Coraline

I know this thirteen-year-old boy who cannot stop talking about Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Something about the dark and eerie atmosphere of the book had him hooked from the start.

There is a quote that stayed with him, which I believe is a perfect summary of the book: "When you're scared, but you still do it anyway, that's brave." The story is exciting and humorous, with spare sprinkles of darkness. It is teeming with important life lessons about family, friendship, and finding your authentic self.

All in all, if your child is between 13 and 17, I completely… show more.

This book explores a parallel world, a familiar world like the protagonist’s but a mixture of a better and worse one, what could keep her there, and wanting to get out.

I watched the adapted film first then read the book, in a way, seeing them both is like looking at two different universes like I’ve been looking at the Other Coraline book. I recommend reading the book if you have seen the film, to spot differences but still enjoy a journey.

And it is a great journey even if the book is your first exploration in the story.

I always thought the concept of Coraline was really cool. The idea that there is a world that is similar to ours but different. I sometimes felt like that as a kid, that if I could find my way back to the real world, things would get better. I also really like the dark side of Coraline, the idea of weaving in some horror aspects into a fantasy book really inspired me as an author.

Coraline is a bored little girl who lives in an old gothic house inhabited by eccentric people far cooler than her parents. She is bold, smart-alecky, and curious. That’s how she meets the other mother, the beldame, a monster who can suck a child’s soul out through her eyeballs. She keeps them in a glass marble. All the beldame leaves behind is a filmy shell with black button eyes that she sews in with a long needle and black thread. The beldame is archetypal: D’sonoqua the child-stealer, Cinderella’s abusive stepmother, Snow White’s jealous queen, Hansel and Gretel’s cannibal witch. Every… show more.

While Coraline may technically be a children’s fantasy, it’s sufficiently creepy to keep adults turning the pages. When Coraline and her busy parents move into a flat in an old house, she has few companions but her eccentric neighbors. One day, she opens a door that previously led to a brick wall, only to discover a building much like hers on the other side: the “Other World,” where the neighbors are entertaining and Coraline’s parents dote upon her. Her “Other Mother” tells her she can stay forever…but only if she agrees to have buttons sewn over her eyes. With a… show more.

I discovered Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels more than thirty years ago, and loved them, especially The Sandman. I was lucky to hear him give a talk in a Dublin bookstore more than twenty years ago. The guy is a genius. His full-length novel Coraline features a talking cat, and one of the things the cat says has stuck with me forever. "You people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names." The unnamed cat in the story acts as a mentor to young Coraline when she… show more.

Coraline’s family moves to an old house that’s been divided up into flats. It’s got strange residents, a big, overgrown garden, and a door that opens onto a brick wall—except when it doesn’t. Left alone at home one day, Coraline opens the door and finds a hall that leads to her “other” family. At first, everything is the way she always wanted it to be in her real home—almost, anyway. But it’s when Coraline decides that she doesn’t want to stay that her adventure begins. This one will take you right back to that scary/excited/uh-oh feeling you got as… show more.

This book is a classic—one where a bored and curious girl finds her way through a locked door in her new house that leads to a similar-but-not-quite-right version of her very own home. And similar-but-not-quite-right versions of her very own parents. It’s wonderfully creepy and a quick read that you will want to revisit again and again.

The stark simplicity of this work knocked my socks off when I picked it up years ago. Rarely has a fairy tale struck such a perfect balance between the terrifying and the whimsical, the emotional and the macabre. Neil Gaiman’s masterpiece, in my opinion, rules the literary pantheon due to its ability to make the idea of parallel worlds horrifyingly outlandish yet believable, and for introducing a young heroine as compelling and as memorable as any in the genre. 

I like how the illustrations in this book support the story. At the beginning of the story, things seem quite normal, but it quickly goes to an exciting place. Once Coraline realizes she can have anything, she thinks this will be the norm.

When her second mother lets her know there’s a price to pay, the story turns darker. The book reminded me of Hansel and Gretal, especially when Coraline realized she no longer had the freedom to leave.

I was fascinated with how the world of imagination infringed on the real world. I like the contrast between the… show more.