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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
This was a reread for me, because I loved the movie growing up. I read the book when I was younger but didn’t remember much of it—so picking it up again felt like revisiting my childhood, when the Coraline movie gave me the heebie jeebies. Honestly? It still does. And the book proved it even more.
I’m usually the type who prefers watching the movie before reading the book—it helps me picture things out more vividly in my head. In this case, while there are definitely differences between the two, I found them both equally creepy. Where the movie leaned into visuals and atmosphere, the book leaned into its unsettling tone and language. Neil Gaiman has this uncanny way of writing something that seems simple on the surface, but the words crawl under your skin and stay there.
“Cats don’t have names. 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.”
Lines like this stuck out to me on the reread—it’s whimsical, but also eerie in its quiet confidence. That’s what makes Coraline so effective: it’s not just about monsters or button-eyed villains, it’s about the creeping unease of realizing that something familiar can turn strange in an instant. The Other Mother is terrifying, yes, but it’s the little things—the silence of the Other World, the ghost children, the flat wrongness of everything—that make this book unsettling even for adults.
The themes hit harder too, now that I’m older. It’s not just a creepy kids’ story; it’s about courage, choice, and appreciation. Coraline learns to face her fears and recognize the value of her ordinary, “boring” life. As one review I read put it, Gaiman manages to write a story that’s simple enough for children to follow but layered enough for adults to reflect on.
That said, my personal rating is 3/5 stars. Not because it isn’t good—it’s a classic for a reason—but because I felt the creepiness carried me more than the story itself at times. The world-building is rich in atmosphere, but occasionally sparse in detail, which left me wanting a little more. Still, it’s a book I appreciate more for what it represents: a story about bravery, family, and imagination, wrapped in a dark fairy-tale package.
Equal parts whimsical and terrifying, Coraline remains a haunting little story that lingers long after you close the last page.
This was so entertaining and fun to read. Perfect summerween book
