I think I did this one wrong. I could see, as I was reading it, what captivated many people. I could see, how if I had read it the right way, I could have been, if not scared, then delightfully weirded out.
However, I read the graphic novel first.
My bad.
(Ooh. I can’t believe I just wrote that.)
See, I knew the plot — I knew what Coraline was going to experience on the other side of the door and how she was going to get out of it. I knew all the weirdness and the suspense, and so I think on some level I missed out on the experience that should have been Coraline the novel.
I have to admit that the graphic novel did an excellent job of adapting Gaiman’s work. It caught the spirit of the book, and surprisingly, didn’t leave any detail out. I knew what was going to happen — there were really no surprises — because I had seen it all before. On the other hand, the novel was wonderfuly descriptive (hence the really good graphic novel adaptation), and had an interesting feeling of foreboding and adventure all rolled up into one.
Still. I think I might have expected too much from the book; I know if I had read this one first, I would have enjoyed it that much more.
Lesson learned. If there’s a graphic novel adaptation of a novel, read the book first.
The Book Nut 
I try to avoid graphic novelizations much the same way I avoid movie versions. I’m really compulsive about it, but I do love reading/watching after I’ve read the book, just to draw comparisons.
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I think I might check out the graphic novel. I started listening to this on CD and actually turned it off after about 2 hours because I could not get into it at all. But it would be cool to see how it turns out.
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Or…listen to Neil Gaiman read it himself on audiobook! That’s how I first experienced the book — on CDs from the library, and it was perfect! I didn’t know there’s a graphic novel of it…I’ll have to check it out.
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REALLY good to know. I STILL have never tried any Gaiman, I know I am lame.
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okay, but are you going to see the movie? I read the book when it first came out, but haven’t looked at the graphic novel. I know you said you’ve learned your lesson, but this is important: if you decide to try Neverwhere, read the book first–I think the graphic novel would be hard to follow without the reading the book first. 😉
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I recently read the novel and loved it. I picked up a cheap copy of the graphic novel but haven’t gotten around to it yet. The reviews generally have been not very good sadly.
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Ooh, Robin, that’s a good idea. Has he done all his books? Corinne — you really should read Gaiman. Start with either this one, or Stardust. They have been my favorites of his so far. (Granted, that’s two of the three I’ve read…)Jena — I’ll keep that in mind. Especially since I think that Neverwhere is the next one up on my Gaiman list.Rhinoa — I liked the graphic novel, but then, it was my first experience with Coraline. It’s hard to say if I had read it the other way around what I would have thought.
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I hear ya. It’s sort of like the age old: do I read the book or see the movie first? Which one should be ruined as a result?
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I think part of the problem may be that it’s a GN adaptation of what’s a young adult book, so with the novel you don’t get the sort of extra layers of depth that you might get with Gaiman’s adult works.
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I can certainly see how that would happen. I really like P. Craig Russell but even so I could not make myself pick up the graphic novel. First and foremost McKean’s images are too tied in to my head but secondly I just enjoy the story too much and it is a relatively short book so I would rather just pick it up if I want to read the story. As much as I love seeing Gaiman’s work have a great impact this way I personally would much rather see his novels remain novels and see him do more original writing in the comic book realm.
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I just reviewed this today. I really enjoyed it.
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I’ve put Stardust on my bookmooch wishlist 🙂
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