Coraline

[dyir]

I read Neil Gaiman's Coraline today in anticipation for the new movie, which M & I are seeing with Erin this weekend. M's prediction was extremely accurate, in that it only takes about two hours of consistent reading to finish. Not that it's a bad book by any account: it's a visually interesting and rather clever old sk0l fairy tale, following

Comments

[silver_rabbit]

His latest book doesn't have any mother/daughter weirdness, so I dunno. It actually had very happy parent/child relations, especially since it's about a little boy that lives in a graveyard.

The button-eyed people are the creepiest things I've ever read about in a children's book. I don't know what possessed Neil to write children's books--I'm guessing it was his daughter, or maybe he just hates children.

[mndwrm]

Actually I believe he enjoys children, unlike Roald Dahl (sp?), who wrote too many children's books for this to be reasonable.

Coraline did creep the poops outta me. Button eyes, and whatever that "Other father" was.

...wait, I'm still working through The Graveyard Book, but did you not read the first 10 pages of that book. Okay, there's no real parent/child interaction, but look at what he did to those parents!

[silver_rabbit]

Actually I believe he enjoys children...

Well they are delicious.

...wait, I'm still working through The Graveyard Book, but did you not read the first 10 pages of that book. Okay, there's no real parent/child interaction, but look at what he did to those parents!

OK, but that's not really parent/child interaction. It's parent/crazed murderer interaction, not to mention the bloodiest intro to a children's book that I've ever read. So maybe Neil just hates parents?

[mndwrm]

Ah, glad someone else has read the book--I picked it up when it came out, but should probably read it again. I've already told Jackie that we're watching that movie on Friday--she has no choice in the matter, as when Mirrormask came out. We drove a couple hours to Irvine to watch it on opening day--and found an excellent theater that plays indie movies on a regular basis.

Been looking forward to this movie for a while now, and got to see the puppets at ComicCon last year (you guys should totally come out for it this year).

By the way, it appears that Gaiman has a son and two daughters, though there is no mention of a "wife."

[odiejas1]

Tried to post this yesterday, but LJ was being retarded:

Actually according to IMBD and Neil Gaiman's website:

"His wife Mary, an American, is four years older than Neil and he lives in Menomonie, Wisconsin, with his wife Mary, two daughters Holly and Maddy, and son Mike." Gaiman says he never mention's his wife because unlike his kids, his wife "is happier to be a shadowy and mysterious figure in the background, or something."

Although I believe he now lives in Minneapolis and an interesting tad bit is that his daughter Holly actually played a "kid" in Neverwhere on the street, in one episode.

Anyways just thought I would set the record straight as the mysteries of the wife -- Which oddly enough is apparently a hot subject to Gaiman's fans.

[dyir]

Ah, well that's interesting to know, at least. I was wondering about his wife, since she didn't accompany him to the first showing of Coraline; instead, he took a female actress friend. Knowing that he has a wife, I'm sure it's nothing...but if you didn't know, you might wonder if he was divorced or something.

[mndwrm]

I was actually very impressed with Jackie's Google-fu when she found this the other day. I've looked, and have never found any of that info, and did assume there was some reason he didn't mention the woman who is(or are) his childrens' mother(s). Turns out there's one woman, and it's his wife. Go figure.

[deledrius]

Sounds neat, and I liked Mirror Mask. I wish I was going to see this too.