Varun

The most beautifully written ending I have ever witnessed. The prose is immaculate, it's described as ‘cool water' in the introduction, and I agree. It has a smooth, breezy, calm, collected flow to it until the very end when Jacqueline Harpman starts firing on all cylinders. The writing and passion are dialed up to a whole new level and pure emotion emanates from deep within the heart. She saved the best for the last and you feel the ignition, nothing is held back. It's fiery, magnificent and hauntingly poetic. It felt personal, like she did not want to go down without a fight. That as this bleak tale set in a bleak world draws to its eventual end and the spark starts to fizzle out, some aftershocks must be left that will continue to reverberate for years to come.

Perhaps never to go down without a fight is what this book is about, at least that is what I will take away from it. No matter if the world is stripped away of all its familiar warmth and comfort and be basically rendered sterile, we can find a way to look death right in the eye and exhibit beauty even in the direst of circumstances.

Around the halfway mark I felt like there were a lot of things which were completely unnecessary and irrelevant to the plot and I was convinced I was gonna rate the book low because of this but then BAM! that twist came resolving all the issues and doubts I had.

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

A breathtaking book featuring striking scenery, illustrations, imagery & a stunning dual atmosphere switching constantly between gloomy & vibrant. This is a story of an extraordinary girl who shows incredible feats of courage, resilience & determination in the scariest of situations & has proven that dragons can indeed be beaten. Coraline is one of the bravest characters I know. It was an honor & a unique experience to follow her adventures through this remarkable journey.

A bit unfortunate that I already knew what was going to happen at the end along with some other key points in the story which makes it hard to connect with the characters due to no emotional stakes being involved just a downside of popular media especially with the release of the film it was hard to avoid all that stuff. Still, I thought I should give the book a try I liked it for the most part thought it dragged on a little unnecessarily towards the end but it's a good short read. Also important to mention it was simple to read which I really appreciate.

Spoilers really are the worst when it comes to emotional attachment to the characters and overall plot but over the years, I have learned to not make a very big deal out of them. So yes, maybe I didn't care much about the characters but that doesn't mean I can't understand why this book became popular and had a huge impact. It provided this unique and devastating point of view of two people very much aware of the limited amount of time they have with each other which didn't dissuade them from appreciating life, the little things about it and especially one another. For that I applaud the book.

With a title like that the book is expected to deliver despair & anguish and deliver it does! But delivered way too much