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 really liked this, although it’s more of a novelette than a novel. I wish there had been more of it.
1st Gaiman book I had read. Awesome. Took me in. Well done.
I don’t usually read magical realism…but have read a few on occasion. I rather enjoyed this read. It’s a page turner for sure.
This book is not Neil Gaiman’s finest work, in the same sense that “Rubber Soul” is not the Beatles’ best album. That is to say, it’s great by any measure, unless your yardstick happens to be other Neil Gaiman books.
It’s a story of a boy who bears witness to a family of witch-like women and has some limited agency in causing, and solving, their problems with an evil force, as re-remembered by the boy as an old man returning home years later. The strongest aspect of the novel is the way it conjures, as all Gaiman’s writing does, an ethereal combination of beauty and sadness: magic is fleeting, and like childhood in Gaiman’s writing, it exists only in a perpetual state of going away.
If you are looking for an introduction to Gaiman, my two top recommendations are “Stardust” or “American Gods.” But this book is lovely in its way and will do you no harm to read. Like pizza, Gaiman at his best is celestial, divine; Gaiman at his “worst” is still delicious and fulfilling, a treat, a delight for the eyes. This is Gaiman at close to his worst; it’s still better than many at their best, and you will enjoy it.
This is my first Neil Gaiman book and I loved it! Hauntingly beautiful prose, somewhat dark matter for a young child to deal with in the story line, but I was completely “in”! I listened to this all in one long work day— work never went so fast. A great read.
Read this book in a single day! So good.
Could not put this one down until I reached the end. Not my usual grist, but it hooked me from the first page, this story of a seven-year-old boy facing dire threats and consequences in a rich fantasy world; told by the boy as an adult whose memories are often fleeting but no less profound. The setting and characters provide a novel platform for Gaiman’s brilliant exploration of timeless themes of life and death, joy and suffering, fear and courage, and the utter transience of human experiences.
I love everything he writes, and this is no exception. You never really know where its going from the beginning and that’s exciting. It’s unpredictable in a good way.
I honestly want to use this book as a teaching tool for how to describe the amazing, salivating power of describing delicious food from a perspective of narrative memory. Every time a part of the story delved into the tastes, smells, and textures of food, I felt like I needed to look up a recipe on whatever was being talked about.
I liked the story. The creature from another place. The violent possession and manipulation of his father. The memory of what was witnessed in the car. The narrative telling of a dark childhood, and the reaching for memories that seemed lost and blurry – brought back to the foreground by coming back around the childhood home.
A good, short read of dark fantasy.
Amazing world building and story crafting as with all of Gaiman’s works.
I was sitting by the water when I finished the last quarter of this book. I didn’t mean to do that. It sort of just happened and was quite fitting all the same.
I think I enjoyed this book exactly as much as I should have. I will probably read it again someday. I think I’ll do it when I’ve long forgotten things inside the book but remember the feelings instead. I would enjoy this book a second time.
Other copies of this book will find wrapping paper around its edges when I attend birthdays and Christmas celebrations over the years.
If your picking this book up for the first time, you would do well to find quiet, comfy places to spend your time with it.
Thanks Neil, thank you very much for this one.
I know that everyone loves American Gods (and I get it, I do!), but The Ocean at the End of the Lane is my favorite Neil Gaiman novel. Relatable, yet with the everyday world turned sideways. It is messed up and eerie. It is scary in a way that I don’t find most things scary–which means I locked all the doors and checked them twice! Even Stephen King doesn’t make me triple-lock my doors! Stir in “beautifully written” and “deeply upsetting,” and that pretty much sums it up.
couldn’t put it down
This was such a sweet, yet scary, story of childhood innocence and imagination. It started a bit slow but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. Read that last few pages by the light of my cell phone in the car after dark while my husband drove us home.
If you are looking for a book to remind you how much imagination you had as a child and how now as an adult, we tend to muck it up, READ THIS BOOK and let your imagination run wild!
From the description: “A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly’s wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.” Okay, I admit I had to look up elegiac, and it’s the perfect word, as this quote is a perfect description.
I finished the Audible edition a few weeks ago but needed some time to write a review I felt was worthy of this masterpiece. (Even so, it isn’t worthy.) The Audible was narrated by Gaiman, so the reader has confidence he’s reading it with every emphasis and pause exactly as he intended. I felt Gaiman’s narration and the beautiful timbre of his voice added to the telling of this tale.
I haven’t read anything like The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It was magical. It was dark. It was hopeful and generous. For someone who believes an unseen realm not only exists but influences the seen realm, it was an allegory that resonated throughout.
The story unfolded without explanation or apology. What was simply was. The narrator, though only seven years old, was entirely reliable. And the villain? Bad girl! Ursula Monkton may only be a flea, but she is terrifying.
Neil Gaiman teaches a class on storytelling in the Masterclass series, which is what put me on to reading his work. In one lesson, he talks about keeping the reader asking, “And then what happened?” This I did all the way through the book, and when I reached the end, I was satisfied with having been told an excellent tale.
But don’t take my word for it. Read it for yourself.
This book is a thoughtful modern-day myth with ancient characters at its core. The boy who uncovers the basis of the myth also sets in motion consequences he can never resolve. Still, the myth and the ancients go on, changed for now but unchanged in their ultimate struggles. All of this happens as the boy has to cope with his own life problems and the dangers of mixing with legends.
Few authors can say so much in so few words. This small book contains an entire universe (figuratively and literally), and it’s a universe in which you’ll love to lose yourself. Gaiman has distilled his prose into a polished lens. Through it, the reader has a crystal clear view of scene, emotion, and movement. Every word is accomplishing something, so that every accomplishment feels like your own.
Super cool book!! I started it really having no idea what kind of book I was even reading (just reading it because of the author) and so it was so exciting, a real page Turner and Definitely not what I expected when I started reading it
Just read it, it’s great
Overview:
This book was a short, thoughtful read. There were many deep themes present, such as the disconnect between childhood and adulthood, the corrupting powers of desire and greed, and the idea that there is more in our world than most people see or realize.
Character & Voice:
The book starts with the narrator as a grown man, then leads into a collection of memories narrated by his seven-year-old self. Most of the actual story is from the POV of the young boy, and Gaiman certainly gets across the feeling of helplessness when a child goes up against unyielding adults. He also captures how terrifying it can be when the adults you rely upon become complicit in your misery.
The boy’s family are small characters, with his mother hardly mentioned at all and his sister a side-note. His father is the best representation of a normal person being twisted by the influence of magic, as both Mrs. Monkton and the Hempstock women alter his perception and memories.
Of the Hempstock women, Lettie is the one with whom we have the most contact. She agrees to take our narrator with her when she goes to dispel a creature causing problems for mortals, thereby providing it an entrance into the boy’s world and kicking off the main events of the story.
World-building:
Gaiman drops the reader into his world without any explanation. This is understandable since our narrator (for the story portion) is a young boy who really has no idea what is going on, or what is normal and what is not.
Strange things start happening, and the reader is left to piece together possible explanations with the clues provided by the boy’s observations. This makes for a rather slow beginning and some confusing moments, but adds to the building mystery and magic of the story. Even at the end of the book, we never get a full explanation of what happened, or who the Hempstock women are, but we’ve been painted a picture of possibilities. I was left with the feeling that this story could have taken place fully in the world that I know, thanks to magics that lie just beyond my perception.
Language & Mechanics:
The flashback narration allows strong punch lines like, “‘We’ll be fine.’ That’s what she said. But we weren’t.” Yet, at the same time, that framing eliminates the sense of threat and suspense. We’ve seen the narrator in the future, we know he survives to become a man. As a result, this book was not what I’d call a page turner, more of an amble, especially at the beginning. It did pick up once Ursula Monkton showed up.
Gaiman’s prose flows beautifully, weaving small details and large themes together for terrific storytelling. My reading was never interrupted by mistakes in grammar or mechanics. Once I fell under the spell of the story, I was washed clear to the end.
While this book was labeled fantasy, and there were certainly fantastic elements, it didn’t hold many of the features I normally attribute to fantasy writing, and Gaiman’s writing style definitely leans toward literary. I’d place this book solidly in the “magical realism” sub-genre.