The Ocean at the End of the Lane in Reading with Style

Mar 04, 2020 Jeannie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, under-200-pages, creepy-fall-reads, family-drama, fantasy

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman is a reasonably short novel (178 pages) that packs an enormous punch. It tells the story of a nameless middle-aged man who returns home for a funeral. He reminisces about his childhood and his close friendship with a girl from the nearby Hemstock Farm. He first encountered Lettie Hempstock after a local man committed suicide in the young boy's family car. Lettie is three or four years older and appears quite magical in the young boy's eyes. She pro ...more

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Nov 11, 2013 Jenifer rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, england

This was my first Neil Gaiman novel. Friends of mine that like him, REALLY like him, so I wanted to give him a try. I chose to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane as my first Gaiman novel because the cover is so darkly beautiful.

The story is pieced together with decades old memories of the main character about a time in his life when some pretty amazing things happened to him. It is a strange story and I found myself spending much of time my time with this book wondering how on earth Gaiman c ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Julia rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, 2013, bookclub, horror

Just Finished Thoughts
I don't know how to think of this books right now. I may bump it up to three. It was a glimpse into a genre I don't have much experience in... and I am not sure I would have read it if not for bookclub. I'll flesh this out a bit more once I've ruminated more. ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Joanna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, audiobooks, 2013-read, bookclub-grasslands, rws-2014-winter

Many authors should not read their own books. But Neil Gaiman is an exception. Listening to him narrate this tale greatly improved the experience for me, even if we were driving on the dark roads of bitterly cold Iowa while listening. The tale captures wonderfully the fantasy of childhood monsters and fantasies. I wondered throughout whether we are supposed to believe this as a tale of a fantastical, but real, event or a memory of a fantasy made up in the mind of a seven-year-old. It worked for ...more

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