Author: Neil GaimanGenre: Middle-Grade, Fantasy
Originally Published: January 24, 2002
Pages: 162
Price: £3.99 (Paperback from Amazon)
£12.99 (Hardback from Amazon)
£3.79 (Kindle Edition)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Series: N/A
Source: Bought
About the book (Taken from the blurb):
Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures.
My review:
What!? What is this? I thought I was prepared going into this, but nah, I couldn' be more wrong. I'm so confused. What did I just read? How can a book and the film be so massively different? Everything that could be different is different, and it makes me very uneasy. Why do you do this to me Henry Selic? Why? Selic, did you read the book? Come on, you can tell me ... Were you supposed to read it but forgot so you read a plot summary on Wikipedia or something and made all the other bits up? That's got to be what happened.
Coraline, the movie, is probably one of the best films ever made. I could watch it on repeat all day and never get bored, which, not gonna lie, I have done before. I probably know all the words to it. My favourite character has got to be Wybie (a.k.a Wy-wereyouborn) but where on earth was book Wybie? All I could think while reading was 'when's Wybie gonna show tho', and then he never did, mega sad face. Wybie's the shit! He's all 'Hey Coraline, I know you're crazy and all but I'm going to be your friend anyway'. The world needs more Wybie's, and we need to start by putting one in this book.
But, to be fair, I get why they had to make up extra stuff for the film. The film's 1h 45mins long, and I read the book in about that time. I could tell Gaiman wanted a 'bedtime story' feel, but the book felt really rushed. And I'm the sort of reader that needs all the details. I want to know about Coraline's friends before she moved. I want to hear Ms Spink and Forcible arguing over if hey see a creepy hand or a giraffe in Coraline's tea leaves. I want to see Coraline crying in her parents bed cuddling pillows she's made to look like them (because I cry every single time). I'm the reader who just needs everything. And this book gave me pretty much nothing. Coraline's story has no charm without the details, which is why the book just didn't work for me.
That's why the rating is so unexpectedly low, because I'm used to a much better Coraline. But, I'm not giving it seriously low because that would be unfair. For the type of book Gaiman wanted, there couldn't be the kind of detail I was expecting. If I hadn't seen the film, I probably would have liked the book a whole lot more. So three stars seems fair to me. Do you agree?
Have you read Coraline? Who's your favourite character? Is this a rare case where the film was better? Let's talk about it in the comments!
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