Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Shruthi | Holmdel High School, Grade 11

Rating: *****

For horror novel lovers everywhere, Neil Gaiman published the iconic novel, Coraline in 2002, which gained quite a following, even eventually sparking Laika Animations to make a movie that does it justice. But, as you probably have already guessed, the book is much better.

Coraline stars a girl who moves into a large house, which has been divided up into a series of apartments, and she’s the main character of the book, so, naturally she ends up with the apartment with the mysterious tiny door. Coraline finds the real world boring, and her parents don’t give her much attention, since they have so much work to do. So, as most would, she decides to go through a mysterious tiny door connecting parallel worlds. However, things are not as nice as they seem in the other world, complete with another mother, another father, and another home. Will Coraline escape with her life?

I will have you know that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Everything from Gaiman’s writing style to the story and plot itself kept me at the edge of my seat, and I finished the book in three days. The way that Neil Gaiman writes is just intriguing. He writes in the third person point of view, which I thought was very fitting for this novella in general. I loved how well thought out the plot was, and the story was very interesting so that you were physically unable to put the book down once you had started it. A must read.