You'll Never Know What Is Behind The Door

I recently finished reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 3.75/5 stars

"The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring....

In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. 

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. 

Only it's different. 

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. 

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself."

Take the buttons off your eyes and face alternative horror reality, girl

The creep factor is so immense thanks to Gaiman's writing skills and his seemingly wanting to traumatize people, a clever and first peaceful way, by generating more and more suspense until it escalates without much real violence. It´s more the permanent feeling of something being terribly wrong, more and more disturbing signs appearing, and the final realization of the protagonist what really is behind the seemingly better reality. So one message could be to

Maybe one's workplace, partners, friends, and kids suck, but hey, there could be parallel universes with seemingly better alternatives with hidden stipulations. It should also remind everyone about the fact that nobody is perfect, has flaws, stress, and everyday issues, and that in reality, seeming perfection and total harmony often come with hidden darkness. Of course, it´s nice to be the top enjoying the suffering of other bottoms to be mega happy, but one shouldn´t underestimate the potential for self-destruction that comes that way.

Who says that a seemingly evil nightmare creature can´t try to be a good mother? This perversion of the most intensive human bonding is a megatrope of any kind of horror and in this case, the tragic emotional impact and the manipulation are the second red line. Wishing, and mostly it stays just hoping because of a lack of magic in reality, for perfect parents is something perfectly normal during the aging process, but one should always be thankful for what one has already got. 

After a long setup, all disturbing, soul crushing facts are united with some action plot twists and Coraline living up to the expectations of being a brave, smart, and courageous girl. She realizes and accepts her issues and struggles, fights the inner and outer demons, and comes back even stronger and wiser than she already was before.

Dealing with one's fears is the message for both young and old readers. Maybe it was Gaiman's intention to first show how fear can manifest and paralyze, or seduce, to stay or become a victim or even perpetrator.

Check out Coraline, and discover what would happen if you were asked to sew buttons on your eyes.

Happy Reading :)