Ratings654
Average rating4.1
This is a somewhat scary children's (maybe middle grade) story - our POV character finds a portal to a somewhat different dimension and has to be brave and use creativity to save herself and others. In the end, she realizes that real life is quite interesting after all, and love isn't about always getting what you want. Well done.
Pretty delightful. I actually really enjoyed the details that the movie added, though. I also think Gaimam's comments are spot on, that children reading this book just see a fun adventure story, but adults are truly creeped out...yep, I was creeped out, particularly by the movie images.
This is a popular, well-known middle grade book (though, I suppose to most the movie is better known) that I've had the pleasure of revisiting recently. Still an absolute joy to read...an eerie, haunting, and disturbing joy, but a joy nonetheless. Gaiman always writers masterfully, and even though Coraline is geared toward a younger demographic, I loved it.
minor spoilers
This was very well written (although a bit creepy). I absolutely love Neil Gaiman reading aloud in creepy voices. I also really liked how Coraline was such a determined and smart little girl, who loved exploring and didn't shy away from problems she knew could only be solved by her and no one else.
That said, I got a nightmare thanks to the scene with the other-mother
Final thoughts based on notes:
As a quick read, it's a perfect story to kick off spooky season with. If you love the movie then you will definitely love the book just as much. It was a lot of fun seeing how similar the book and movie are, as well as things that were done differently.
This was a fun and fast read!
Would recommend if you liked other Neil Gaman's books.
This is like the perfect Halloween read that I read in winter instead; not that it was any less creepy. The author says in the interview that younger readers find this book to be an adventure whereas the adults get scared and I think that's the perfect description. It's eerie, terrifying and very unlike anything I would ever read, but ultimately it's a story about bravery and I ended up enjoying it.
I still won't say that Gaiman's writing style or humor works for me, but I now have hope that maybe I can get used to it given time. Let's see !!!
Well, I???ll tell you one thing: Neil Gaiman knows how to tell an interesting story!
read for halloweekend: set around halloween/gives halloween vibesneil gaiman is a good story teller and i'm sure i would like this more if i didn't see the movie. the pacing of this book compared to the movie was just so off to me because everything was happening so quickly, it didn't have time to first develop coraline as a character and second give that creepy eerieness and tension the movie has. this isn't a bad book by any means especially since it's for children but it's still disappointing
Wonderful and at times truly creepy. I love Gaiman's writing style and hearing it read in his own voice. I especially love how he voices the rats!
Thoroughly enjoyed the story and P.Craig's fitting artwork. A great Halloween Read.
Oh Gaiman writes amazing stories! This is a quick read and the version I have had some great illustrstions. The story is not one specific type of supernatural charcter, which I love. You can't put it in a particular category. Coraline is a brave explorer girl and faces down some scary things to save people. In the process, she discovers how to appreciate those around her better. Gaiman is like Tim Burton, except it is books, so it is better.
A little bit scary for the targeted age range, but not too much, and a girl who kicks ass because she has to even though she's scared. And a black cat familiar.
I read this because I bought it for my kid to listen to/read on a long journey. She liked it, which was the point.
Wonderfully whimsical tale that once again shows Gaiman's marvellous use of the strange and absurd to deliver commentary on the mundane and ordinary things in everyday life.
Recensie van audioboek (via Storytel)
Ah, zalig, griezelig jeugdverhaal. En verrassend goed voorgelezen door Neil Gaiman.
I've been fan of Neil Gaiman ever since I read Sandman a couple of years ago. I'm always fascinated by his way of tying the themes of his work to the fantasy genre and how, with a few words, achieves images that stay with you. I strongly believe he's one of the best writers we have working today, and after reading a lot of his books and comics I can say that Coraline is one of his bests.
Gaiman has a language in this novel that radiates his style and charisma and uses it to put you in the perspective of a nine year old girl and makes you think and react like her. I've never seen someone describe childhood like this, it's like being a child who wanted to explore and play all day again.
The themes of this book are ones that everyone can feel identified and he portrays them in a way that every person, no matter their age, can comprehend. At the same time, he uses those themes to develop his characters achieving a very particular and lovable cast (especially the protagonist Coraline), but who also has a depth and complexity within them.
But Coraline is a horror book and one that never shies away of that. The novel chooses which moments lean over to these aspect and does it in an excelent way, always taking into account the themes and with the reason for what it's doing, achieving horrofic scenes at the same time that visualy and conceptualy shocking but, some how, that still work for every audience.
Setting up themes and situations since the first page to bring them up again later in the book, developing his plot and set of characters with a prose that puts you in the skin of a girl to small for her age trying to learn what means to be brave and the the value of things, Neil Gaiman achieved a work like no other.