When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous.
But there's another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.
Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.
A good and creepy story, just not quite my kind of story. I like a little more color I think. Other than that I did not enjoy reading it so much it was very good.
Very short. Very enjoyable. Read it before you see the movie. I've seen the movie a few times (it's great!) and it detracted from the reading experience a little bit.
The book is filled with things that signal "creepy": a big old mysterious house, a secret passageway that comes and goes, a door that should stay locked, eccentric neighbors who give cryptic advice, a black cat. And then, signals in place, we enter the realm of the truly sinister: a mirror world that's just a little off, where the eccentric neighbors and Coraline's father have buttons sewn over their eyes, and the black cat can talk but isn't terribly informative. The skittering heart of the mirror world is the "other mother", a mysterious creature who just wants to love Coraline like she deserves. But, like everything else in mirror world, she's not a perfect copy of Coraline's real mother: her …
Very short. Very enjoyable. Read it before you see the movie. I've seen the movie a few times (it's great!) and it detracted from the reading experience a little bit.
The book is filled with things that signal "creepy": a big old mysterious house, a secret passageway that comes and goes, a door that should stay locked, eccentric neighbors who give cryptic advice, a black cat. And then, signals in place, we enter the realm of the truly sinister: a mirror world that's just a little off, where the eccentric neighbors and Coraline's father have buttons sewn over their eyes, and the black cat can talk but isn't terribly informative. The skittering heart of the mirror world is the "other mother", a mysterious creature who just wants to love Coraline like she deserves. But, like everything else in mirror world, she's not a perfect copy of Coraline's real mother: her fingers are too long, her hair moves too independently, and the skeletons in her closet are literal. She is Not Nice.
It's a fun story and all the creepy set pieces are there, but I wasn't particularly creeped out, and that's why I think seeing the movie first is a mistake, especially in this case. The book is so short (which is fine, it's a kids book after all) that the cast is necessarily small, there's no subplot, and the main plot is paced quickly without a lot of steps between page 1 and the end. There's not a lot to work with from a film perspective, so the film grew it a little bit--made the mirror world occupy a bigger physical space, added a character, gave the eccentric neighbors more to do, and in so doing created a more complex world with subplots. There's almost nothing in the book that isn't in the movie (one short scene and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail about one of the stolen children), which meant no surprises as I read, which in turn ruined the creep factor for me.
But it's a good enough book that it would have been deliciously creepy under different circumstances. Just don't watch the movie first.
Coraline. It's a children's book written for adults. It's an adult book written for children. Somehow it's both, and it's scary, and delightful. Just read it. Gaiman is a pro at creating scary worlds that suck you in until you can't bear to put the book down. Good stuff.
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.
Wow. Let me start off by saying, I didn't think this was a book to be read by children. It's SCARY! But then I read a little afterward by Neil Gaiman, where he explained that this is one of the strangest books he has written...In that, children find it to be adventurous and adults find it to be terrifying. I couldn't agree more on the adult part. I flew through this in no time (yes, it is a short book) mostly because I found it to be scary and a book that I just could not put down.
Anyone who is a fan of Neil Gaiman, or a fan of scary books, needs to read this whether you're 8, 18, or 80. it's just THAT DARN GOOD.
I cannot wait to see the movie now, although I'm wondering how frightening that is compared to the book...
I liked it. It was scary but well written. Maybe not quite as fantastic as people have led me to believe, but still very good.
