At first I was not a fan of "Coraline". The first few chapters were difficult to get intio because they were kind of wierd and I think the fact of Spring Break did not help much. However, I did get through it and once Coraline passed into the other mother's house, I became much more interested. I loved how at first, she loved the new house even though it was very different from her real flat. I especially loved how Coraline reacted to her pink and green room, she felt such distain and disgust!
I feel for Coraline, because I also know what it is like to be ignored by parents, especially when you are a young child that cannot just find something fulfilling to do. I think that Coraline realized this because she explains this to the other mother's version of the crazy old man in the upstairs flat.
I think that this book is a perfect example of how people are never happy with what they have. You parents will always be your parents and they will always love you, even if they don't happen to show it. I don't know if I would like having a mother like Coraline's other mother. She is kind of crazy and I would be soooo annoyed with always having my mother around to make me happy. I will also never learn to make myself happy, so what would happen if/when my extremely attentitive mother was not around. "Coraline" is a perfect book for children because it has a message that is pretty blatant, but she has to go on this journey to realize that she already has what she wants. Many of the books we have read have this same moral.
I still have about 30 pages to read, but from what I can tell, and what I hope is that Coraline finds her parents and that the other mother lets her go back to the world she was always suppossed to be in.
3 comments:
In the begining I had different feelings about Coroline, in that i felt that some on the information given in the begining ruined the book for me because i began expecting things, but i realize it is a very short book. For example, she had a dream about the creepy mice talking about taking over in like the first chapter and from then on I just knew something was going to happen with the mice. Then she had her fortune told with her tea leaves and from then on i knew she was in danger. When the little voice told her to look through the stone, i knew it was magical and i knew something unique went with the snow globe as soon as she pointed out it wasnt on her mantle piece at home.
But with all that aside, I really enjoyed the book. It was different. I couldnt place Coralines age but I am assuming its around nine or ten, simply because her parents allow her to explore alone all the time and she was a microwavable expert. I thought that this short little story was good and made me proud that she got through everything without harm. Im glad her and the cat became friends but I thought the book would show her parents changing and giving her more attention in the end, not just for that page or two and the day immediately after she woke up.
Although I enjoyed the book somewhat, I wouldn't say that I particularly liked it. I wasn't really intrigued nor did I find myself anxious to turn the page (except for the need to read it). Even though the other books we've been reading are for children, this book was the only one so far that felt like it was for a child. My daughter, after reading the back of the book jacket, now wants to read the book but I feel like it's almost too juvenile for even her. The overall story was nice and there are certain aspects I appreciated. I liked how Coraline is basically the only heroine, I know she had a little help, it was her ideas and her cleverness that got her out of the situations. Also, I think that this could be an empowering book for young girls as she has to save the parents and at the end she doesn't think they even know-like she's the one with the power. The other part of the story that I really liked was what resolve she felt when her other mother showed her her real parents talking about how glad they were to be rid of. Even though she felt neglected by them, she was very sure of how they felt about her and she didn't doubt their love for her. I think most children reading this could relate and feel reassured. However, there were a couple of things that disturbed me about this book.I thought the girl butterfly at the end was terribly confusing and I didn't understand why the author would include something like that, I never got the point or inference. Secondly, it really bothered me that Coraline's parents would allow her to go microwave a pizza instead of eating dinner like the rest of them. And lastly, it made me wonder what kind of kid doesn't get worried after the 1st night she realizes her parents are gone. I think this made the character less real, less familiar with the audience and much less relatable. I feel like because of these reasons, I never much cared for Coraline and her struggle and think this made the book poorer for it.
I also enjoyed the part where Coraline goes to the other mother's house. It reminded me of something that would happen in a SciFi movie. At first I didn't really know what to think of this new other world because it was very strange how the other family treated her with so much kindness and the other creatures are kind of evil. I also have not gotten completely through with this book, but I do agree with Jennifer that most of the books that we have read have had some kind of adventure to make the main character(s) realize that they should appreciate what they have and make the most of it. I have a feeling that Coraline will make it back to her real parents.
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