A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys.
This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the impossible all too real…
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By Neil Gaiman
I was utterly absorbed in this book. Intense characterization, beautifully realized setting, imaginative, enchanting. As I read, I kept remembering myself as a young reader, decades ago, reading A Wrinkle in Time, for the first time. This novel has that kind of creative energy. Thank you, Neil Gaiman.
I don’t read too many short books, but I would recommend this one for a quick read.
This book felt a little abstract to me. The fantastical world in this novel wasn’t clearly defined, and it felt more like a dream. I wasn’t sure if the child was imagining things or if it was actually happening (similar to the movie Pans Labyrinth, which was pretty trippy). The end made it for me – it was a bittersweet ending. Loved this novel almost as much as I loved The Graveyard Book.
Let me start by saying that while “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” was my first Neil Gaiman book, it definitely won’t be my last!
I had no idea what to expect; in fact, I didn’t even read the description. I just saw it in my daily BookBub newsletter and wanted to read a book by Neil, so I snatched it up…along with the audiobook.
I’m glad I didn’t read the description because this IS NOT a book I would have picked up.
The line at the end of the prologue: “I remembered that, and, remembering that, I remembered everything” hooked me! The descriptive writing and world-building never let me go!
The story is whimsical, magical, and tearful…told from the point of view of a grown male, remembering a fanciful journey when he was eight years old.
As with many of my books, I flipped back and forth between the eBook and the audiobook. Neil Gaiman narrates it himself, and I must say, he did a wonderful job!
It’s only a pond, really. At the end of the lane. It’s not an ocean. Until it needs to be. And it’s only a book, really. This tale by Neil Gaiman. It’s not a glorious fantasy full of unexpected turns and characters you wish you could meet in your dreams.
Until it is.
I love this book so much — read over the summer, and it’s a favorite from one of my favorite, the great Neil Gaiman.
Was not sure if would like it at first,yet the more reading it that was, became interesting
I actually “read” this as an audio book and listening to Neil Gaiman narrate his own work is amazing. It has all the little twists you’ve come to expect from his work and his attention to detail. It’s a wonderful story.
This book was chosen as my Book Club selection for this month. The only other Gaiman book I’d read before was Coraline, which I enjoyed. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, however, as it’s classified as an adult rather than a YA book. The overwhelming feeling I got at the end of the book was that it was all so bittersweet.
In the book, we travel with a man as he visits his past. The majority of the book is a memory of a time with the man was 7 and had an unusual adventure of sorts with a girl that lived down the lane. Without giving any spoilers, the adventure became dark and dangerous and even scary. Things happened beyond the understanding of not only a 7 year old, but of the grown man who was remembering. Unlike a fairy tale, there was no happily ever after.
I enjoyed the book as it was very unique and different from anything I’ve ever read. There were creatures I’d not heard of, events that didn’t make sense, and a story that honestly didn’t remind me of anything I’d previously seen, read or heard. If you’re a fan of dark fantasy, or even horror you will likely enjoy this book. If you’re a fan of Gaiman, you’ll likely love this book.
Neil Gaiman is one of my all-time favorite authors… He crafts these ingenious worlds, populated by deliciously, usually darkly, intricate and complex characters who find themselves in utterly incredible situations. Yet despite that plethora of otherworldly adjectives (and otherworldly everything), there is always an essential humanity (for good AND ill) in the cast of characters, even when they are at their most inhuman (or un-human). Reading a Gaiman is like tap dancing among land mines – every footstep should be carefully taken with extreme attention to detail, lest you miss something crucial that might blow up in your face.
In TOatEotL, Gaiman traverses the line between reality and dreams – sort of and completely at the same time. This is a gorgeously crafted tale of childhood and fear and what it means to grow up and learn about life and love – but it’s also quintessentially a Gaiman, which means all of that is layered in darkness and secrets and magic and weirdness, in the best of all possible ways. This is one of the less creepy/eerie of his books, from a purely descriptive standpoint, but also one of the more from a psychological and emotional one. A great find – if you haven’t read it, do!
Following a tragic event, a young boy spends an afternoon with the family at the end of the lane and becomes an unwitting pawn in a battle between ancient forces that threaten to tear his world apart. Gaiman weaves a mystical tale of boyhood innocence pitted against cosmic forces in a rural landscape where dark things slip through cracks in the universe and protection comes in the form of old magic wielded by the mysterious women of the Hempstock farm.
Fantastic read, highly recommend!!
Loved this book, but that’s not unusual given that Gaimen is one of my favorite authors. A man attends a funeral in the town where he grew up and then takes a trip down memory lane in a far more literal fashion than the reader might expect. The writing is vital and real, yet ethereal, with a depth and connection that are undeniable. The realization of the true identities of the Hempstock women comes upon the reader slowly, yet with a reassuring inevitability that comforts even as it surprises. Love the twist at the end and the Gaimen hallmark of a truly creative villain.
Neil Gaiman’s novel, The Ocean at The End of The Lane has been in my Kindle queue for a year, waiting for me to dive in. Finally, I sat down, read the first sentence, and continued until I finished. I enjoyed this magical tale of a young boy and his magical friend Lettie Hempstock. Mr. Gaiman’s novel touted a FAIRYTALE FOR ADULTS would be enjoyed by anyone of any age. The story borders REALITY and FANTASY, MAGICAL REALISM where the fantastical happens in ordinary circumstances.
In this case the ordinary life of a seven-year-old, unnamed boy who loves books, kittens, and LEWIS CARROLL fairy tales. He tries to make sense of the adult world around him, especially his broken family, strapped for cash, taking in boarders to make ends meet. Thus, the unlucky meeting of a HAPLESS GAMBLER, a harbinger of evil who brings death to their doorstep. The death of the young boy’s kitten run over by the man’s car, and later the man’s death when he commits suicide in the family’s car. It is here reality meets fantasy.
The man’s death releases a MALEVOLENT creature that feeds on the family’s emotional and physical needs. The boy escapes to LETTIE HEMPSTOCK’S farm, a land bordering another world. A place of MAGIC where a POND becomes an all-knowing OCEAN. Scissors snip out bad memories. A woman makes a full moon every evening. A place that borders dangerous, mind and body invading VARMINTS.
The boy ponders the complexities of ADULTHOOD, but Lettie Hempstock doesn’t believe people ever grow up.
“Grown-ups don’t look like grown-ups on the inside… Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know what their doing. Inside, they look just like they always have…The truth is, there aren’t any grow-ups, not one, in the whole wide world… Except for Granny, of course.”
Which leaves the boy pondering?
“…if they were all really children wrapped in adult bodies, like children’s books hidden in the middle of dull, long adult books, the kind with no pictures or conversations.”
The Hemstocks are a PECULIAR FAMILY OF WOMEN, consisting of Lettie, her mother, and grandmother. There are no men in this household. When the boy asks why Lettie’s grandmother exclaims:
“Men!… I dunno what blessed good man would be! Nothing a man could do around this farm that I can’t do twice as fast and five times as well.”
With their powerful magic, the three women can do anything. Just as he’s found comfort in Lewis and Carrol’s fairytales, the boy also finds solace and protection in the woman and Hempstock farm, a place evil cannot trespass.
The adult protagonist dives into his childhood memories, memories of IMPOSSIBLE THINGS. Did they happen? Just as the protagonist, I pondered if his memories were just a dream or a boy’s way of coping with family issues? Or perhaps the all-knowing, all-powerful Hempstock woman as ancient as the big boom truly existed. A struggling family, a MONSTROUS NANNY, a father’s anger and deception, did the Hempstocks provide him security, warmth, and unconditional love he lacked at home?
Mr. Gaiman’s prose flows like an enchanting STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS, continuous like Lettie’s ocean. This short, well-written novel is a FAST READ filled with suspense, TERROR, and, MAGIC. Mr. Gaiman, thank you for the extraordinary read.
https://edenisebillups.com/2019/08/05…
This book is a trickle of wonderful one doll drop at a time until you find yourself dog paddling in the story and grinning like a drunk cat. One of the things that I hate in books is predictability and The Ocean at the End of the Lane is not that, not at all.
Gaiman has a way of weaving a reader into his stories till the reader is completely engaged wanting to know what the next word is over and over again till they read the end. I never got distracted or wanted for anything while I was entranced (I do not use that word lightly. This book is entrancing) by the world that The Ocean at the End of the Lane is.
Neil Gaiman narrates this audiobook himself, which I absolutely adore. He acts out the voices perfectly and maybe I’m imagining this but his love for his story comes across in the narration. If you love fantasy with whisps of horror read The Ocean at the End of the Lane you won’t regret it.
The author is able to take the reader from the normal into the paranormal without any jolts or bruises.
Love Neil Gaiman
This was a wondrous story very much in the style of a good fairy tale.
Painted with a wide brushstroke of human emotion—fear, elation, suspense, anger, longing—this is a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness, faerie tale for grownups. From faerie-godmother-like heroines, to shadows with talons and things that go bump in the night, this is a page turner you won’t put down until you know—truly know—how it turns out.
This is my first introduction to Gaiman, and I have to say I was thrilled with it. His writing is so unique, a quirky dark fantasy that had me engrossed for days. It is a shorter novel so I finished it quickly and was actually sad when I read those final sentences.
His characters were so interesting that I did not notice until the end of the book that the main character/protagonist was never given a name. His representation of the maiden, mother, and crone was perfection and one that played well into the story line and their interactions with the main character, a young boy. Even his villain/antagonist was strangely appealing and sympathetic for, as it was pointed out in the book, she was only doing what was instinctual to her.
Gaiman’s fantasy world brought me back to my childhood where things that go bump in the night are always scary yet peak a certain innocent curiosity that adults have forgotten or refuse to acknowledge. There was also a touch of dark whimsy that pulled you further into that childhood fantasy world.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading Gaiman, I highly recommend beginning with this book.
A short fantasy novel about a young man who came of age in a small English town. A family of magical women (fairies?) live near his home. They show him another world of magical creatures that come to their neighborhood. It was much too short to really connect with the characters, or really understand the world of the boy’s magical neighbors.
It was a splendid read.