Reviews with content warning for Death - Coraline

Coraline has been one of my favorite movies for years, but i never got around to reading the book. Part of my inner child healing is reading things under my age that little me would have loved and so I brought myself to read Coraline for the first time. Holy cow, this book is TERRIFYING. I don’t think there is a horror book on the market that can capture the tense atmosphere and terror of this short little book. The rats, the other mother, the unsettling aspect of it all. I loved every minute of it. While i have to say, i hold the movie closer to my heart than the book, i did enjoy the book immensely. This story is such a sad one of loneliness and wanting to find where you belong and realizing you belong where you were, you just didn’t understand it. I think it relays that message in an understanding way for kids. Highly recommend.

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vigil's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

i’m definitely biased as coraline is my favorite movie, but i loved this book.

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Coraline the movie is my favorite movie ever, but this is my first time reading the book, so i had really high and specific expectations. first of all, no Wybie???!??!!?! i really appreciate his addition in the movie.
in the very first chapter it says "She hoped it wasn't a spider. Spiders made Coraline intensely uncomfortable." knowing the scene in the movie where

the Beldam strips away the floorboards into a spiderweb to trap Coraline and prevent her escape from the Other World

, i highlighted this and noted it as some sly foreshadowing for the climax. there were then thirteen subsequent uses of the word "spider", so i was really expecting

the Beldam to exhibit some explicitly spider-like qualities

, but this never happens, which i think is a shame. it would have been even more effective in the book than it was in the movie.
on the other hand, the final chapter of the book (XIII—i see you Neil Gaiman) is even more brilliant and satisfying than the movie, with the

fake doll tea party to trick the Beldam hand into jumping into the well

. genius
the overall theme of the story was very well done, Coraline's need for attention from her busy parents really comes through especially in how she talks about them when they're not around, and then just small moments of affection between her and her parents when they return are so touching, i cried (

daddy issues

)
also, i have to say, Neil Gaiman did not do his own characters justice in his audiobook reading. give it some life! make Coraline sound stubborn and actually like a child! make the Beldam snarly and mad-villainous! everyone is so dry, which works perfectly for the cat since it's in the cat's character, but the rest just becomes dull. except for the rats' songs. those were horrifying and unsettling and i love them.

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