The book reads like a creepy fairy tale and we all savored it. It surely held our interest, and I thought it was written really well with good descriptions. Neil Gaiman definitely doesn’t disappoint with Coraline. I think it’s perfect for all ages, but maybe too creepy for very young readers. There were a few disturbing parts that had us on edge toward the end and even as an adult, I found it gripping. In Coraline’s real world, there is a strange man who has an apartment in the same house; Coraline doesn’t know his name (it hadn’t even occurred to her that he had one), and he always gets hers wrong (C arol ine). Coraline is a short but delightfully dark and creepy book that just happens to feature one of my absolute favorite characters. Is it wrong that I want to be Coraline's best friend??? Coraline is intelligent, inquisitive, slightly contrary, hates being bored, and wishes her parents paid her more attention, and didn’t feed her “recipes”. Perhaps, she wishes she had different parents. And you should always be careful what you wish for, even if you don’t know you’ve wished for it.

I see there are two versions with different illustrations. For what it's worth, I really liked the Chris Riddell illustrations in this one. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is a novella that features a young girl named Coraline who has just moved into a new house. She is intent on exploring and discovers a mysterious door that has been walled up. However, one day, the door is left ajar. What will Coraline discover on the other side of the door?

Reviews

Every single word of this book was so purposeful, I absolutely loved it. This is my first Neil Gaiman novel, though I have had Graveyard book on my shelf for years now. And despite its cinematic popularity I’ve never read or seen a Coraline before (Tim Burton movies STILL terrify me). This is creepy and exciting and beautifully written and filled with wonderful characters and settings and scenes. I love Neil Gaiman, as of recently, and I most especially love Coraline (both book and character). I love it enough to read it multiple times, and also read the graphic novel at least once (possibly more), and also see the movie several times over (including in theaters with my whole family, including my very very small and very very scared brother). I am already looking forward to reading Coraline again. So far, I have read three works by Neil Gaiman, and they have all been stellar. Is it possible for him to write any bad books? I guess I will have to find out. The movie adaption gives some brief idea of where she came from; she is Wyborn’s Grandma’s sister. But I’m not sure how much of this we can actually consider. Although the movie was written in collaboration with Gaiman neither of the characters actually appear in the book. So I’m left with even more speculation. That brought me up short. For Oot, that's a simple question. If you meet someone and play with them, they're you're friend. Easy.

Her other mother loves her. Wants her to stay. Stay forever. There's only one thing Coraline has to do, and her other mother promises it won't hurt at all...

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So there you go. You don't really need me to tell you how I feel about one of Gaiman's books at this point. You know I love his writing. It’s all a little bit of a mystery. What drove this woman to such depravity? What happened in her life that she needed to feed upon the love of children? What has she lost? Where did it all begin? I can only speculate. But one thing remains an absolute certainty to my mind; something terrible happened to the “other mother” a long time ago, something awful that drove her into the deepest depths of despair and as a result she clings to the essence of life: love.