Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Bloomsbury Childrens Books, Paperback
Description
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.
Media reviews
A modern ghost story with all the creepy trimmings... Well done.
User reviews
LibraryThing member RGQuimby
Delightfully creepy and excellent for all ages.
LibraryThing member michelleknudsen
This was excellent. Perfect level of creepy without going too far (i.e., without slipping into too-scary-to-be-enjoyable). Coraline herself is instantly engaging, and all the characters are unique and appealing (or fascinatingly horrible) and believable within the context of the story. Gaiman does
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such wonderful things with suspense and surprise and disturbing imagery, and there are nice little bits of humor throughout to help offset the horror elements. Coraline is both the (unintentional) source of her own troubles (her annoyance with her boring existence and her inattentive parents leads her to go through the door) and her own (and others’) savior, and even the help she gets from others results from her own actions/interactions with them. Her transformed attitude after her escape is earned and believable. My one complaint is probably just that at the very end, I had trouble believing that the trap Coraline arranged for the other mother’s hand is truly going to keep it trapped forever. I didn’t feel as safe as I think we are meant to by the very end of the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member SooYeonKwon
Coraline and her parents move into an old house. There are two elderly ladies downstairs and a crazy man upstairs. One day, Coraline discovers a locked door in the house and unlocks the door because of curiosity. The door has been bricked up, but the brick wall disappears when Coraline is home by
The Other Mother tells Coraline that Coraline can stay in the Other World forever if Coraline lets the other mother sew buttons in Coraline’s eyes. Coraline is horrified and comes back to her real parents’ place right away. Coraline realizes that the Other Mother has taken away her real parents. Coraline returns to the Other house to rescue her real parents. The Other Mother tries to make Coraline stay, but Coraline refuses. The other mother locks Coraline in darkness. Coraline meets three ghost children, who let the Other Mother sew buttons in their eyes.
This book is a children’s fiction. Some may say that this book only scares children, but there have been quite a few children’s fiction that is scary. Also, this book is not only horror but also fantasy, adventure, and mystery. Its plot and characters are creepy, and the illustrations also create a dark and scary mood as well. Children may get scary while they are reading the book, but they will keep reading the book because it is very unique and engaging. Moreover, this book has a lesson for children. Things that look better are not always good, and parents love their children even though it seems they are often busy with something and do not pay attention to their children so much.
To sum up, this book is a creative and brilliant children’s fiction. If the child does not mind a little bit of horror, he or she will enjoy reading this book. Children will want to know what comes next in the book, for the story and characters are mysterious.
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herself. The door leads Coraline to a house which is identical to the house her family just moved into, and Coraline encounters her other parents, who look like her parents but have button eyes. In her other parents’ house, everything seems better than her reality.The Other Mother tells Coraline that Coraline can stay in the Other World forever if Coraline lets the other mother sew buttons in Coraline’s eyes. Coraline is horrified and comes back to her real parents’ place right away. Coraline realizes that the Other Mother has taken away her real parents. Coraline returns to the Other house to rescue her real parents. The Other Mother tries to make Coraline stay, but Coraline refuses. The other mother locks Coraline in darkness. Coraline meets three ghost children, who let the Other Mother sew buttons in their eyes.
This book is a children’s fiction. Some may say that this book only scares children, but there have been quite a few children’s fiction that is scary. Also, this book is not only horror but also fantasy, adventure, and mystery. Its plot and characters are creepy, and the illustrations also create a dark and scary mood as well. Children may get scary while they are reading the book, but they will keep reading the book because it is very unique and engaging. Moreover, this book has a lesson for children. Things that look better are not always good, and parents love their children even though it seems they are often busy with something and do not pay attention to their children so much.
To sum up, this book is a creative and brilliant children’s fiction. If the child does not mind a little bit of horror, he or she will enjoy reading this book. Children will want to know what comes next in the book, for the story and characters are mysterious.
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LibraryThing member lookingforpenguins
Young Coraline isn't all that happy with her life. Her parents work too much and, as young children are wont to be, she's bored. But when she discovers her alternate life behind a hidden door, she begins to think that her real life isn't so bad. Evil lurks behind every corner as Coraline tries
Advertised for ages eight and up, Coraline is, for all intents and purposes, a horror book for kids. Scary, but without the gore.
And although I haven't interviewed any eight year olds on the matter, I suspect Gaiman largely succeeds in scaring the pee out of them. The alternate world Coraline stumbles into strangely mirrors her own, containing another set of parents who, despite their outward declarations of love and devotion, don't seem quite right. (Black buttons instead of eyes are a pretty big clue here.)
The alternate world Gaiman creates is quite well thought-out. And while the themes of the novella may not be original, the conveyance of it certainly is.
As rich as the plot is, however, there is something lacking in Coraline. We know she is a kind girl and even quite a smart girl. But that's about all we ever get to know. Ultimately, she's rather one-dimensional in a cardboard cutout sort of way. Perhaps this was by design, but I missed getting to know Coraline.
Hmmmmm. Here's the brutal truth: the thrill just wasn't happening for me. By no means is this an awful book. It won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, and the Bram Stroker Award.
I read it. I didn't hate it. But neither am I running out and buying copies for every kid I know. Maybe I missed something. It's been known to happen.
I do, however, have high hopes for the forthcoming film version.
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desperately to regain her "old" life.Advertised for ages eight and up, Coraline is, for all intents and purposes, a horror book for kids. Scary, but without the gore.
And although I haven't interviewed any eight year olds on the matter, I suspect Gaiman largely succeeds in scaring the pee out of them. The alternate world Coraline stumbles into strangely mirrors her own, containing another set of parents who, despite their outward declarations of love and devotion, don't seem quite right. (Black buttons instead of eyes are a pretty big clue here.)
The alternate world Gaiman creates is quite well thought-out. And while the themes of the novella may not be original, the conveyance of it certainly is.
As rich as the plot is, however, there is something lacking in Coraline. We know she is a kind girl and even quite a smart girl. But that's about all we ever get to know. Ultimately, she's rather one-dimensional in a cardboard cutout sort of way. Perhaps this was by design, but I missed getting to know Coraline.
Hmmmmm. Here's the brutal truth: the thrill just wasn't happening for me. By no means is this an awful book. It won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, and the Bram Stroker Award.
I read it. I didn't hate it. But neither am I running out and buying copies for every kid I know. Maybe I missed something. It's been known to happen.
I do, however, have high hopes for the forthcoming film version.
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LibraryThing member maggie1944
Whimsey is a great word to describe Gaiman's book Coraline. I love that he admits to inventing the name by mis-typing Caroline. His character is young, bored, female and adventuresome. And good for her and for Gaiman's readers. Book is advertised as for children but I would not give it to any one
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under about age 10. But give it to everyone up to the age of not being able to read any more. Show Less
LibraryThing member soliloquies
What’s a young girl to do when her parents seem to be ignoring her – perhaps explore the new house? A delightful short novel about Coralines’ encounters with her “other parents” who are intent on keeping her forever. Gaiman hits the mark with the psychological terror, without making it
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ridiculous. Not his best, but still a great read. Show Less
LibraryThing member elmyra
Quite possibly the creepiest children's book ever - at least for adults. ;-) At one point we ended up with three copies because Paul had one, and I had one, and Paul had given one to his Mum who had declared it far too creepy and given it back.
I've just re-read this in preparation for the film
It did, on second reading, strongly remind me of another of my favourite children's books, 'With One Bare Foot' by Ana Maria Matute. If you can get hold of a copy in your preferred language, I can strongly recommend it.
I've just re-read this in preparation for the film
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release. It's a quick and enjoyable read. Coraline is a wonderful 10-year-old female role model; the magical world is truly magical; the monsters are scary and the parents are a bit daft.It did, on second reading, strongly remind me of another of my favourite children's books, 'With One Bare Foot' by Ana Maria Matute. If you can get hold of a copy in your preferred language, I can strongly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member Radaghast
I wanted to love Coraline, and undoubtedly there are some great elements here. But I've come to realize something is lost in Gaiman's writing when there isn't a visual component to the story. Only half the equation of a brilliant writer is here. Unfortunately, that only equals an average writer.
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
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
The general obliviousness of adults to the realities and concerns of childhood, is a theme often explored in juvenile literature, and one Gaiman incorporates very ably into the opening of his book. Not only are Coraline's parents distant, and frequently unavailable, but the other adults around her seem to have trouble processing the reality of her existence. All of her new neighbors, from Miss Spink and Miss Forcible downstairs, to strange Mr. Bobo upstairs, have trouble remembering her name, and repeatedly refer to her as "Caroline." One gets the sense that they are simply incorporating her into a pre-existing narrative, without really seeing her at all: "Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. She sometimes wondered who they thought they were talking to"(20).
The fact that the "other" neighbors, created by the "other mother" in the strange mirror-world Coraline wanders into one day, all manage to get her name right, is a testament to the beldam's focus on Coraline - her determination to keep her. But by the end of the novel, Coraline's real neighbors know who she is, and what to call her - an indication perhaps, of her growth as a character, her newfound strength and self-assurance.
There are many echoes here, from the alternate world, which (as Diana Wynne Jones notes on the back cover) reminds one a bit of Alice in Wonderland, to Coraline's boredom-inspired exploring, so reminiscent of the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But for all these parallels, Coraline is also a very distinctive book. I have heard it said that adult readers find Coraline frightening and horrific, whereas child readers take it in stride. For my part, I was neither scared, nor especially mystified, and guessed the location of Coraline's parents from the beginning. But I did care - about Coraline, about her parents, about the (brilliant) nameless cat - and that's no small achievement for a brief, 162-page novel.
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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 general obliviousness of adults to the realities and concerns of childhood, is a theme often explored in juvenile literature, and one Gaiman incorporates very ably into the opening of his book. Not only are Coraline's parents distant, and frequently unavailable, but the other adults around her seem to have trouble processing the reality of her existence. All of her new neighbors, from Miss Spink and Miss Forcible downstairs, to strange Mr. Bobo upstairs, have trouble remembering her name, and repeatedly refer to her as "Caroline." One gets the sense that they are simply incorporating her into a pre-existing narrative, without really seeing her at all: "Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. She sometimes wondered who they thought they were talking to"(20).
The fact that the "other" neighbors, created by the "other mother" in the strange mirror-world Coraline wanders into one day, all manage to get her name right, is a testament to the beldam's focus on Coraline - her determination to keep her. But by the end of the novel, Coraline's real neighbors know who she is, and what to call her - an indication perhaps, of her growth as a character, her newfound strength and self-assurance.
There are many echoes here, from the alternate world, which (as Diana Wynne Jones notes on the back cover) reminds one a bit of Alice in Wonderland, to Coraline's boredom-inspired exploring, so reminiscent of the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But for all these parallels, Coraline is also a very distinctive book. I have heard it said that adult readers find Coraline frightening and horrific, whereas child readers take it in stride. For my part, I was neither scared, nor especially mystified, and guessed the location of Coraline's parents from the beginning. But I did care - about Coraline, about her parents, about the (brilliant) nameless cat - and that's no small achievement for a brief, 162-page novel.
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
Coraline and her parents have just moved into a new home. It's in a large ancient house that has been divided into separate flats and though there are some unusual neighbours to meet in the other flats, nobody is paying much attention to her and she's bored silly. When her father suggests she
This another great story by Neil Gaiman which combines ingredients of the classic (un-Disneyfied) fairy tales, where the heroine is offered a chance at what seems like a better life with the 'others', only to find that she must make an abominable sacrifice. Like all good coming of age stories, in order to find her way to her real home again, Coraline takes on a challenge that seems impossible, and wins it through her own inner resources and ingenuity, and in this case, along with the help of a stone and a talking cat. I watched the movie version after having read the book and found that the latter, while it was exciting and visually striking, had been altered from the original story in ways which compromised the more subtle and ultimately more satisfying elements of the story. I don't know that I would recommend this one for small children, but this big kid just loved being scared out of her wits.
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explores the new house, she follows his advice and is intrigued to discover a door leading to a walled-in passage. Curiosity turns to wonder when this passage leads to an alternate reality where her 'other', more fun and attentive parents have been waiting for her.This another great story by Neil Gaiman which combines ingredients of the classic (un-Disneyfied) fairy tales, where the heroine is offered a chance at what seems like a better life with the 'others', only to find that she must make an abominable sacrifice. Like all good coming of age stories, in order to find her way to her real home again, Coraline takes on a challenge that seems impossible, and wins it through her own inner resources and ingenuity, and in this case, along with the help of a stone and a talking cat. I watched the movie version after having read the book and found that the latter, while it was exciting and visually striking, had been altered from the original story in ways which compromised the more subtle and ultimately more satisfying elements of the story. I don't know that I would recommend this one for small children, but this big kid just loved being scared out of her wits.
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LibraryThing member sloepoque
What on earth is all the fuss about? This book is hardly original in plot, and in the "terror department" it's highly overrated. I didn't think much of this type of book when I was a child; I think even less of it as an adult. On the cover, Philip Pullman blurbs, "Rise to your feet and applaud:
This is good vs evil, blah, blah, blah. I gave it one star because no stars wasn't an option.
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Coraline is the real thing." Oh really? Give me an example of the fake thing and then maybe we'll discuss it.This is good vs evil, blah, blah, blah. I gave it one star because no stars wasn't an option.
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LibraryThing member knittingfreak
Coraline is a children's book according to Gaiman, but it didn't really feel like a children's book. Of course, good children's books should simply be well-written and tell a good story just like novels written for adults. This one fits the bill nicely. This was my first introduction to Neil Gaiman
The edition I read has some nice supplementary material in the back, including an author interview, some biographical information, and his reasons for writing this particular book. He began writing it for one of his daughters over ten years ago. He says, "I started to write a story about a girl named Coraline. I thought that the story would be five or ten pages long. The story itself had other plans." He goes on to say, It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares. It's the strangest book I've written, it took the longest time to write, and it's the book I'm proudest of."
Coraline moves with her family into a large, older home that has been divided into individual flats. The residents of the other flats are a little on the eccentric side to say the least. There's the man upstairs who lives with a group of mice who play instruments and talk to him. Then there are the elderly sisters who used to be in the theater and who can read fortunes in tea leaves. But, for Coraline, the most intriguing aspect of her new flat is the locked door that opens onto a brick wall. Her mother explains to her that it's simply due to the reconstruction. However, Coraline senses something is not as it seems. One day, when her parents are out, she gets the key for the locked door and literally opens a door into another world -- an alternate world. On the other side of the door, there is a flat that looks exactly like her flat, but better. In fact everything seems similar but better in this new world, including her parents. Coraline's room is prettier in this new world and is filled with toys and books that seem to be alive. But, things change quickly and it's obvious that her new parents don't exactly have her best interests at heart. As Coraline explores, things begin to deteriorate quickly, and she fears that she'll never get back to her real life in her real home with her real parents. In fact, she eventually discovers that she may be banished to live behind a mirror forever.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was creepy and fun all at the same time. The edition that I read also has some wonderful black and white drawings that are quite scary. It's a short book that can be read quickly, and I highly recommend it.
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after having heard rave reviews of his work all over the blogging world. He didn't disappoint. I will definitely be reading more of his work in the future.The edition I read has some nice supplementary material in the back, including an author interview, some biographical information, and his reasons for writing this particular book. He began writing it for one of his daughters over ten years ago. He says, "I started to write a story about a girl named Coraline. I thought that the story would be five or ten pages long. The story itself had other plans." He goes on to say, It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares. It's the strangest book I've written, it took the longest time to write, and it's the book I'm proudest of."
Coraline moves with her family into a large, older home that has been divided into individual flats. The residents of the other flats are a little on the eccentric side to say the least. There's the man upstairs who lives with a group of mice who play instruments and talk to him. Then there are the elderly sisters who used to be in the theater and who can read fortunes in tea leaves. But, for Coraline, the most intriguing aspect of her new flat is the locked door that opens onto a brick wall. Her mother explains to her that it's simply due to the reconstruction. However, Coraline senses something is not as it seems. One day, when her parents are out, she gets the key for the locked door and literally opens a door into another world -- an alternate world. On the other side of the door, there is a flat that looks exactly like her flat, but better. In fact everything seems similar but better in this new world, including her parents. Coraline's room is prettier in this new world and is filled with toys and books that seem to be alive. But, things change quickly and it's obvious that her new parents don't exactly have her best interests at heart. As Coraline explores, things begin to deteriorate quickly, and she fears that she'll never get back to her real life in her real home with her real parents. In fact, she eventually discovers that she may be banished to live behind a mirror forever.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was creepy and fun all at the same time. The edition that I read also has some wonderful black and white drawings that are quite scary. It's a short book that can be read quickly, and I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member harpua
Even though this is billed as a pre-teen book, I've been a Neil Gaiman fan for many years when I first discovered him with his work on the comic Sandman. I picked this one up to read in between other novels and as something I could read through quickly over the holiday weekend. I enjoyed this one
Would a pre-teen enjoy this? I'm sure they would though it may start out a bit too slow to hold their interest. Would an adult enjoy this? I sure did and so would any Gaiman fan. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the film. Recommend this for a quick enjoyable read.
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greatly. It did start out a bit slow, but about midway it picked up nicely and carried through to the end nicely.Would a pre-teen enjoy this? I'm sure they would though it may start out a bit too slow to hold their interest. Would an adult enjoy this? I sure did and so would any Gaiman fan. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the film. Recommend this for a quick enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member wiremonkey
Coraline is by far one of the most creepiest children's books I have every read and I mean that in the best way possible. It is like Gaiman made a list of all the things that could terrify a child (button eyes, white pasty skin, maggots) and stuck them in. Add to that the frightening premise of the
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"other mother" and you have a bone chilling tale. I would recommend this book to kids around ten years of age who like horro and fantasy. Show Less
LibraryThing member -AlyssaE-
i love this book i have read it on many occasions when i want a quick read. i almost think that its like a twisted alice in wonderland. people i have talked to think its creepy but neil gaiman is a great author.
LibraryThing member foolofatook
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get to reading this until after I saw the movie (which was amazing). The book definately lived up to my expectations. It was interesting, original, exciting, creative, and funny. It was a quick read, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Coraline is a great character and
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Neil Gaiman is a gifted storyteller. Show Less
LibraryThing member theokester
I wasn't even aware that the new film Coraline was based on a novel. I'd been trying to decide if the movie would be too intense for my kids (particularly the youngest two) and as I was walking through the bookstore one night, I saw the book sitting on a shelf. I bought it and plowed through it in
Setting
The setting of the story is a creepy old English house (manor?) that's been subdivided into a series of flats. Coraline lives with her family in one fairly standard flat. A strange old gypsy lives in the flat formed from the attic. And a pair of retired eccentric fortune telling thespians live on the other side of the main level. Between them all is a flat with no tenants that exists behind a brick wall on the other side of a door in Coraline's drawing room.
The layout of the house and its surrounding are a bit creepy in themselves. Coraline is an explorer by trade (is it fair of me to call it a "trade" for such a young girl) and so she's explored the outside of the house as well as some of the rooms of her neighbors. The yard/grounds are run down. The house itself seems to lack any real personality at present but shows evidence of a great personality in days gone by.
Characters
The main character is obviously Coraline Jones. We really get into her head and walk alongside her every action and get to partake of her thoughts, fears and motivations. This intimacy helps accentuate the scary elements presented in the book.
As Coraline encounters other characters, we're always looking at them through her eyes, so it's difficult to see just how strange they may be. Still, even trying to discount Coraline's bias, it's easy enough to see by their actions and their environments that these are definitely strange adults...bordering closely on the line of crazy.
Coraline's parents are fairly standard as far as fairy tale parents go...they are disinterested, uninvolved parents who don't seem to care for Coraline's welfare and who quickly disappear from her life. They are probably the most "realistic" and "sane" characters in the book. They also serve as a sort of commentary on parental involvement...they are definitely not the sort of parents a kid would like to have (nor the sort of parent a parent should try to be).
Miss Forcible and Miss Spink are the next most influential set of characters on Coraline from the "real world." They really sit in a sort of peripheral role but they do read Coraline's fortune in the tea leaves and give her a strange magical talisman. Beyond that, they seem to be just another pair of eccentrics.
Mister Bobo (aka the man upstairs) is given very little treatment in the book except appearing to be very crazy as he talks to the mice he's trying to train into circus performers. As you pay attention to the things the mice "tell" him, it's apparent that he may not be as crazy as we think.
The Other Mother (aka beldam) is the real antagonist in the story. She lures Coraline into the other world and tries to entice her to stay by giving her "everything she wants." It quickly becomes apparent that the Other Mother has ulterior motives and is not just looking for Coraline's "love" as she claims. The Other Mother takes on grotesque characteristics and behaviors that could be truly terrifying to younger children.
The Cat is an interesting character. It seems to serve as Coraline's guide through the other world and a sort of sounding board to explore ideas and learn about the Other Mother and the other world. The cat doesn't seem to have his (her? its?) own motivations and acts very nonchalant towards Coraline, and yet he does seem to have some desire to help her.
Plot
I've heard this story referred to as kind of a creepy Alice in Wonderland. While it does involve a girl going into a strange sort of world where everything behaves strangely...and it does have a talking cat that sometimes gives enigmatic advice...don't think that simply loving Alice means you'll love Coraline. More specifically, if a young child loves the Alice stories, don't view Coraline as a logical transition.
Realize that the comparison includes the word "creepy." This truly is a child's horror story. The plot includes a protagonist diving headlong into a strange and unpredictable world, fighting for her own life/soul and the lives/souls of her parents and three unidentified other children. There are occasional moments of whimsy but they are very short lived, to be replaced by images ranging from the slightly creepy to the skin-crawlingly scary.
As Coraline gets more and more involved in the plot, the events grow more and more scary. The "other" characters she encounters (the actresses, her father, the man upstairs) start out almost as normal as their real world counterparts, but as the story progresses, they each are involved in action that is rather scary.
The actions of the Other Mother are perhaps the most frightening. And even when it seems Coraline has finally won and it's time for the story to wrap up, you begin to wonder if the horror will ever truly end. With only two chapters left in the book, Coraline suddenly faces a new terror and has to overcome a new challenge.
Overall
Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was a very quick read and I did wish that it had another hundred pages to it where it could have gone into more depth about some of the trials Coraline faced, or perhaps introduce some new elements. It also felt like it took perhaps a little long to get started, but that back story really helped, so I probably wouldn't remove it except for the fact that younger readers might get bored before getting into the meat of the tale.
My main curiosity is as to the target demographic. This definitely seemed a bit more scary than the Goosebumps books my son has been reading. I don't necessarily think it's too scary for him but I am still nervous about handing it to him to read on a school night (for fear of a nightmare filled sleepless night). It's definitely a dark read.
Maybe I'm making kids out to be more wussy than they are but this seemed like too much for younger kids...and yet teenagers may be put off by how young the protagonist is and how simplistic the events are.
This is a lot of fun and I can recommend it to older readers with a penchant for the creepy but am hesitant to recommend it to kids under ~10. I'm definitely interested to see how the movie plays out...from the previews I've seen, it looks more entertaining/whimsical than the book (the preview shows numerous "fun" elements that aren't in the book)...which means it might be more accessible to younger kids. If anybody's seen the movie, let me know what you think.
****
3.5 stars
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a couple of hours (it is a fairly quick read). Setting
The setting of the story is a creepy old English house (manor?) that's been subdivided into a series of flats. Coraline lives with her family in one fairly standard flat. A strange old gypsy lives in the flat formed from the attic. And a pair of retired eccentric fortune telling thespians live on the other side of the main level. Between them all is a flat with no tenants that exists behind a brick wall on the other side of a door in Coraline's drawing room.
The layout of the house and its surrounding are a bit creepy in themselves. Coraline is an explorer by trade (is it fair of me to call it a "trade" for such a young girl) and so she's explored the outside of the house as well as some of the rooms of her neighbors. The yard/grounds are run down. The house itself seems to lack any real personality at present but shows evidence of a great personality in days gone by.
Characters
The main character is obviously Coraline Jones. We really get into her head and walk alongside her every action and get to partake of her thoughts, fears and motivations. This intimacy helps accentuate the scary elements presented in the book.
As Coraline encounters other characters, we're always looking at them through her eyes, so it's difficult to see just how strange they may be. Still, even trying to discount Coraline's bias, it's easy enough to see by their actions and their environments that these are definitely strange adults...bordering closely on the line of crazy.
Coraline's parents are fairly standard as far as fairy tale parents go...they are disinterested, uninvolved parents who don't seem to care for Coraline's welfare and who quickly disappear from her life. They are probably the most "realistic" and "sane" characters in the book. They also serve as a sort of commentary on parental involvement...they are definitely not the sort of parents a kid would like to have (nor the sort of parent a parent should try to be).
Miss Forcible and Miss Spink are the next most influential set of characters on Coraline from the "real world." They really sit in a sort of peripheral role but they do read Coraline's fortune in the tea leaves and give her a strange magical talisman. Beyond that, they seem to be just another pair of eccentrics.
Mister Bobo (aka the man upstairs) is given very little treatment in the book except appearing to be very crazy as he talks to the mice he's trying to train into circus performers. As you pay attention to the things the mice "tell" him, it's apparent that he may not be as crazy as we think.
The Other Mother (aka beldam) is the real antagonist in the story. She lures Coraline into the other world and tries to entice her to stay by giving her "everything she wants." It quickly becomes apparent that the Other Mother has ulterior motives and is not just looking for Coraline's "love" as she claims. The Other Mother takes on grotesque characteristics and behaviors that could be truly terrifying to younger children.
The Cat is an interesting character. It seems to serve as Coraline's guide through the other world and a sort of sounding board to explore ideas and learn about the Other Mother and the other world. The cat doesn't seem to have his (her? its?) own motivations and acts very nonchalant towards Coraline, and yet he does seem to have some desire to help her.
Plot
I've heard this story referred to as kind of a creepy Alice in Wonderland. While it does involve a girl going into a strange sort of world where everything behaves strangely...and it does have a talking cat that sometimes gives enigmatic advice...don't think that simply loving Alice means you'll love Coraline. More specifically, if a young child loves the Alice stories, don't view Coraline as a logical transition.
Realize that the comparison includes the word "creepy." This truly is a child's horror story. The plot includes a protagonist diving headlong into a strange and unpredictable world, fighting for her own life/soul and the lives/souls of her parents and three unidentified other children. There are occasional moments of whimsy but they are very short lived, to be replaced by images ranging from the slightly creepy to the skin-crawlingly scary.
As Coraline gets more and more involved in the plot, the events grow more and more scary. The "other" characters she encounters (the actresses, her father, the man upstairs) start out almost as normal as their real world counterparts, but as the story progresses, they each are involved in action that is rather scary.
The actions of the Other Mother are perhaps the most frightening. And even when it seems Coraline has finally won and it's time for the story to wrap up, you begin to wonder if the horror will ever truly end. With only two chapters left in the book, Coraline suddenly faces a new terror and has to overcome a new challenge.
Overall
Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was a very quick read and I did wish that it had another hundred pages to it where it could have gone into more depth about some of the trials Coraline faced, or perhaps introduce some new elements. It also felt like it took perhaps a little long to get started, but that back story really helped, so I probably wouldn't remove it except for the fact that younger readers might get bored before getting into the meat of the tale.
My main curiosity is as to the target demographic. This definitely seemed a bit more scary than the Goosebumps books my son has been reading. I don't necessarily think it's too scary for him but I am still nervous about handing it to him to read on a school night (for fear of a nightmare filled sleepless night). It's definitely a dark read.
Maybe I'm making kids out to be more wussy than they are but this seemed like too much for younger kids...and yet teenagers may be put off by how young the protagonist is and how simplistic the events are.
This is a lot of fun and I can recommend it to older readers with a penchant for the creepy but am hesitant to recommend it to kids under ~10. I'm definitely interested to see how the movie plays out...from the previews I've seen, it looks more entertaining/whimsical than the book (the preview shows numerous "fun" elements that aren't in the book)...which means it might be more accessible to younger kids. If anybody's seen the movie, let me know what you think.
****
3.5 stars
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LibraryThing member kingoftheicedragons
I must admit I was a bit skeptical about this book. The author has been mentioned a couple of times by a person at work, so I thought I'd give it a try, only I never really knew when, since it being a children's book seemed to keep pushing it down the list of books to read. Until another person
It was actually a very quick read, with the larger print on the pages, therefore not as many words on each page, and a little shorter than most books I read, coming in at about 160 pages. But it also sucked me into the world that Coraline lived in, making me want to read more.
Despite the fact that it was a children's book, it is a very dark, nightmarish plot line. In fact, the story and plot itself could very easily be found in adult literature by merely expanding on the story a little.
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from work volunteered that she had the book at home and offered to bring it in so I could read it.It was actually a very quick read, with the larger print on the pages, therefore not as many words on each page, and a little shorter than most books I read, coming in at about 160 pages. But it also sucked me into the world that Coraline lived in, making me want to read more.
Despite the fact that it was a children's book, it is a very dark, nightmarish plot line. In fact, the story and plot itself could very easily be found in adult literature by merely expanding on the story a little.
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LibraryThing member humouress
'Coraline' is about a little girl who feels she's being ignored by her parents, and then walks through a door that should lead to nowhere and finds another world, with parents who say they have been waiting just for her. Coraline has to be clever, brave and compassionate to win through, and has to
The story has been made into an animated film, though I haven't seen it (so it didn't influence my reading)
This is a children's book, and it is well written. There is an underlying horror in the other world and the people in it, but (because it is a children's book) it is not horrifying, just vaguely scary; I think it probably hits it's target audience perfectly, giving them a bit of a shiver without terrifying them. It could easily be developed into something quite scary for an older audience, though, if Coraline's challenges were harder to overcome.
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overcome a few set-backs along the way.The story has been made into an animated film, though I haven't seen it (so it didn't influence my reading)
This is a children's book, and it is well written. There is an underlying horror in the other world and the people in it, but (because it is a children's book) it is not horrifying, just vaguely scary; I think it probably hits it's target audience perfectly, giving them a bit of a shiver without terrifying them. It could easily be developed into something quite scary for an older audience, though, if Coraline's challenges were harder to overcome.
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LibraryThing member bnray
Neil Gaiman is such a good writer in this chilling story of a girl who moves to a new apartment to find that there is door leading to a creepy parallel "other world" in which Coraline finds bizarre doll-like duplicates of her parents and neighbors who all have black buttons stitched over their
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eyes. At first Coraline is pleased and enchanted by the "other world" until she learns that her other mother is not nearly as nice as she first seems. After refusing to stay in the "other world" with her other mother, Coraline finds that her parents are missing and Coraline must go back to the "other world" to beat her other mother at her own game. Along the way she runs into many creepy road blocks before finally banishing what is left of her other mother into an abandon well. Show Less
LibraryThing member pallavi11
Well, I am writing this, mainly, so that I can quote two lines, and both of them are not a part of the story.
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
—G. K. Chesterton
this is the quote Neil Gaiman's Coraline
It doesn't take imagination to be afraid of nightmares, they are frightening on their own, though I grant you, it takes imagination to dream up nightmares. But dreams are a different story. You want them to come true. You want to go chasing them, you want parents who will spend time with you, and cook food you love, and everything you want given to you without any payment, without any meaning. Dreams are rose coloured glasses, and if you are imaginative enough, you will be terrified of the distorted view you get through them, because it is so hauntingly beautiful. Desirable.
And this is a book which looks at rosy dreams, looks at it till the pinks become as terrifying as only pink can be, and says,
"Because," she said, "when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."
So we come to the second line I wanted to quote
It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares.
Because children have not yet seen that, how people mistake dreams for reality, and step into storybook worlds which act on their own logic, which defies any attempt to reason.
And we add one more thing to the list of things they don't tell you but you must know now that you are grown up, dreams are terrible things, and getting all we want is not only something that's not gonna happen, but also meaningless, uninteresting, and dangerous.
And it is always a delight to read about heroines like Coraline. I can't say I grew up reading about girls like her, because stories like this generally have heroes, not heroines, but back when I was a kid, I didn't really notice stuff like that. I grew up wondering if I was brave. And I never noticed how much immersed in the stories of great women my childhood was- it had really been just a part of the background- untill the day when I said offhandedly that I knew ?Lisa Mariter, because I tend to know about women like that.
Also, the other mother. In this book, both the main characters are women, and if it hadn't been a children's book, I would have complained that the other mother isn't frightening enough. You see, she is pure evil, so evil, that she is never a real temptation. But this is a kid's book, and I don't mind an unidimensional villain. But in a better book, she would have been realer than the real mother, and then we could have had conflict, and a test of courage and we could have faced the questions. What is reality? What is temptation? What is happiness? What do we want? Truly want, when we can have everything we want, as long as we ask or it, what is it that we ask for? And how much do choices matter? People judge us by the choices we make, but did we want to become the choices we made?
Were- are- dreams worth the price we pay for them? I guess some are, some aren't. And if one is practical enough, one can make the right guesses, and live happily. And I have come to like this phrase, cynicism is the refuge of the hopelessly romantic. If you are practical enough, you can keep your dreams and your romance, you can protect them from reality. And maybe protect reality from them.
Btw, on the subject of choices, I am going to choose medicine. I am old enough to not hold grudges, actually, I found that as soon as I was no longer in my parents' power, I no longer resented them, but I have not forgotten. I won't take good advice if the only basis for it is misogyny. I can be better than the best of them, and I won't take away from myself the chance to prove that if need be. That is all.
It is not really a dream, I do not want to become a medicine resident, in fact, it is a resolve. And I won't make a song-and-dance of it, but I will stand by my resolve. It has been recently bothering me that I might be brave, but ever since I became brave enough to accept change I have not had occasion for resolve.
And to end, here is a final quote
-- As for believing in fairies . . . many years ago I wrote the copyright notice for a comic called The Books of Magic, in which I said words to the effect of "All the characters, human or otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the faerie folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof." A position I still wholeheartedly support and defend
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
—G. K. Chesterton
this is the quote Neil Gaiman's Coraline
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begins with, and proceeds to live upto. It is frightening story, and it is a book about fear, and the kind of things people like you and me, people who have enough imagination to be afraid of dreams, are afraid of.It doesn't take imagination to be afraid of nightmares, they are frightening on their own, though I grant you, it takes imagination to dream up nightmares. But dreams are a different story. You want them to come true. You want to go chasing them, you want parents who will spend time with you, and cook food you love, and everything you want given to you without any payment, without any meaning. Dreams are rose coloured glasses, and if you are imaginative enough, you will be terrified of the distorted view you get through them, because it is so hauntingly beautiful. Desirable.
And this is a book which looks at rosy dreams, looks at it till the pinks become as terrifying as only pink can be, and says,
"Because," she said, "when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."
So we come to the second line I wanted to quote
It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares.
Because children have not yet seen that, how people mistake dreams for reality, and step into storybook worlds which act on their own logic, which defies any attempt to reason.
And we add one more thing to the list of things they don't tell you but you must know now that you are grown up, dreams are terrible things, and getting all we want is not only something that's not gonna happen, but also meaningless, uninteresting, and dangerous.
And it is always a delight to read about heroines like Coraline. I can't say I grew up reading about girls like her, because stories like this generally have heroes, not heroines, but back when I was a kid, I didn't really notice stuff like that. I grew up wondering if I was brave. And I never noticed how much immersed in the stories of great women my childhood was- it had really been just a part of the background- untill the day when I said offhandedly that I knew ?Lisa Mariter, because I tend to know about women like that.
Also, the other mother. In this book, both the main characters are women, and if it hadn't been a children's book, I would have complained that the other mother isn't frightening enough. You see, she is pure evil, so evil, that she is never a real temptation. But this is a kid's book, and I don't mind an unidimensional villain. But in a better book, she would have been realer than the real mother, and then we could have had conflict, and a test of courage and we could have faced the questions. What is reality? What is temptation? What is happiness? What do we want? Truly want, when we can have everything we want, as long as we ask or it, what is it that we ask for? And how much do choices matter? People judge us by the choices we make, but did we want to become the choices we made?
Were- are- dreams worth the price we pay for them? I guess some are, some aren't. And if one is practical enough, one can make the right guesses, and live happily. And I have come to like this phrase, cynicism is the refuge of the hopelessly romantic. If you are practical enough, you can keep your dreams and your romance, you can protect them from reality. And maybe protect reality from them.
Btw, on the subject of choices, I am going to choose medicine. I am old enough to not hold grudges, actually, I found that as soon as I was no longer in my parents' power, I no longer resented them, but I have not forgotten. I won't take good advice if the only basis for it is misogyny. I can be better than the best of them, and I won't take away from myself the chance to prove that if need be. That is all.
It is not really a dream, I do not want to become a medicine resident, in fact, it is a resolve. And I won't make a song-and-dance of it, but I will stand by my resolve. It has been recently bothering me that I might be brave, but ever since I became brave enough to accept change I have not had occasion for resolve.
And to end, here is a final quote
-- As for believing in fairies . . . many years ago I wrote the copyright notice for a comic called The Books of Magic, in which I said words to the effect of "All the characters, human or otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the faerie folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof." A position I still wholeheartedly support and defend
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LibraryThing member CindyFesemyer
I've read tons of Neil Gaiman over the years, including his picture books which I happily read aloud to my kids when they were younger. Knowing that The Graveyard Book is not yet quite right as a read aloud for my nine-year-old twin girls (too scary right before bed or so thinks this somewhat
And boy am I glad I snagged the book before she could get to it. Though I think my kids would have been OK either reading this book themselves or hearing me read it aloud, I think there are some pretty darn creepy and scary moments in the book that I would have wanted to downplay had I been reading it to them before bed. Gaiman paints a very spooky atmosphere, with perfect little details making the Other world just wrong enough to really creep you out. So, the short answer is: I'll wait another year before reading this aloud to my kids.
That said, this is truly a modern twist on the classic fairy tale. Unlike fairy tales of yore, it's not a cautionary tale told by adults to protect and/or control children; rather it's a story about conquering fear. Children can instill in themselves, through the simple act of imagining themselves and their loved ones living in a slightly different reality, great fear--fear we adults have logiced ourselves out of but that is still quite real to kids whose imaginations haven't yet been quashed by the mundane details of living. I imagined crazy stuff as a kid. And that's precisely what Gaiman is doing in Coraline. He presents the reader with an altered reality that's full of creepy, spooky, scary moments. We feel damp drafts blowing through hallways, hear unsettling scratching at the door in the middle of the night and see dark movement out of the corner of our eye as we travel with Coraline through her Other world. And we feel pride when she bests her enemy and proves herself capable of taking care of herself and others in a word, either real or Other, that can be very strange and off putting.
A great girl power read with a gothic twist. My daughters will love the book . . . when they're ready.
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overprotective mother), I'd hoped Coraline would tide us over until they're ready for older stuff from Gaiman. In fact, one of my girls brought the book home from the school library last week, which is what prompted me to finally read Coraline in the first place.And boy am I glad I snagged the book before she could get to it. Though I think my kids would have been OK either reading this book themselves or hearing me read it aloud, I think there are some pretty darn creepy and scary moments in the book that I would have wanted to downplay had I been reading it to them before bed. Gaiman paints a very spooky atmosphere, with perfect little details making the Other world just wrong enough to really creep you out. So, the short answer is: I'll wait another year before reading this aloud to my kids.
That said, this is truly a modern twist on the classic fairy tale. Unlike fairy tales of yore, it's not a cautionary tale told by adults to protect and/or control children; rather it's a story about conquering fear. Children can instill in themselves, through the simple act of imagining themselves and their loved ones living in a slightly different reality, great fear--fear we adults have logiced ourselves out of but that is still quite real to kids whose imaginations haven't yet been quashed by the mundane details of living. I imagined crazy stuff as a kid. And that's precisely what Gaiman is doing in Coraline. He presents the reader with an altered reality that's full of creepy, spooky, scary moments. We feel damp drafts blowing through hallways, hear unsettling scratching at the door in the middle of the night and see dark movement out of the corner of our eye as we travel with Coraline through her Other world. And we feel pride when she bests her enemy and proves herself capable of taking care of herself and others in a word, either real or Other, that can be very strange and off putting.
A great girl power read with a gothic twist. My daughters will love the book . . . when they're ready.
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LibraryThing member alliepascal
Children's Lit at its best. Coraline is bite-sized adventure about curiosity, never losing sight of what's important, and recognizing the transience of what isn't.
"When you're scared and you still do it anyway, that's brave."
"When you're scared and you still do it anyway, that's brave."
LibraryThing member sheherazahde
This is a scary story about a girl named Coraline (not Caroline). She and her parents have just moved into a new home. School has not started yet and she is very bored so she goes exploring. Her explorations open up a dangerous door into an alternate world where a woman claiming to be her "other
I can't think of another story that is like this, except that a lot of fairy stories are very much like this. It feels totally modern and ancient at the same time. Mr. Gaiman has a genius for reinventing classic ideas.
I got both the text and graphic novel versions. I think I prefer the graphic novel although the text version is a little more scary because you have to imagine everything for yourself.
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mother" wants her to stay forever. I can't think of another story that is like this, except that a lot of fairy stories are very much like this. It feels totally modern and ancient at the same time. Mr. Gaiman has a genius for reinventing classic ideas.
I got both the text and graphic novel versions. I think I prefer the graphic novel although the text version is a little more scary because you have to imagine everything for yourself.
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LibraryThing member subbobmail
I swallowed all of Coraline in one sitting. Neil Gaiman strikes me as a great remixer of myths: he has the storytelling gift, and blends all sorts of familiar story elements in engaging ways.
Coraline is sort of a darker version of Alice In Wonderland. The titular girl, bored in her new home and
One can see why the maker of The Nighmare Before Christmas was drawn to make a movie out of this book (and man, do I ever want to see it). Gaiman and Harry Selick understand that good fairy tales are not full of unicorns and rainbows -- they are full of fright and threat and darkness. In fact, the main flaw of Coraline (which only makes itself felt in retrospect) is that it doesn't quite earn its requisite happy ending. Ah, well -- maybe Coraline will die in the sequel.
Coraline is sort of a darker version of Alice In Wonderland. The titular girl, bored in her new home and
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benignly ignored by her parents, discovers a mirror world behind a secret door, a place where she has an Other Mother. This mirror world is wondrous and fanciful -- everything Coraline's normal life is not -- but the Other Mother, who has bottons where her eyes should be, soon turns out to be less than benign. That's when things get really creepy.One can see why the maker of The Nighmare Before Christmas was drawn to make a movie out of this book (and man, do I ever want to see it). Gaiman and Harry Selick understand that good fairy tales are not full of unicorns and rainbows -- they are full of fright and threat and darkness. In fact, the main flaw of Coraline (which only makes itself felt in retrospect) is that it doesn't quite earn its requisite happy ending. Ah, well -- maybe Coraline will die in the sequel.
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Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novella — 2003)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novella — 2003)
Audie Award (Finalist — Middle Grade — 2023)
Locus Award (Finalist — Young Adult Novel — 2003)
Sequoyah Book Award (Nominee — Children's — 2005)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Children's Literature — 2003)
Georgia Children's Book Award (Finalist — Grades 4-8 — 2005)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2002)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novella — 2003)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Junior — 2005)
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — Long Fiction — 2002)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee)
SF Site Reader's Choice (2002)
Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book — Children's Literature — 2003)
SF Site Editor's Choice (2002)
International Horror Guild Award (Nominee — Long Fiction — 2002)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2006)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2002)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Short Fiction — 2002)
Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award (Winner — 2005)
Golden Archer Award (Nominee — 2006)
IBBY Honour Book (2004)
Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award (Winner — 2003)
Locus Recommended Reading (Young Adult Novel — 2002)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2003)
CCBC Choices (2003)
Children's Favorites Awards (Selection)
Notable Children's Book (2003)
Language
Original publication date
2002-07-02
Physical description
5.16 inches
ISBN
0049
Other editions
Coraline [AUDIO] by Neil Gaiman (Digital audiobook)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (Paperback)