From the Bookshelf of Beyond Reality…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Dec 23, 2013
Lulu
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy,
books-read-in-2014
I think I can now confirm that I do not like Neil Gaiman, and I won't need to go through the pain of giving him another chance ever again.
...more
This is the second book of Gaiman's that I've read. The first was American Gods. While I enjoyed American Gods (at least the second half of it) I didn't connect with this book.
The story is framed by the narrator returning to his childhood home some 40 years after the events in the book take place. The main part of the story takes places through the eyes of the 7 year old narrator. The framing of the narrative serves little purpose but to answer some of the more annoying questions left hanging. ...more
The story is framed by the narrator returning to his childhood home some 40 years after the events in the book take place. The main part of the story takes places through the eyes of the 7 year old narrator. The framing of the narrative serves little purpose but to answer some of the more annoying questions left hanging. ...more
I loved this book. Did I mention that I loved this book?
For coincidental reasons, I listened to it as an audio book, first in a long time, read by the author. Neil Gaiman's reading completed the immersion into the world experienced by a seven-year old boy. Gaiman reads the first person story as if it were him. The now grown narrator looks back some 40 years to events one summer of his childhood. Gaiman makes the boy in the story both familiar and his own person. Wondering, open to mystery and m ...more
For coincidental reasons, I listened to it as an audio book, first in a long time, read by the author. Neil Gaiman's reading completed the immersion into the world experienced by a seven-year old boy. Gaiman reads the first person story as if it were him. The now grown narrator looks back some 40 years to events one summer of his childhood. Gaiman makes the boy in the story both familiar and his own person. Wondering, open to mystery and m ...more
This was probably a 4.5 star read, but I bumped it up to 5 stars for just how wonderful and dreamy it was.
I can't help but fall in love with books that deal with the poignancy of childhood. And even though The Ocean at the End of the Lane is an adult book, so many little hidden truths and asides about what it's like to be a child are captured perfectly.
Besides the first volume of Sandman, the only Gaiman works I've read are this and Coraline. I love the cleanness of his prose, the straight forw ...more
I can't help but fall in love with books that deal with the poignancy of childhood. And even though The Ocean at the End of the Lane is an adult book, so many little hidden truths and asides about what it's like to be a child are captured perfectly.
Besides the first volume of Sandman, the only Gaiman works I've read are this and Coraline. I love the cleanness of his prose, the straight forw ...more
The story is a little confusing at first. It started off in the "real world", and then it does a flashback of the main character's childhood that sort of might be fantasy?
It makes me wonder if this whole book was a metaphor somehow or a euphemism because the child main character didn't understand what was going on.
It is still a good story (if it happened the way it was written). And from Gaiman interviews, it looks like the Hempstock family did make appearances in his other works...
It's a very ...more
It makes me wonder if this whole book was a metaphor somehow or a euphemism because the child main character didn't understand what was going on.
It is still a good story (if it happened the way it was written). And from Gaiman interviews, it looks like the Hempstock family did make appearances in his other works...
It's a very ...more
I loved this book. My feelings are summed up in the epigraph. It reminds me of our closeness to the Otherworld, of the danger of Natural forces, of the Triple Goddess and veils. And I am reminded in the elegance of simplicity. It is quintessential Gaiman.
What's to say against an entertaining little read that passes the time pleasantly? Glad nobody's standing over me with an axe, making sure I find some nit with the book, 'cause I didn't.
Thanks, NG, for a good read.
...more
Thanks, NG, for a good read.
...more
Jul 06, 2013
Antonio
marked it as to-read
Oct 14, 2013
Erin
marked it as to-read
Jan 03, 2016
Margaret
added it
Mar 09, 2016
Leif Hansen
marked it as to-read
