Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Short and sweet…except not really sweet in the traditional sense! This one was great, although I liked The Graveyard Book better.
Coraline, for those of you that don’t know, is an average little girl, a little bored with the summer holidays and looking for some excitement. She goes through a mysterious door in her apartment and finds an alternate world that almost identical to the real world but a lot more exciting (and creepy as Coraline soon finds out.) Her “other mother” who seems great at first, is actually an evil being trying to trap her forever in her “other house” and sew buttons onto her eyes!
The book was creepy, but deliciously so. I loved it! And it was a quick easy read (as children’s books usually are – duh!). I think my son (6) would love it. It might be our next read. Keeping in mind that this is a children’s book, I would give it an 8/10.
27/08/2009 at 3:45 pm Permalink
Coraline was a really fun book and an excellent film, but you are right in your assessment that The Graveyard Book is better. It isn’t a reflection on Coraline, really, just on Gaiman’s increased skill as a writer in the years between writing each book.
If you haven’t seen the film I strongly encourage you to watch it. It is very different in a few ways from the book, but was lovingly adapted which to me makes all the difference.