Coraline - Neil Gaiman - ★★★★.¾

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AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
ILLUSTRATOR: Chris Riddell
GENRE: Middle-Grade Fantasy
PUBLICATION DATE: July 2, 2002
RATING: 4.75 stars.


When you are as silly as me to end up reading a Neil Gaiman book at night, there can be only two possible outcomes:

1. You are either too scared or too curious to close the book without completing it.

2. Your adrenalin has jumped over the roof with excitement and you MUST complete the whole story in one go.

Either way, the outcome is the same. You can't sleep without finishing the book. Sometimes though, both the above outcomes can occur simultaneously. So here I am at 2am, having just completed this brilliant book and not an ounce of sleep in my eyes. Thank God it was a comparatively thin book, else I might have had to pull off an all-nighter. 😁

I am not much of a horror reader (reason being the combination of an unnaturally wild imagination and an extremely cowardly heart! 😂😂) But when my 11 year old read and loved Coraline, it was almost like a challenge had been thrown by her. Right now, I am super-glad I decided to read this spooky story.

Coraline begins with a simple premise: a little girl moves with her family to a new home that is not quite as it seems. But under this predictable outline lies a totally masterful plot that only Neil Gaiman can do justice to.

Coraline is a wonderful character to know and learn from. She is clearheaded and strong even in the worst of situations. Even when I couldn't blink my eyes in terror, Coraline seemed to trudge on, courageous and cunning right till the end. Her line about bravery really struck my heart: "Being brave doesn't mean you aren't scared. Being brave means you are scared, really scared, badly scared, and you do the right thing anyway.” I'm so glad my daughter read this book; I hope she has imbibed a little bit of Coraline in her.

The version I read had an introduction by the author himself about how he wrote this story for his five year old daughter. If you can get your hands on this version, do so.

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