The Ocean at the End of the Lane question

A marvelous book that makes people remember what it was like to be a kid. The way that no one believes, listens or values the opinion of a child.
It captures the feelings of loneliness, fear and insecurity.
It was very creepy and spine chilling at times.
One of Neil Gaiman's best works.
It falls in the same category such as the Neil Gaiman masterpieces Coraline, Neverwhere and Stardust.
A must reed.

I didn´t find it very creepy, apart from when his father tried to drown him. That was a real SHOCK!

I enjoyed it, though I'd agree with those who say it falls short of his most powerful work. I think the narrator's voice, the child who knows that not everything can be shared with adults who have their blind-spots (while having blind-spots of his own)... that voice was strong enough to carry me through.

At first I didn't understand the hype surrounding this book but after thinking it over, I really loved how Gaiman talked about how adults are still kids in a grown body. I didn't find it creepy though. To be honest, I wanted another book like The Graveyard Book.

Joni wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. Loved the Hempstocks, of course,and their matter of fact way about them, but this book was creepier than I expected it to be with the father and Ursula. I think I need..."

I loved it Joni but I must admit I was haunted by the image of the worm in the foot thing for a long while after the book was done. Creepy but great. Was this book YA it was not filed as such at my library?

Not creepy. Didn't blow me away. However, loved the worm hole in the kid's foot.

I didn't find it creepy, I found it stupid and underwhelming.

I love it.

I definitely wouldn't use the word creepy for this. It is many things, but I don't think it's creepy. It's scary, but in an understandable way. The thing I found the scariest was the influence Ursula so clearly had. That she so easily seduced the father and made him try to drown his son...That is scary.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I did find parts of it creepy, but that's only because Gaiman seems to be supernaturally attuned to the kind of weirdness that affects me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's the only writer who'll write things that absolutely terrify me and I'll keep reading it.

What I really liked about this book was that there was so much it didn't tell you directly. I like books that make you read between the lines like that.

There's also a very nice juxtaposition between naivety and the loss of innocence that comes with age.

It did read really quick though... but I'm not sure how he could've( or if he should've) made it longer.

This first book by Gaiman and I wasn't sure what to expect. I wouldn't have believed I would enjoy this genre of book until I read it. It was excellent and very creepy. Will most definitely be reading more of Gaiman in the future!

I found this book to be so creepy, I had to read it backwards. I got about half way through and was so scared I couldn't go on. So I skipped to the end and read the last chapter, then the next to last chapter, and so on until I'd read back to where I'd stopped.

The more I read, the creepier it became - the weird, suspect dreams he had, that hinted at abuse, horrid worm-woman Ursula, his selfish dad - it was also bewildering and so, so sad, to me, because he was just a little boy trying to escape all these awful things that were happening to him - his only escape was his imagination and that is just so chilling

and the ending, where, to me, it seemed like even when he'd become an adult he was still using his imagination to escape during traumatic times - which I guess would be fine but he used it so much that he couldn't even tell fact from fiction and that was terrifying - it just leaves you with that - wondering if they - the Hempstocks - were real or not.

I'm on my second read and finding it far more creepy this time around. I think I read it too fast the first time and now I'm just taking my time with it, savoring all the various notes.

I'm especially enjoying the added level of now knowing that much of it is taken from his own childhood ... and not knowing which parts.

Edit: When I read this the second time, I put myself into his shoes and really wrapped my mind around his descriptions... which are succinct but still pretty graphic.

I didn't take for granted my own previous knowledge of darkness because the boy had none, other than the event with his kitten.

I also didn't imagine that what he was experiencing was just in his imagination because I think the point Gaiman makes regarding childhood is that they are so pure that they're receptive to things adults aren't receptive to. They see the invisible. If you can get yourself there, it's terrifically horrifying from that vantage point.

Not really creepy to me but this is one of my favorite books.

Tbh I didn't think the book would be like that! But it was still great(: And creepy? Hmm...yeah kinda.

its weird and creepy , yup that's neil gaiman , i love this book , it left me hanging , curious and thinking , its very mysterious , i love it .. you'll find the hempstocks in some of his works like stardust.

This was my first Neil Gaiman book, but I can't say I was blown away. It was a decent story, but I didn't really establish a connection with any of the characters. The fantasy/magic element was also kind of...bad. I don't mean that in an objective way, it just wasn't for me. I'd like to read a long (as in 4-500 pages) novel by Gaiman, without the magic element - that could be interesting, as the nostalgic writing really appealed to me. Are any of his books like that?

I didn't find it creepy, but I found it pretty memorizing.

This was my first NG novel; so I had no expectations going into it.

It was very dreamlike, or at least it reminded me of many of my long, cohesive dreams. I really enjoyed the story very much, and no, it was not frightening, but as an adult, as a parent, I was truly concerned about the young lad.

I borrowed a copy from the library, and when I return it I am going to buy my own copy; this is a book to reread.

The part where he finds a worm holed up in his foot!Goosebumps creepy!

the worm sequence was pleasantly creepy

the book was perfect i thought, right length, right mix of humour and horror and beautifully written

I wanted this book to be 100 times creepier than it turned out to be.

American Gods was more immediate, more urgent, more powerful to me.

It totally scared me, but I thought it was a sweet story about coming home again....

I did not find it creepy at all. I found it very enjoyable and entertaining. It was an easy read. It was the first book I've read by him so I cannot compare it to any others. I do like dark stories with an edge but this does not fall into that category.

I felt exactly the same way as Joni. I need to read it again. The Hempstocks felt like old friends. And the incident with the father was so shocking! I was paralyzed with Ursala. I tried hard to make it last but I need to read it again... I want to have a clearer understanding of Liza. And I also bought the book on cd because I love Neil Gaiman's voice!

Unfortunately I did not like this very much. The book felt way too short and I didn't feel as if the characters' personalities were developed fully enough for me to care about them. When Lettie got hurt and supposedly disappeared into the ocean, I did not feel anything, as I knew she was functionally immortal and would return. They mentioned this numerous times, and the fact that all the Hempstocks referred to the two main threats as fleas and carrion birds and treated them with disdain did not add to the precariousness of the main character's plight. In fact, because of the Hempstocks' self-assured air it actually negates most of the dangers in the book long before they rear their heads. The book started off great, but soon lost its allure. An adult novel told through the eyes of a child works well for Stephen King, but not for Gaiman. I felt like I was reading a work of YA fiction all the way. Ultimately, a disappointing novel by one of my favorite writers.

I wasn't creeped out by the book as it was tamer than American Gods. After reading American Gods with the one female goddess (can't remember her name) that sucked men up inside her when they were having sex, Ursula and the father didn't shock me much, ha ha. I also plan to reread it (along with American Gods) to pick up on the many little nuances I missed on the first reading. Gaiman puts so much into the stories that I know I would gain a better reading by reading his work more than once.

I didn't find it as creepy as much as I found it odd.

Thank you HJ. I could not have said it better. By the way, I started a discussion about ways to improve the book. Feel free to add you thoughts.