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Jan 21, 2008

Robert rated it:

Neil Gaiman, Coraline (Harper, 2002)

I'm not exactly sure what to say about this minor gem. It's a kids' book, but not really a kids' book. It's a fantasy/horror novel, but not a fantasy/horror novel. It has minor similarities to about a hundred books to be found over the ages, both children's and adult, but nothing strong enough to be called an influence (at least, not one that wears its heart on its sleeve). About the best thing I can come up with would be a much darker version of Roa More...

5 comments like (46 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Heather rated it:

Creepy, creepy, creepy. This book made me feel like I'd just awoken from a disturbing dream I couldn't shake, but couldn't quite remember, either.

And the movie looks terrifying.

12 comments like (33 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Faith rated it:

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, is a delightfully creepy little story. Coraline and her parents live in a house that they share with some delightfully eccentric neighbours. There are the two former actors who like to reminisce about their glory days. And there’s the man with the mice. They all keep calling her “Caroline,” which does not please Coraline at all, and they never seem to listen when she corrects them.

Coraline likes to explore things. She spends a lot of time outside until that More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Tanu rated it:

I absolutely adore pre teen narrators. I love seeing their worlds from their POV. No melodrama, no hesitation, no wistful thinking about the hot guy/girl, no inner monologue and most importantly no gray shades. I am not saying that those are bad aspects of a story and that I don’t enjoy them (except perhaps the continuous yakking about how handsome the new guy is). Still, books from the preteen perspective always prove to be a refreshing experience. A Relaxing yet fun experience, just like this More...

10 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Jason rated it:

There's something about the way Neil Gaiman writes that appeals to me greatly. He doesn't WASTE words. No flowery, adjective laden descriptions or ridiculous cliches. And yet, I never feel cheated. He'll often move a character from one place or situation to the next, and if you're new to him or have been reading someone else you might think for a second "That was abrupt", but he does it well and it serves the story.

More importantly, Coraline is an engrossing tale. Firstly, More...

3 comments like (21 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2008

Hannah rated it:

As my sister observed, looking askance at me, Coraline is a book appropriate for "Ages 8 and up." I resisted the implication that such a designation meant that the material in question was any LESS appropriate to a 23 year old. My sister, meanwhile, likened my reading Coraline to an 18 year old playing on a 11+ volleyball team. While I still feel that childrens' and Young Adult literature can have great merit to the adult reader, I did feel, in the end, that I would have gotten more en More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2010

Abigail rated it:

I began Coraline one night on my train-ride home from the city, and found myself immediately sucked into the story. My only prior exposure to Gaiman's work had been through the first installment of his Sandman comic-book series, which I thought mediocre at best, so I approached his children's novel with some ambivalence. I was surprised and pleased to discover that I enjoyed Gaiman's prose, and appreciated his perceptive depiction of the child's-eye view of the world around her.

The More...

14 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2008

Michelle rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Richard rated it:

I saw the film before I read the book, which is not how I like to do things, as it can often be like taping a hockey game and having someone tell you the final score before you've had a chance to see the game for yourself. However, I can say that seeing the film first didn't really spoil the book for me.

Coraline starts off rather slowly but this independent, thoughtful, odd, distant and yet neglected child soon gains the reader's sympathy. This becomes more intense as Coraline get More...

6 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Belinda rated it:

While in a waiting-room situation with an antsy child, I downloaded this on my Kindle for my 6-year-old daughter, who loved it so much that she insisted on having a "real" copy. Figured I'd better read it, too...besides, I love Neil Gaiman.

Hmmm...Bella reads the book, then I read the book. I really have this parenting thing down, no?

AAAANNNNDDDDD...I loved it. Woulda REALLY loved it when I was a kid. I'm waiting for Bella to do her review, and see how she ra More...

11 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Lady Moorchild rated it:

I will never read this book in the middle of the night, alone, ever again.

The funny thing about Coraline is that the story is much more frightening when read as adult than as a child.

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

X rated it:

A creepy, almost surreal story about a girl, Coraline, who wanders into another world? dimension? and must rescue her real parents from her "other mother" who wishes to keep Coraline there forever. It was tame for Neil Gaiman in some regards, but still very dark. I would liken it to a warped "Alice in Wonderland," but having never read that, I don't think I should do that.

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2008

Karen rated it:

I'm a little confused by this book. On the one hand, I found the story compelling. I read it very quickly because the story was quite gripping. On the other hand, I was puzzled by it. On the cover, one of the reviewers compares the book to the Narnia books. However, those books were wonderful allegories. I cannot see any allegorical value in this story.

In the book, a little girl who lives in an apartment with her parents is intrigued by a locked door that opens to the bricked More...

9 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Tracey rated it:

Recently enjoyed the audiobook version of this book on a plane ride - read by Neil Gaiman himself, it was a delightful revisit to this dark fairy-tale.
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Previously read Jan 2004
After seeing oodles of recommendations, and considering Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, I finally checked this YA novel out from the library and finished it in an hour or so.

A dark fairy-tale about Coraline, an adventurous & very bored girl who feels More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2007

Jennifer rated it:

This book is delightfully creepy with a young heroine that I found very empowering. Each time I finish a book geared for younger readers I'm reminded of just how much elasticity we lose as we age. In Coraline, at one point a child easily accepts and adapts to an abrupt shift into a two-dimensional world, whereas an adult would feel more than a little insane suspending logic and flexibly adjusting to previously unreal circumstances. Somewhere throughout the years we do away with "could be More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 29, 2007

Jessica rated it:

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

I really enjoyed this clever little novella, but then again, I enjoy mostly everything from Gaiman. This is a story of young Coraline (though often mistakenly, and to her despair, called Caroline) – a bored and curious girl who longs for an adventure. As is expected from Gaiman, the story contains comically eccentric characters, a talking cat, a sudden dark twist to an otherwise ordinary day, and one very stubborn main More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2007

Bethany rated it:

This was a cool little book. It is slightly creepy, but in a way that keeps you wondering what is going to happen.

Coraline makes her way through a door in her family's drawing room that leads to another version of her apartment including an alternate reality of her parents and neighbors. Coraline become stuck in this other dimension and must use her smarts to rescue her parents and other lost souls and make her way back home.

Part exploration adventure, part ghost stor More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2008

Patricia rated it:

Doesn't every child get bored with their own life and wish that some much more fantastical life is just around the corner, if only they were clever enough to locate the entrance? (Access could be anywhere; a secret door in the sitting room, a wardrobe tucked away in the attic, or perhaps even a ticket in a candy bar.) This is a crisply written and creepy tale which gives the reader a glimpse into the wonderous and wicked world of the Other Mother. After realizing how treacherous this exiting w More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

J rated it:

When the previews and movie posters started turning up for the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2002 novel, Coraline, I let the wife know that she would not be allowed to accompany The Littlest Critic and I to see the movie unless she read the book herself. We had read the book maybe two or three months prior to the advertisements’ appearance and we were kind of excited. The few previews I’d seen worried me a little as they seemed sillier than the book which has a chilling quality to it*. To be quite More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2008

Roos rated it:

Dari 2 buku Gaiman yang pernah aku baca...buku ini terkesan gelap dan sedikit jauh dari keceriaan...dengan cover serba hitam dan gambar tangan-tangan yang berkesan mau menangkap plus satu tangan bawa jarum...belum gambar-gambar didalamnya...yang memang tidak berkesan jauh dari ceria...
Di banding Stardust memang jauh berbeda...fairy tale vs hooky spooky...Like a Nightmare.

Cerita Coraline Jones yang menemukan pintu ke 14 yang terkunci di Flat barunya, pertama melihat memang pintu More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2007

Speedtribes rated it:

I have only ever read one other Neil Gaiman work before-- the cowritten 'Good Omens' which I had found enjoyable, but not nearly as amazing as his reputation hypes him up to be. I was hesitant about Coraline when I heard it was written for children. I wondered whether he'd try to simplify his writing, make the story more childish? But I picked it up anyway. At first, I had to get used to the rhythms of his writing-- the sentences were a bit shorter than I preferred, and the writing did seem a li More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2007

Lacey rated it:

Choosing to read this book before bed my first week living alone was not a great idea. During the day, this book is a little quirky and creepy. At night, it could be downright scary. I ended up reading most of it over breakfast rather than as a bedtime story.

This book really does read like a dark Alice in Wonderland, complete with Alice in Wonderland's complete disregard for answering any of the "why?" questions. I wanted all the characters to be a bit more substantial (no More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

Keely rated it:

I actually picked up a signed copy at a local shop when Gaiman and I were both living in Minnesota. I've read a lot of Gaiman, and while appreciate that he is always a conscious, active writer, his stories sometimes fall flat for me.

They always work on the principle of a small person trapped in a large, unknown world. There are plenty of great examples of this story type, and Gaiman has been steadily working through them. He took inspiration from Fairy Tales in Stardust, from Europe More...

10 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2007

Qt rated it:

I couldn't decide whether to give this one 3 or 4 stars--"Coraline" is a juvenile horror story, about a girl who finds a passage to a sort of alternate world. The people and things on the other side of the door are similar to the things in her world, but are creepily distorted.
Parts of this book were very eerie, surreal, or disturbing, and after reading it late one night I decided to save it for daytime reading, LOL! At times it was a bit dark or weird for me, but mostly I like More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

selena rated it:

“The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring.”

I’m a Neil Gaiman devotee. I read his work because his writing style is so different from mine. I analyze his stories and his technique as I read. And it baffles me how compelling and relevant all of his work is.

Coraline is the perfect story for a child who likes to be frightened, but only a little. Coraline is a girl with an itch to explore. And unfortunately, the house that she and her parents have moved into isn’t real More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2009

Discoverylover rated it:

I bought the graphic novel version of this for my Dad for Christmas, after reading somewhere that Neil Gaiman was a bookcrossing advocate and thinking, ooh must buy/read some of his works! Then my sister got it out from the library and brought it on holiday with her and I snatched it up.

What a wonderful story, very dark, and I'd still like to have a look at the graphic novel version, just for the illustrations! Not sure if I would classify it as a kids book, its a little scary, but More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 27, 2010

Dustin Crazy little brown owl rated it:

This was in the childrens section. My son listens to books on CD for a few minutes when he goes to bed so I'm always looking for new audiobooks on CD. I brought this home and put it in his room - I'm glad I took a closer look and listening to this one before he started listening. I don't think this is a good bedtime story for children. Is there such a thing as children's horror genre? I don't think there should be. I had this on my goodreads shelf for children, but have moved it to my teen shelf More...

16 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2009

Betty rated it:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This is the strangest, deliciously creepy book I have read in recent memory. I could not put this book down. It is not a long story, but is definitely satisfyingly complete. The illustrations just add to the flavour.

Coraline is easily bored, especially since she and her parents moved into the new house. But Coraline likes to explore. There are fourteen doors in the new house but one is locked and won’t open. There is a key; when her mother unlocked the do More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 05, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

If you were to read all the reviews of Coraline, you would probably find that the most frequently used words are “creepy,” “Roald” and “Dahl.” I, too, couldn’t help but think of Roald Dahl’s books, largely because this book is so creepy. But I also thought of fairy tales.

No, not the Disney-fied fairy tales that we’re all so familiar with. I mean the oldest and most unaltered ones, the ones that aren’t afraid to be scary or gruesome or cruel. The ones in which Cinderella’s stepsister More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2010

Lauren rated it:

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers. This books is dark in a very unusual way.

10 comments like (2 people liked it)