Reviews with content warning for Blood - Coraline

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.

Content Warnings

binreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Oh, my twitchy witchy girl!

Coraline the novel was sincerely the best set up for the film. The book in my opinion is even creepier than the movie, and I love it. It has so much character and charm.

Such a scary children’s story that has captivated me since the movie released back in 2009. There’s really nothing like it.

this was my second read and definitely not my last! Every time I read it, I can see/hear the film play in my head.

Content Warnings

matts_graveyard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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sapphic_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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solouncapitulomas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

“Now, 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.”

This was my first read for Halloween 2021 and I know I was perhaps putting a lot of pressure in Neil, but it depended on this book if I was going to read more mysteries or horror this month; glad that it worked out.

I grew up scared of Coraline, never read the book or watched the movie, but the other mother with her button eyes was usually present when I thought about fears I had, when I first heard about the story I was told it was "the tale of a girl that crossed to another dimension where two adults very similar to her real parents tried to sew buttons into her eyes" and to me, that was the whole plot. But in fact it is only mentioned twice that the mother wants to do this to her, very vaguely also. It is scary nonetheless, however I will watch the movie later on the month and this book will now go up into my favorites reads, of all time. Btw this is my second read from a male writer this year.

I really don't have a lot to say, this was a short read (less than 24hrs) it scared the hell out of me and half of the time I was thinking about Coraline and preoccupied something was going to happen to her, but she's a badass and managed it all ON HER OWN (since her parents were incompetent). Honestly she was treated very badly by everyone, except the ladies that helped her, but they didn't know her name so there's that. The cat was helpful but he was so rude and sarcastic (how I imagine cats if they could talk) I feel that if I was in this book I would be the cat.

Don't have much more to say without spoiling the whole plot and I really want this review to be spoiler free so here are some quote I really liked:

“Because, when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave.”

“It is astonishing just how much of what we are can be tied to the beds we wake up in in the morning, and it is astonishing how fragile that can be.”

“But how can you walk away from something and still come back to it?”
“Easy,” said the cat. “Think of somebody walking around the world. You start out walking away from something and end up coming back to it.”

“I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything. What then?”

I was listening to Tag, You're It by Melanie Martinez & Runaway by AURORA while writing this review

'kay, I'm out
Bye

Content Warnings

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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