Coraline
Neil Gaiman, 2002
★ 4.13 from 811.7k ratings on Goodreads
A girl discovers a door to a parallel home with a button-eyed mother who wants to keep her. A dark fairy tale about courage and wanting. The story moves with a suspenseful pace, blending dark fairy tale dread with moments of sharp wit and deep curiosity.
Feels like dread, curiosity and wonder. About identity, family and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like Coraline if you enjoy dark, imaginative stories and a brave heroine. However, some readers might find the atmosphere less enchanting than the film version.
Why read it
This novel explores what it means to want things and what happens when you get everything you desire.
A page from the book
A girl refuses everything she wants. What does that say about wanting?
I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn’t mean anything? What then? What readers say
Readers describe a creepy, suspenseful dark fairy tale that is also fun and imaginative, with a brave heroine and a memorable cat. Some found it less enchanting than the film or on rereading, but many were gripped and charmed.
Neil Gaiman.Gaiman wrote Coraline for his daughter Holly, who was tired of stories where girls only looked at things.
Books that feel like this
More by Neil Gaiman
American Gods
Neil Gaiman, 2001
A newly released convict takes a job with a mysterious conman and discovers that old gods, brought to America by immigrants, are preparing for war with the new.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman, 2013
A man drives back to the pond at the end of his childhood lane, and remembers the year the ordinary world let something else through.
Norse Mythology
Neil Gaiman, 2017
Neil Gaiman retells the Norse myths as a linked cycle: petty, powerful gods, a clever Loki, and a world that knows it is ending.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Coraline for me?
- You may like Coraline if you enjoy dark, imaginative stories and a brave heroine. However, some readers might find the atmosphere less enchanting than the film version.
- What is Coraline like?
- The story moves with a suspenseful pace, blending dark fairy tale dread with moments of sharp wit and deep curiosity. Feels like dread, curiosity and wonder. About identity, family and freedom.
- What should I read after Coraline?
- If you liked Coraline, try The Shining (Stephen King), The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty) and The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson).
A taste of the feed
Some people are cold in a way no weather can fix.
The blaze of sun wrung pops of sweat from the old man’s brow, yet he cupped his hands around the glass of hot sweet tea as if to warm them.
The Exorcist · William Peter Blatty
How does an entire civilization exist through a filter of green glass?
Even with eyes protected by the green spectacles, Dorothy and her friends were at first dazzled by the brilliancy of the wonderful City. The streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of green marble and studded everywhere with sparkling emeralds. They walked over a pavement of the same green marble, and where the blocks were joined together were rows of emeralds, set closely, and glittering in the brightness of the sun. The window panes were of green glass; even the sky above the City had a green tint, and the rays of the sun were green.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · L. Frank Baum
A river you could swim in, and a man who cannot stop explaining it.
WILLY WONKA: Nothing wrong with it, my boy! Nothing! Nothing at all! It’s all chocolate! Every drop of that river is hot melted chocolate of the finest quality. The very finest quality. There’s enough chocolate in there to fill every bathtub in the entire country! And all the swimming pools as well! Isn’t it terrific? And just look at my pipes! They suck up the chocolate and carry it all away to all the other rooms in the factory where it is needed! Thousands of gallons an hour, my dear children! Thousands and thousands of gallons!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory · Roald Dahl
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