The Ocean at the End of the Lane in Into the Forest

May 14, 2015 Molly Ringle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thank you to the unknown person who left this in our Little Free Library, because I found it quite engaging and enchanting. Gaiman shows his usual flair for interesting and spooky magic systems, worlds layered beneath our own in dreamlike strangeness. This book is slim and spare compared to most of his novels, but somehow despite the conciseness, it evokes great emotion and a vivid world full of textures, colors, tastes, and other experiences. As a writer, I kept pausing and re-reading, asking m ...more

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Jun 28, 2013 Melanti rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, 2013

I didn't realize how SHORT this was until I started reading it on the way to work and finished it on my lunch break -- and that was with me trying to read slow and savor it! The Kindle page count says 250 pages, but they took that from the Large Print edition. Normal hardback is a bit under 200 pgs.

This is written in much the same style as his more recent Young Adult works which makes it a very fast read, but there's an adult retrospective narrator that adds a bit of sophistication and some age- ...more

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Jul 29, 2013 Katy rated it really liked it

Oh this one is very very good.
Heart warming and creepy

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Nov 15, 2014 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Every book I've read by Gaiman has been magical. This book even more so with Gaiman himself reading it aloud. Please, please, please write another one soon.... ...more

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May 12, 2016 Katie J Schwartz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: suspend-reality, best-books-ever, the-witching-hour, mythology-folklore, fairy-tales, kickass-ladies, fey-creatures, spooky, make-it-blue, favorite-authors

The Ocean at the End of the Lane made me feel like a kid while I was reading it. I'm not sure I can give much higher praise than that--it terrified me, it thrilled me, it made me read more voraciously than I have in a while.

I felt like I was reading a grown-up version of Coraline.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go figure out how I can become a Hempstock woman.

Five Stars: This book was positively amazing and I will aggressively recommend it to everyone. ...more

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Sep 08, 2014 The Winter Rose rated it it was ok

Shelves: adult-fiction

I've read a lot of Gaiman's works and I know he has a very rabid fan-base, but his books are usually hit or miss for me. I loved Coraline and Stardust... but I couldn't get into American Gods and Graveyard Book. This was one of the ones I couldn't get into.

OCEAN is essentially a story about the nameless narrator's memories of his childhood. Or rather, a strange series of events which occur when he is seven years old. It's standard Gaiman with his very ethereal and esoteric settings and concepts. ...more

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