mean, was the eyelid closed before the button was sewn on or open? If it was open, did the eye dry out behind the button now that the eye lids could no longer be closed? For me, the best children's books carru with them the potential of truly scary. but only when an adult reads them and considers what they may really be saying. Peter Pan is scary when it suggests that adults are to blame and should be killed for forcing children to grow up. Sleeping Beauty is scary for its look at the fragility of life and mankind's inability to change its own destiny-- a single prick from a spindle is all it took. ANd on and on. Look what Neil did with Snow White?

I think she never had eyes in the first place and the buttons were sewn on like a Raggedy Anne doll. Brrrr....
I used to find the Red Shoes or Slippers or Red Dancing Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen particularly disturbing when i was young. How the little girl had to have her feet cut off coz she couldnt remove the dancing shoes which made her dance non-stop. There was another one about 3 cats with big eyes, one with eyes as big as towers (mind-boggling visuals, man) - East of the Sun, West of the Moon, was it?

God, is my memory's failing me in my twilight years... must be all the booze

Coraline is a book for all ages. You can't expect Neil to write a story that will make your children have sleepless nights.

Anyway, it's still a wonderful masterpiece for I, as an adult was still able to enjoy it.

Bravo Neil!!!

I never heard that Neil did it just to scare his readers.
Never thought he meant to... i think he just wanted to write some horror tale for chidlren and succeed.
It's a very good story about : you think your parents are naughty, guess they are cool compare to some other stuffs that can happen to you.

Péné

dream on and just slide

I wouldn't call it scary... but creepy.I think theres a difference between a book being genuinely frightening and a book being just kind of...you know, making you shudder from time to time, which was what it did for me.

Yes, it was a great book, but, rather sadly, it was quite short. I guess children need thier share of his books, too.

annairia

hmmmm read coraline ages ago.... loved it and still do. not sure my nephew would agree with me though.... he doesnt read much. but then i may have a problem with the things that are out there to read anyway. the stories that are written for kids by other authors tend to spoonfeed their imaginations (potter... and the rest) and dont encourage the imaginative process. in coraline so much is left up to you to decipher the true meaning of it all.... buttons for eyes, lost childrens souls, etc.
our childrens minds have changed. the stories we grew up ... baba yaga, the brothers grimm, the silver chair, and the rest really freaked the s@#t out of us but we read them. today.... its guns and ammo, xbox and n64. its a pity. its so difficult to get kids to think creatively now...

I just made my boyfriend read it. He got to the bit with the black button eyes and started looking worried, then got to the bit with the parents in the mirror and absolutely freaked. Being mean, I laughed.

------------------------------
'Huns! Visigoths! Vandals!'
(Hugh, Brian Friel's Translations)

Update on people being scared: Gave it to my housemate to read and she cam back three days later and told me off for giving her a scary book when she was on her own in the house with the psycho housemate. She's 21.

quote:

Originally posted by jello:
It didn't scare me either. Creeped me out a fair bit here and there, but not scared really. Still a good little book though.

jello.
aka aron.

Then you're one tough son of a bitch!!! i mean...look at you...wow!!! as if it would impress everyone to tell that the book didn't scare the shit out of you...this book is meant for 13 yr old kids and below...man you must be freakin' 80 yrs old...

I thought the book was exciting. It made me smile at many times, and chilled me at others. I think the book would be scary for a 10 year old, not for a 24 year old. I think its really good and really fun though.

I read Coraline when I was 11, and I was not really scared of it, just a little creeped out. Now I'm 16, and I recently reread it, and I found it a lot more scary than I did the first time. I am not sure why though. Still a great book!

I'm currently reading it to my son at bedtime and he doesn't seem a bit scared. (he's seven) but we're only on chapter 6-ish.

And I did inform him that this book was kind of scary, he wanted me to read it anyway.