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Coraline and her parents have moved in to a new flat, and things seem wonderful. But, Coraline's parents are too busy for her, so she goes exploring. As she does so, she finds that the new flat has twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Of those fourteen doors, thirteen open and can be passed through. The fourteenth, though, when Coraline's mother unlocks and opens the door, has only a brick wall behind it.
Or does it?
Because when Coraline unlocks and opens the fourteenth door, there isn't a brick wall there. Instead, she discovers another flat - which looks exactly like her own. At first, the other flat is really nice. The food there is much better, and her bedroom has a toy box with windup toys that are great fun. There's also another mother and another father. And they want Coraline to become their other daughter. But, in order to do so, Coraline would have to change.
And that's where the trouble begins.
I must confess that I am not one to read scary stories. If I do, I do so during the daytime, with all the lights on in the house. You can never be sure when the scary monsters will come out, after all. As such, I have not read many books by Mr. Gaiman. This is only the third, the first two being Odd and the Frost Giants and Norse Mythology - neither one of which falls into the category of scary story. As I had heard many good things about Coraline, and it's written for readers aged 9 and up, I thought it would be a safe enough option for me.
I loved it.
It did still scare me (I freely admit to being an adult scaredy cat), but I continued listening. As Coraline puts it, "when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave." For Coraline, I was brave.
I should first point out that I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Mr. Gaiman himself. I am often leery of author-read audiobooks because, while they may be wizards with the written word, narrating involves an entirely different skill-set, and many authors just don't have it. Neil Gaiman does. His narration absolutely pulled me right into the story from the very beginning, and his knowledge of the story and the characters meant that he knew exactly what to emphasize and where to add tension to make the audiobook a truly great experience.
From the beginning, when Coraline has to entertain herself because her parents don't have time for her to the end when Coraline finally ... no, I shouldn't say that. I don't want to give away spoilers. Anyway, from the beginning to the end, Gaiman weaves a tale that is fantastical, suspenseful, and wonderful. I loved the running - not really a joke or a gag, so much as a continuation of incompetency, so we'll go with that - the running incompetency of the other residents in Coraline's building being unable to say her name correctly; they keep calling her Caroline, even after she has corrected them...multiple times.
Beyond the human characters - and I'm including other mother and other father in that category despite their being ... not really human - are the animal characters with which Coraline interacts multiple times. The rats. Oh. My. God. The rats. They sang. And I'm not talking about pretty little songs written by Disney musicians that will make you feel all happy and light. Oh, no. These rats sang songs that were dark and creepy and just... *shivers*.
But, also... I loved those rats. I don't know why. There might be something wrong with me. But I thought they were great characters, and that's not even considering the old man who trains them. Then there's the cat. That cat is perfect, as anyone who has ever been owned by a cat can attest.
In addition to all the great characters of both the creepy and non-creepy variety, Gaiman also weaves some wonderful themes in the story about love, family, fear, and bravery. As such, despite the creepiness of this story, I suspect that will become one of those stories that I revisit around Halloween each year, whether that's as a reread or a relisten.
What about you? Will you also take a chance on this story? I vote for yes, but you obviously have the deciding vote...
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Popular Highlights in this book
"The story is amazing"-"Don't buy from GreatBookDealz"
This review is split into two parts, first is the story itself.-like any other Neil Gaiman story, this one is captivating, eerie and unique. The book is nothing like the movie there are a lot of differences and they took quite a bit of Liberty when making the movie. I recommend you read the book even if you've seen the movie because the way it is written it's almost a whole another story but with similar plot points. The book itself was easy reading but also very enjoyable for child or adult. Five stars when it comes to the story itself.Second part of review- the bookseller-if you go to buy a copy of this used I do not recommend ordering from GreatBookDealz. First and foremost it took them ages to ship this book and after almost a month of waiting I had almost given up hope until it finally arrived (this was after Amazon sent me a message saying if it had not arrived by a certain date that they were going to refund me because it was taking so long). The tracking never updated either until the last minute so I never even knew where the package was in transit which is frustrating.The long wait was disappointing especially since it didn't have far to go, I ordered this near the beginning of October and wanted to receive it so I could read it before Halloween but didn't receive it until November. The other disappointing thing was someone had taken a highlighter to parts of the book but that was not specified in the description. The only thing they specified was that the cover had wear which is normal for used books.I don't per say mind the highlighter marks but would liked to have been made aware of it beforehand. The wait time was horrible and I definitely will not order any more used books from that seller!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2022
- Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2024
"The story is amazing"-"Don't buy from GreatBookDealz"This review is split into two parts, first is the story itself.
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2024
-like any other Neil Gaiman story, this one is captivating, eerie and unique. The book is nothing like the movie there are a lot of differences and they took quite a bit of Liberty when making the movie. I recommend you read the book even if you've seen the movie because the way it is written it's almost a whole another story but with similar plot points. The book itself was easy reading but also very enjoyable for child or adult. Five stars when it comes to the story itself.
Second part of review- the bookseller
-if you go to buy a copy of this used I do not recommend ordering from GreatBookDealz. First and foremost it took them ages to ship this book and after almost a month of waiting I had almost given up hope until it finally arrived (this was after Amazon sent me a message saying if it had not arrived by a certain date that they were going to refund me because it was taking so long). The tracking never updated either until the last minute so I never even knew where the package was in transit which is frustrating.
The long wait was disappointing especially since it didn't have far to go, I ordered this near the beginning of October and wanted to receive it so I could read it before Halloween but didn't receive it until November. The other disappointing thing was someone had taken a highlighter to parts of the book but that was not specified in the description. The only thing they specified was that the cover had wear which is normal for used books.
I don't per say mind the highlighter marks but would liked to have been made aware of it beforehand. The wait time was horrible and I definitely will not order any more used books from that seller!
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Top reviews from other countries
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Una lectura imprescindible si estás en el camino de aprender a cuidar de tu salud, entender lo mucho que podemos hacer diariamente para prevenir enfermedades tanto físicas, como mentales. Me sentí totalmente alineada con la visión integral de la salud de Borja y sin duda recomiendo este libro también a profesionales de la salud que quieran ampliar su visión, romper paradigmas e incluso comenzar a cuidarse más para divulgar desde el ejemplo. Muchas gracias por este gran libro Dra Radharani JiménezReviewed in Spain on July 13, 2024
El libro era más aterrador que la película.
