What I liked about this book was Coraline's bravery and her intelligence. She isn't one of those silly kids who just wants her own way, and so she isn't taken in. What I found sad was that she had to do it on her own, with the exception of a little help from a cat. Even after the adventure was mostly over, her parents aren't part of the solution - they don't even remember what Coraline did for them. ( )

A very readable children’s story, with flashes of cleverly drawn observations of human nature. I personally preferred Gaiman's The Graveyard Book (which I felt had more consistent depth). But I did like what Gaiman had to say about parenting, and boundaries, and the idea that perhaps getting all that you ever wanted in life was perhaps not what you really wanted at all. And like other reviewers here, I'm intrigued by the suggestion that Coraline is a book that children experience as an adventure, while it gives adults nightmares ... ( )

Creepy, quirky, and all things to be expected of a Gaiman novel, this is one of those books that I wish had been available to me as a young 10 to 12 year old when all I had to fall back on was the Nancy Drew series. There was certainly nothing this twisted and delightfully dark on the shelves of the school library. As a heroine, Coraline is such a likable, brave girl who takes matters into her own hands when her parents are kidnapped by a dark force that should scare her shitless. Young girls, force-fed Barbie worship and Twilighty longing for a an undead mate, need exposure to more of that. I also like that Gaiman sidesteps the whole "it was just a dream" scenario and ends with enough evidence that Coraline's experience was just what it was--a daunting quest undertaken by an undaunted little girl. ( )

I ♥ This book! ( )

This was excellent. Perfect level of creepy without going too far (i.e., without slipping into too-scary-to-be-enjoyable). Coraline herself is instantly engaging, and all the characters are unique and appealing (or fascinatingly horrible) and believable within the context of the story. Gaiman does such wonderful things with suspense and surprise and disturbing imagery, and there are nice little bits of humor throughout to help offset the horror elements. Coraline is both the (unintentional) source of her own troubles (her annoyance with her boring existence and her inattentive parents leads her to go through the door) and her own (and others’) savior, and even the help she gets from others results from her own actions/interactions with them. Her transformed attitude after her escape is earned and believable. My one complaint is probably just that at the very end, I had trouble believing that the trap Coraline arranged for the other mother’s hand is truly going to keep it trapped forever. I didn’t feel as safe as I think we are meant to by the very end of the story. ( )