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Most Helpful Favorable Review
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Quirky, a little bizarre, fascinating!
This is an excellent book for younger but mature readers (4th through 7th grade), but it could be somewhat scary for anyone younger. It's fast paced, very Tim-Burtonish, a really quick read. I couldn't put it down!
posted by Anonymous on August 4, 2008
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Fun
Fun read, very whimsical, and had some nice passages.
posted by tBunnyMan on February 15, 2012
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A lovely book
This lovely book has been through check-in many times at the library, and every time,one of my coworkers--a real Neil Gaiman fan--would tell me to read it. I'm so glad I finally did.
Coraline and her family move to a new flat that is part of a larger house, which is appropriately big and creepy. While exploring her new home, Coraline discovers a large door in the drawing room. Her mother unlocks it (with an appropriately large, old looking black key, of course) to reveal a brick wall. When Coraline opens the door by herself, though, the brick wall is gone! She goes through a strange corridor and finds a flat exactly like hers, complete with copies of her neighbors and her "other" parents--all with shiny black buttons for eyes (I still don't understand the buttons, but they are rather creepy). Soon, Coraline realizes that her other mother is up to no good.
One of the best things about Coraline is that it's funny. Coraline tells it like it is. My favorite deadpan of hers occurs in a conversation with her neighbors, the delightfully named Misses Spink and Forcible:
"How are your dear mother and father?" asked Miss Spink.
"Missing," said Coraline. "I haven't seen either of them since yesterday. I'm on my own. I think I've probably become a single child family."
Ha! That still gets me. I thoroughly enjoyed Coraline's talkative feline ally, as well.
In the end, though, Coraline is more than just scary and funny at twists and turns. The quote at the beginning of the book--
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
--fits Coraline's story very well.
This book was written for children, but I believe that people of any age group can enjoy it. I know I did!12 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 4, 2008
Quirky, a little bizarre, fascinating!
This is an excellent book for younger but mature readers (4th through 7th grade), but it could be somewhat scary for anyone younger. It's fast paced, very Tim-Burtonish, a really quick read. I couldn't put it down!
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 1, 2012
Coraline
This book keeps u on the edge of ur seat!!! I love books like this, and im guessing its hard for u not to like books like this either! And once u have read the book, WATCH THE MOVIE!!!!!!! Its just as good as the book!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Highly Reccomended
Coraline is probably the scariest, freakiest, most original book ever! This book is about a girl named Coraline who moves into a new house and discovers a door...
My favorite part was when the hand was running around the house - that was scary!
I recommend this book for ages 8 and up and for people who like scary stories and have some imagination :)
Want to find out more about the book? Read it and you won't be sorry! :)4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Just relax and open a brand new world!!!
Coraline is about a girl who finds another world. When she finds the other world she finds another mother and another father but just when she thinks this is great, a little problem comes along. My connection to this book is that Coraline has another mother and so do I. I recommend this book to people who like nerve raking stories. This is a fantastic book and I give it 4 thumbs up!!!
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Captivatingly creepy
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 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 29, 2009
This book is fun and not so light-hearted
Coraline was an endearing childrens book with an edge. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 27, 2012
True hearted
I have seen the movie and it was one of my top ten movies . When i found out there was a book i started freaking out and got my hands on it the first chance i got . Being 16 and reading the reviews , i was expecting a short easy read ... thats exactly what i got . But this easy read took me to another world and i found a few parts scary ( im not one for anything remotely scary) but all in all , i would highly recomend .
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 28, 2009
Daughter chose book to compare/contrast with the movie version...
My daughter chose this book to read so that we could compare it to the movie version. It was just as creepy as the movie, but well written. It was fun to read this book together and discuss the differences and similarities.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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9angeleyes
Posted February 7, 2009
I Also Recommend:
awesome book!
when i heard the movie was coming out i bought the book, not really thinking about who the writer was. Neil Gaiman's tale of Coraline can be wonderful and terrifying at the same time. (i was getting chills after the 1st chapter.) from then you can tell something sinister was going on, even as Coraline ( not Caroline!) was going about her life in the real world.
i loved the story, i loved how it was scary, and really it's about Coraline growing up from a child with her own wants to a young woman who is thankful for what she has and understands that the fantasy world is not always the best world to live in.
i would personally give this book 4 1/2 stars, but it might not be for everyone at age 8.2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 24, 2012
Really good
This book is really great but the movie was super scary!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 15, 2012
Fun
Fun read, very whimsical, and had some nice passages.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Find out more by going in the little door.....
Coraline is a fabulous book because it has really interesting drawings. It also has terrific details. Coraline is about a girl that found a door and when she went inside it she went in to a world that looked exactly about the one she left. One thing was different everyone had button eyes and she had a so called "other mother and father." They did everything for her but are they really as nice as they seem? Read Coraline to find out. One of my favourite parts in this book was when Coraline was in the theatre because Miss Spink and forcible flew Coraline around in a trapeze. I would recommend book to anyone who likes a few thrills and a bit of mystery.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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BLewis85
Posted February 2, 2010
A Lively Journey to the Unknown
Fantastic book if you do not mind the creepiest corners of the imagination. Coraline is a lesson in perseverance, imagination, and humor. The darkest parts of the story are creepy, if not terrifying, and make for a great and easy read. I would not recommend this for the younger reader who may struggle with the concepts of realism vs. magic. Definitely a great ghost story.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Coraline makes you want to be a kid again.
As a child, I remember what it was to open up a book and be transported to a place far from home. It's hard to have that sensation anymore when you're grown-up. I have to admit that I did not read the book (nor know of its existence) until I saw the movie in theaters. I bought the book soon after and even as a twenty-something, I found it to be the most fun I've had in a long time.
I found the overall concept to be too simple in my case, but the story and writing, and in particular the young protagonist, more than made up for it. What I remember and enjoy most was the "creep factor" that settled in the further I read along. The Other Mother is a frightening antagonist and the setting of the Other World brings back images of my oldest dreams...and nightmares.
I was turned into a child again, experiencing Coraline's journey into this strangely familiar, yet alien world. For those who want to remember what it was like being afraid of the dark, I highly reccomend this work. Granted it's targeted at a younger audience and may seem simplistic at first, but Neil Gaiman's a master storyteller and Coraline is no exception.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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A classic fairy tale.
Very few people still appreciate old-fashioned fairy tales, but if you are one of them, pick this up to read a masterpiece. The hardest part for adult fans will be remembering to share it with their children, and not hog it for themselves.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 14, 2009
AWESOME!!!!
This book is everything wanted in a book. Its horror, but not too horror, its comedy, but not too much comedy,its awesome, to the maximum!!! Whoever comes around to this book should read it no matter what!!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 10, 2009
thrilling
I thought that the book was very interseting and exciting. coraline is always having her name said wrong. Every time it is frustrating for her she hollors at them that there name is coraline not caraline. overall the book had things that should not have been in there. this is all my opinion so dont take it personal.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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abcrockon
Posted February 9, 2009
Really cool book
Coraline is a great book. The writing, plot, setting is all magnificent. I would recommend this book to anybody over 10 die to some of the creepy stories and characters. I love this book!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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John_GaltJH
Posted February 9, 2009
Great book
I liked this book a lot. When I was first introduced to it, I can't say I had a very high opinion of it, but I later found out it was an excellent book. I'd recommend it to anyone, but especially kids ages 6-14.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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