Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
5th out of 92 books
—
20 voters
MirrorMask
by
Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author),
Dave McKean
Helena is about to embark on a most amazing journey.
Raised in a family of circus performers, she's always dreamed of leading a more ordinary life. But when haunting music draws her into a strange and magical realm, one where anything can happen, her real life is stolen by a runaway from the other side. Helena must rescue the realm from chaos in order to win back her own no...more
Raised in a family of circus performers, she's always dreamed of leading a more ordinary life. But when haunting music draws her into a strange and magical realm, one where anything can happen, her real life is stolen by a runaway from the other side. Helena must rescue the realm from chaos in order to win back her own no...more
Hardcover, 80 pages
Published
October 31st 2005
by HarperCollins
(first published 2005)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
3 1/2 stars I think I did myself a disservice by listening to this story on audiobook instead of checking out the actual illustrated book. I have a sneaking suspicion the illustrations enhance much of the story, which felt a bit bare bones without them, and that I've missed out on the full experience. Basically MirrorMask tells the story of a young girl, growing up in a travelling circus and starting to rebel and wanting "a real life". The after she has a horrible fight with her mother and says...more
So I read this in like a day (it was really short). I saw the movie in the theatre in college when it came out and had this weird, meaningful experience watching it but also really got nothing as far as what the plot was.
Reading it this time, I kept thinking that maybe I would understand this book more if I had ever in my life done psychedelics. I am pretty boringly drug-free, though, and always have been, so I didn't have those sort of experiences to draw on while reading this book.
I did mostly...more
Reading it this time, I kept thinking that maybe I would understand this book more if I had ever in my life done psychedelics. I am pretty boringly drug-free, though, and always have been, so I didn't have those sort of experiences to draw on while reading this book.
I did mostly...more
This is an extraordinarily imaginative tale, created by the genius of Neil Gaiman, complete with circus performers, a magic mirror, a spoiled princess and control-freak queen, sentient buildings, books with the advice one needs at the necessary moment, a dying mother and a very sad daughter. Helena was born into the life of a travelling circus performer. Yet, she wishes for normality. After a particularly explosive argument with her mother, she made an irretrievable declaration that she at once...more
I love Gaiman's works, Corilane was one of my favorite children's books. I had high hopes for Mirrormask, we own the movie, and though it's a bit dark for the younger children, it's still a very creative and visually stunning film.
After reading the book I'm glad that the movie was visually stunning. For some reason the book does not flow, or hold together well. Had I not seen the movie I would be completely lost in attempting to follow this book. The concept of standing on the books to cross the...more
After reading the book I'm glad that the movie was visually stunning. For some reason the book does not flow, or hold together well. Had I not seen the movie I would be completely lost in attempting to follow this book. The concept of standing on the books to cross the...more
After having seen the movie MirrorMask, Neil Gaiman's, Dave McKean's, and Jim Henson Studio's flawed, bizarre, and breathtakingly imagined surreal dream fantasy, I must say that the audio book version of the film's graphic novel adaptation loses a lot. While Stephanie Leonidas, reprising her role as Helena, the artistic teen who wants to run away "to normal life" from her circus-operating family, provides an engaging narration, it feels too much like a simple retelling of the movie, which, by it...more
This and Coraline are both based on an alternate world. Their other world seems to come into being or becomes more accessible when dissatisfaction arises with a parent in the real world. Here the comparison ends and I find myself enjoying MirrorMask much more then Coraline. I think it's partially that MirrorMask is much darker and I'm liking that side of Neil. He seemed to show it much more while writing the Sandman series. There's nothing wrong with lightheartedness and humour but I find he's a...more
Fans of Neil Gaiman will not be disappointed. MirrorMask is every bit as whimsical and extraordinary as Stardust and Neverwhere, even though it is much shorter.
Helena is a girl who travels with her family's circus. All she wants is to run away and be a part of the real world. Her exasperated mother exclaims that Helena will be the death of her, and Helena mutters, "I hope I am." Words once said cannot be unspoken, and Helena is horrified when her mother falls into a coma. Mysterious creatures ap...more
Helena is a girl who travels with her family's circus. All she wants is to run away and be a part of the real world. Her exasperated mother exclaims that Helena will be the death of her, and Helena mutters, "I hope I am." Words once said cannot be unspoken, and Helena is horrified when her mother falls into a coma. Mysterious creatures ap...more
Finished reading my signed (!) copy of "MirrorMask" the movie tie-in. The story itself wasn't too terribly gripping compared to Gaiman's other works but I'm happy to have a chance to read it from Helena's point of view.
Imagine that you grew up in a family of circus performers, drifting from place to place, would you be contented with that life or would you crave normalcy at the other side of the fence?
Knowing that this is another great collaboration between Gaiman & McKean, expect spectacul...more
Imagine that you grew up in a family of circus performers, drifting from place to place, would you be contented with that life or would you crave normalcy at the other side of the fence?
Knowing that this is another great collaboration between Gaiman & McKean, expect spectacul...more
Helena Campbell is a teenage girl raised in a family of circus performers who longs for a more normal life. When her mother falls ill, she experiences a magical journey to another realm, where she takes the place of the princess and gets caught up in the minutiae of a a confined royal existence. The princess has taken Helena's place as well, and is destroying both their worlds though her poor choices, so Helena must break free of her restraints and save them both.
I enjoyed this audiobook, as I e...more
I enjoyed this audiobook, as I e...more
We got tickets to see Neil Gaiman in a few weeks and I wanted to read something of his (Gail is a big fan) so I picked this, as it seemed like a good, short introduction. I don't know if it was the books funky layout, or just a general unfinished quality to the story, but I felt outside the piece the entire time. Apparently, this edition is a mish-mash of original artwork and stills from the film, but the prose didn't seem specific enough to carry the weight without the images, and the images fe...more
I got this belatedly, just a couple months ago, and mainly because my daughter's seriously digging the Gaiman/McKean team (admittedly, through my own efforts).
When we got the book, it seemed a little more advanced than we were expecting or she'd be able to endure (she's just under 3 years old). But, she loves it! And so do we.
Taking it for granted one wouldn't read this without seeing the movie, Gaiman's done a wonderful thing in retelling the story from Helena's perspective. The device works we...more
When we got the book, it seemed a little more advanced than we were expecting or she'd be able to endure (she's just under 3 years old). But, she loves it! And so do we.
Taking it for granted one wouldn't read this without seeing the movie, Gaiman's done a wonderful thing in retelling the story from Helena's perspective. The device works we...more
"Helena is about to embark on a most amazing journey.
Raised in a family of circus performers, she's always dreamed of leading a more ordinary life. But when haunting music draws her into a strange and magical realm, one where anything can happen, her real life is stolen by a runaway from the other side. Helena must rescue the realm from chaos in order to win back her own not-so-ordinary life.
MirrorMask is a breathtaking film written by bestselling author Neil Gaiman and brought to life through t...more
Raised in a family of circus performers, she's always dreamed of leading a more ordinary life. But when haunting music draws her into a strange and magical realm, one where anything can happen, her real life is stolen by a runaway from the other side. Helena must rescue the realm from chaos in order to win back her own not-so-ordinary life.
MirrorMask is a breathtaking film written by bestselling author Neil Gaiman and brought to life through t...more
This Neil Gaiman book was definitely different...and rather intriguing. I admit that the story got rather tedious here and there, but this was definitely a book worth reading. Helena is a young girl growing up in a family circus. One day, after a fight with her mother, her mother suddenly becomes gravely ill and needs an operation. Helena dreams that her doppleganger switches places with her, dumping her off in a bizarre world while the Helena double begins a campaign to destroy her both worlds...more
While not my favorite of Gaiman's many novels and stories I enjoyed listening to the audio version of MirrorMask, the narrator did a great job describing the bizarre scenes of the book, and I felt that I got as much out of it as I did the film version, plus more. Some scenes seemed to go exactly as what I'd seen in the film but others made much more sense now that I heard the exact words. I do wonder what I would have imagined had I not seen the film version first, but oh well.
Overall, much bett...more
Overall, much bett...more
Here's the punchline: I love everything I've read by Neil Gaiman, all of Dave McKean's art, all Gaiman/McKean collaborations, and I love the movie MirrorMask. Yet, I hated this book, which has all of the aforementioned qualities.
Honestly, I can't figure out why this book was even released. MirrorMask the movie should stand on its own. It largely succeeded by taking a simple metaphor about a girl fighting an internal battle and convoluting it inside a dream world, told in a visually breathtaking...more
Honestly, I can't figure out why this book was even released. MirrorMask the movie should stand on its own. It largely succeeded by taking a simple metaphor about a girl fighting an internal battle and convoluting it inside a dream world, told in a visually breathtaking...more
In the tradition of Alice in Wonderland, we get Mirrormask, by Neil Gaiman. Many Gaiman and Dave McKean, which ventures beyond amazing. Punch and Judy is one of the most haunting stories in comic form, with stunning art work. Mirrormask, however, is a bit less original. Gaiman begins with one of his classic themes: thing are not always as they seem. So we soon learn when Helena finds herself in an alternate world, with her mother dying in her old world.
She must complete a quest in order to res...more
She must complete a quest in order to res...more
Jul 09, 2011
Donna Crane
added it
With its blend of drawn art with photographs from a film as well as multiple sizes, styles and colors of typeface, and a girl who imagines she has fallen into a dream but has really been sucked into an alternate reality, we have something of a modern-day Alice and her looking glass. The recommended age says 10 and up but I'd go up to 12+. Much of the appeal of this title comes from its interesting creatures: books that fly off shelves and have to be captured with butterfly nets, rainbow winged c...more
Mirrormask tells the story of Helena, a fifteen year old circus worker (a result of her family circus). Though for most runaways the dream is running away to the circus, Helena's dream is to run away from the circus to the real world. Then one day she wakes to find that she is in another place, a strange world that is full of strange people and things. This leads her on a wild and amazing journey.
This book has a very Alice in Wonderland type feel and is such fun to read. It was a little scary i...more
This book has a very Alice in Wonderland type feel and is such fun to read. It was a little scary i...more
This book was shelved with the graphic novels at my library, but it's not really a graphic novel. It's really a illustrated adaption of a book based on the movie of the same name.
The movie was far out and cool, but freaky and confusing. The book actually helped me understand some of what was going on in the movie. I like both the book and the moving equally (although not in the same way). That's unusual. Usually, when a book and a movie are related, I like the book better. Occasionally, I like t...more
The movie was far out and cool, but freaky and confusing. The book actually helped me understand some of what was going on in the movie. I like both the book and the moving equally (although not in the same way). That's unusual. Usually, when a book and a movie are related, I like the book better. Occasionally, I like t...more
Una fiaba dark, nel puro stile (grafico) di Gaiman e (visivo) di McKean. Una storia che gioca con il doppio, come metafora, come topos letterario, come pretesto per dipingere due mondi: la nostra realtà, con i suoi problemi, le sue ansie (e qui trovano posto le crisi di ribellione della protagonista adolescente), e il mondo alternativo, il classico "mondo dietro lo specchio", totalmente sballato, qui perfettamente illustrato.
Un altro capolavoro dalla coppia d'oro Gaiman-McKean.
Un altro capolavoro dalla coppia d'oro Gaiman-McKean.
P.S. Questo è solo
...more![Amanda [Novel Addiction]](http://d.gr-assets.com/users/1296175918p2/4886503.jpg)
This book was trippy. I just grabbed this off the shelf at work when I saw the author, knowing I'd get an interesting read, at the very least, if not something fantastic. While this is not the best thing by Gaiman I've ever read, it was very good considering how short it was. I'm still so amazed by how much punch Gaiman can put into a few pages.
And as I neared the end, I thought "Oh, this is pretty cool," and then I got to the last page or two, I knew I loved it. So here's another book going on...more
And as I neared the end, I thought "Oh, this is pretty cool," and then I got to the last page or two, I knew I loved it. So here's another book going on...more
So, I own and have watched this movie several times. It's never seemed quite perfect, but it's certainly a fun story and visually dynamic! And the book is basically the same. Virtually the exact same story with many images taken directly from the film.
But the coolest part of this reading experience was by far the fact that I read this whole thing (and it's pretty wordy) aloud to my 4-year-old son. He really seemed to enjoy it and this was our first reading experience that was more than a simple...more
But the coolest part of this reading experience was by far the fact that I read this whole thing (and it's pretty wordy) aloud to my 4-year-old son. He really seemed to enjoy it and this was our first reading experience that was more than a simple...more
Gaiman binge #4:
Woah. This is like Lewis Carroll on acid (& he was already on something wasn't he). Spacey. Alice in Wonderland meets Coraline. I like Dave McKean's illustrations--a sophisticated picture book is such a great way for a kid to read, 'get' and enjoy an otherwise complicated short story. I do love the humor in Gaiman's writing, as per usual, but I think it would take a certain type of kid to really get and enjoy this as it's not overly palatable. I'm certain they're out there th...more
Woah. This is like Lewis Carroll on acid (& he was already on something wasn't he). Spacey. Alice in Wonderland meets Coraline. I like Dave McKean's illustrations--a sophisticated picture book is such a great way for a kid to read, 'get' and enjoy an otherwise complicated short story. I do love the humor in Gaiman's writing, as per usual, but I think it would take a certain type of kid to really get and enjoy this as it's not overly palatable. I'm certain they're out there th...more
Jun 09, 2011
Bonnie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novels-and-comics
MirrorMask by Neil Gaiman reminds me of Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, that sort of dreamlike quality that makes you question if it’s a dream, but then you go and question that as well because it’s not stated till later if at all. At times it will make no bloody sense, it’s not linear, and it can lose you. Unlike Wonderland and Oz, I enjoyed that dreamlike quality to an extent because I hadn’t read it before and yet, again unlike Wonderland and Oz, it didn’t feel as seamless as I woul...more
There was a massive destructive earthquake in Christchurch today. Amanda Palmer was supposed to be playing a gig in CHCH tonight but has obviously cancelled. Amanda Palmer is married to Neil Gaiman who mentioned the earthquake in his blog. And here we are.
I haven't seen Mirrormask so this was a novel experience for me. Helena recounts a dream in which she becomes trapped in a fantasy world, her real self being replaced by a doppelgänger while her mother undergoes a potentially life altering oper...more
I haven't seen Mirrormask so this was a novel experience for me. Helena recounts a dream in which she becomes trapped in a fantasy world, her real self being replaced by a doppelgänger while her mother undergoes a potentially life altering oper...more
Well, I was watching the movie and I thought.....'Why don't I read the book version of the movie?' So I've read it, after having the book sitting on my shelf for a few months.
It was okay. It was like a story being told by a person, by the fire. There was barely any details (Hello! You have the movie for that!) and there were some parts and dialog cut out....but then again, there were a few things added. Like Helena's feelings and thoughts, and some background on her family and what actally went...more
It was okay. It was like a story being told by a person, by the fire. There was barely any details (Hello! You have the movie for that!) and there were some parts and dialog cut out....but then again, there were a few things added. Like Helena's feelings and thoughts, and some background on her family and what actally went...more
Versi lengkapnya ada di [http://esduren.multiply.com/reviews/i...]
Beli buku MirrorMask lagi? Kan sudah punya?
Iya, tapi ini beda. Yang dulu itu naskah filmnya, lengkap dengan bagian2 percakapan yg dihilangkan dari film, plus storyboard garapan McKean. Makanya bukunya tebal, besar dan berat.
Nah yang ini apa?
Ini versi buku cerita untuk anak2. Lihat nih, bukunya mungil, format bujur sangkar kira2 sebesar A5, ringan dan mudah dipegang. Ditulis oleh Gaiman, dengan narasi seolah2 si Helena sendiri yang...more
Beli buku MirrorMask lagi? Kan sudah punya?
Iya, tapi ini beda. Yang dulu itu naskah filmnya, lengkap dengan bagian2 percakapan yg dihilangkan dari film, plus storyboard garapan McKean. Makanya bukunya tebal, besar dan berat.
Nah yang ini apa?
Ini versi buku cerita untuk anak2. Lihat nih, bukunya mungil, format bujur sangkar kira2 sebesar A5, ringan dan mudah dipegang. Ditulis oleh Gaiman, dengan narasi seolah2 si Helena sendiri yang...more
Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s Mirrormask is a graphic novel adaptation of their movie of the same name. According to Neil’s blog at http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/200... the novel includes things not seen in the movie, while also leaving movie scenes out, so it is its own experience whether one has seen the movie or not. The book is similar to The Neverending Story, or even The Wizard of Oz, and might be shared with readers of these related books.
Mirrormask is told from Helena’s point of view...more
Mirrormask is told from Helena’s point of view...more
This is a shorter youth book... only 80 pgs, by Neil Gaiman. It follows the almost psychadelic "dream" adventures of a young girl who is feeling guilt after fighting with her mother, just before her mother becomes very ill. At the end, a lesson is learned about valuing our lives and our family... about fighting for them. It's not my favorite of the Gaiman books I've read, but it was good. There's a fun film version of this from the Jim Henson folks... http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo...
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“We often confuse what we wish for with what is.”
—
151 people liked it
“You can't run away from home without destroying somebody's world.”
—
30 people liked it
More quotes…
Dec 30, 2012 07:20pm