The Ocean at the End of the Lane in Shut Up & Read

Oct 23, 2013 Meran rated it it was amazing

Shelves: supernatural, fiction, mystery, novels, magic, horror, fantasy, culture, weird

A middle aged man goes home for a funeral (not stated in the novel, though it's obvious) and after the "words have been said", instead of going to his sister's house as expected, he goes instead to his childhood home, then from there to the "house at the end of the lane" where Lettie Hempstock lived, the girl who told him the small pond at their house was an ocean.

Which quickens his memory. He "remembered everything."

Which is a mystery in itself... What has he forgotten??

It begins with his 7th b A middle aged man goes home for a funeral (not stated in the novel, though it's obvious) and after the "words have been said", instead of going to his sister's house as expected, he goes instead to his childhood home, then from there to the "house at the end of the lane" where Lettie Hempstock lived, the girl who told him the small pond at their house was an ocean.

Which quickens his memory. He "remembered everything."

Which is a mystery in itself... What has he forgotten??

It begins with his 7th birthday party, the one where no one came. Then there's a fluffy black kitten, who is run over one day and before he knew of the death, it was replaced by an older, ginger cat named, appropriately, Monster. The one did NOT replace the other, not really, though the scales were considered balanced. Another loss, that of his bedroom had come a little later (it was 'let out'- the family needed the income.) This resulted in more losses, since he slept in his sister's room now with her and had to give up small liberties, which were important to him. The loss of decent toast (his dad burns it); a comic in the seat of the family car, stolen, then found, the comic under the suicided man who'd had his room and had stolen the car; this is how he meets Lettie.

After this he gets a small coin, then wins L25 (pounds), then awakes from bad dreams choking on another coin. So, first there's loss; now, there's gain. With all this he gained the protection of 11 yr old Lettie and her older womenfolk.

Lettie leads him, with magical means: a hazel dowsing rod she makes on the spot. He makes an error while they're in the magical worlds she takes him to, he lets go of her hand. It's just long enough for a monster to hitchhike to our world with him. He's unaware of the passenger. This monster shows up at his house, in person, becomes the very pretty babysitter/housekeeper; she gains the trust of both parents and his sister.

Life begins to go very badly for him then; and he's still only 7. Loss become an even stronger theme.

The story is in first person, by his 7 yr old self. Some readers have noted/complained that 7 yr olds don't think with this much clarity. However, I remember myself at that age and believe that some children become "aware" earlier than others.

I don't want to say anything more, as much as I like this very magical book -- I don't want to give anything away! Read it; learn from it; return to it when you need to ;)

This story is one of Gaiman's best, in a long time, or ever. HIghly recommended.

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Dec 04, 2013 Renuka rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, paranormal, magic, e-book, reviewed, what-just-happened, horror, disturbing, bittersweet

Actual rating: 3.5

Man I heard wonderful things about this book. I heard amazing things about all of Neil Gaiman books in general. But I felt like it let me down a little. Don't get me wrong, it was a haunting story, but it was a little random. I think the power is more in the way the story was told.

It was very chilling and creepy. Told from the view of a seven year old, we are missing a lot of information. Things look big and scary. Adults seem all powerful. I connected with the kid easily. He Actual rating: 3.5

Man I heard wonderful things about this book. I heard amazing things about all of Neil Gaiman books in general. But I felt like it let me down a little. Don't get me wrong, it was a haunting story, but it was a little random. I think the power is more in the way the story was told.

It was very chilling and creepy. Told from the view of a seven year old, we are missing a lot of information. Things look big and scary. Adults seem all powerful. I connected with the kid easily. He's scared, shy, and loves books. But the story was also hindered a little, because we are never given many explanations. The child doesn't know much and he is never really told much. He just witnesses the reality. Things are always confused, and they stay muddled. Fleas and varmints, the Hempstocks, the Ocean, and the Universe are all just some things we encounter. But I never really, fully understood their origin.

I guess it was a lot of pretty settings and moods, but not much more. The language and the messages told, were both really beautiful and surreal, even if the story itself was arbitrary. He created a mystical environment in less that 200 pages. It takes some authors three books to get the feeling of the story perfect. His characters were also very bright and clear. The boy, the Hempstocks, Ursula Monkton; they were all very powerful characters and had a lot of impact.

And the one thing I can say with distinction is that, this book contrasted the adult world and the child's world perfectly. It was easy to see that adults are not as infallible as they pretend to be. Children can often perceive more than is believed and they understand things very differently from adults. It reminded me to make sure that adults should also keep a bit of the children they are. Not to grow up to fast. It's also about making sure we appreciate the sacrifices people make for us, and to live our lives accepting that others helped us to get there.

I think that I am very pleased that this book was my first Neil Gaiman story. I got a feel for the fantasy that he writes. It was also very short and strangely pretty, but it was missing some clarifying points. It looped on, adding more supernatural elements, and I guess I was left wanting a little more background. Actually, I was left...feeling a little unsettled and discontented. But maybe that's the point. ...more

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