The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - Restarting April 1st 2018

[Tessa]

Description: "Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

I'm reading this with Lindsey, but anyone is welcomed to join us :) .

[Tessa]

Read the first 6 chapters. At the beginning I thought this book will be a lot like the Ghibli movies: all fantasy and kids and magical realism. Then the worm thing in chapter 5 freaked me out and chapter 6 confirmed the fact that this story is going in a much darker direction. Basically because Ursula was the name of the witch in "The little mermaid" and she is totally hitting on his dad!

[[deleted user]]

I too read the first 6 chapters. I very interesting book. I have never watched a Ghibli movie but I think it its full of fantasy and what a little kids mind sees.
(view spoiler)[The adventures the Lettie goes on are very real to her.
I agree with the worm thing. My foot started to itch a little during that part.
So far this book has had that dark tone to it the whole time even when they went on the adventure and Lettie kept saying "hold my hand, no matter what." But I'm excited to read. (hide spoiler)]

Put it in spoiler just in case someone who has not read it wonders onto the thread.

Neil Gaiman is a great author.

[Tessa]

"I have never watched a Ghibli movie but I think it its full of fantasy and what a little kids mind sees. "
They're the type of movies you need to see as a child or with your child. Really entertaining and full of magic and dreams and kids. Really nice :). The cat returns, My neighbor Totoro, Howl's moving castle, to name a few :) .

Chapter 7 [ok, I know, too soon, but I really want to discuss this chapter since I'm horrified right now].
(view spoiler)[I can't believe what his father tried to do. He's a psychopath. OMG!!! And this poor kid is too small to understand that telling his mom would be the best thing he could ever do. I'm so full of rage right now! (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

Give me a few minutes to read 7 and when I get back from getting morning coffee I will write what I think.

[[deleted user]]

So I read chapter 7 and 8 and (view spoiler)[OMG!! The dad is crazy. He must be under a spell because he seems so different then the dad we met in the beginning. The one who burned the toast and made jokes about it. I want to save the kid so bad. And the sister...what a brat...she is younger right? I'm drawing a blank on her age.

Chapter 8 - I'm glad he got away and got to Lettie saved him. And the kitten came back. But how weird was that part with the cats in the ground? I hope she can do something about Ursula. I feel so bad for this poor boy. (hide spoiler)]

Overall this is becoming a great book. I have to work on my online course work but I will get back to it the second I'm done.

[Tessa]

Yes, Lettie to the rescue! Chapter 8 was so nice! ^^
(view spoiler)[Yes, the sister is younger. you can't really hold it against her, she really doesn't understand what's going on. she did cry when she was how mad her dad was, but since she saw her brother was ok she went again on the parent's side. Kids are like that. Also, Letty reminds me a lot of Kiki from Kiki`s Delivery Service. All optimism and magic. :) (hide spoiler)]

Don't worry, I'm also reading 1-2 chapters more than going to bed. When you said it was morning for you it was 7 p.m. for me :P .

[[deleted user]]

(view spoiler)[I don't hold it against her but she seemed to not like him in the beginning but since she is young I will let her off. She is kinda cute. I like Lettie. Something really great about her. (hide spoiler)]

It's 12:45PM for me. So daytime.

[Tessa]

I remember when I was a child. I always fought with my older brother for our parent's love. So when he got into trouble I was happy because in my stupid little mind I thought that when he was scolded he was not being loved. I'm not sure if all children are like that, but most do crave for positive attention. And even if you do nothing, if the other sibling was bad, you suddenly start to look more better in your parent's eyes XD. I just think that's the way she's thinking at her 6 or less years. Not that she doesn't like him, but she likes her parents more.

Chapter 9-10:
(view spoiler)[So, the thing with Ursula got fixed quite fast. I wasn't expecting Lettie to be so powerful. I really liked their entire exchange when she called her Flea. Wonder what the vermin are. I also liked how mature she is and is trying to see the things from Ursula's perspective. In her own twisted way, she's actually trying to make this place better. Wondrous how powerful grief can be. She's after all the result of grief, right? (hide spoiler)]

12 pm here and time to go to bed. You can read more than ch 10 since I'll be waking up before you :P . Can't wait to see what happens next! ^^

[[deleted user]]

I agree with you in the like sister and big brother thing. I was the same. I just feel like both the dad and sister are under some spell. Or they have been changed.

I plan on picking it up when I'm done with school work, 75% done.

[Tessa]

No hurry, going to bed now. ^^

[[deleted user]]

Well goodnight!

[Tessa]

Ok, so I finished this one.
(view spoiler)[In the end, it was a pretty sad story despite the fact that Lettie saved him. Also a lot of questions remained unanswered and the melancholic chapters at the end just made me cry. It's like the author is telling us the beauty of childhood can never be restored. (hide spoiler)]

I'll wait for you to discuss a little more about it :) .

[Christina]

Borrowed this from library! Will start tomorrow and share my thoughts! :)

[Tessa]

Kinda late, but I'll try not to spoiler you XD.

[[deleted user]]

I ended up just reading the book all night..until I was done.

I really liked it. I thought the writing was great and the characters were interesting. At times I wanted to know more about them.

(view spoiler)[ I have to say I was suprised when he was told that Lettie gave him his heart after those things took his out. A real creep factor.
Tessa I think with the unanswered questions is the authors way of making you think about the events in the book.
Also I think he was not saying that childhood could not be restored but saying that everyone experiences childhood differently. Even if they were at the same events. (hide spoiler)]

[Tessa]

(view spoiler)[Yeah, that part was kind of blurry. How can she give him her hart and if she did so does he still remain himself? Shouldn't he have part of Lettie's magic if he had her heart? I find it sad that he remained a wanderer. Never actually finding his place in the world after that, still waiting for Letti to bring back his heart. :) (hide spoiler)]

Also, about our other 2 reads, I was thinking to read "Why we broke up" next. And right now I'm reading a few rather long books so would you mind if we started our second book on the 15th? :)

[[deleted user]]

(view spoiler)[ I think the whole heart aspect is part of that magic. The same goes for the pond/ocean. To the reader it seems impossible but to others its not. I too wish he would have been able to remember it the way it happened. I felt bad he forgot it or had small memories of it. I think he needed Letti to come back no matter what. (hide spoiler)]

The 15th is great! It gives me time to finish a few books too. I have been wanting to read this for some time.

[Tessa]

Yes, like I said, sad :( . And because of that this story felt unfinished to me, but in the end that's also a good part, stories don't just end at an important conclusion in our life. Our story will go forever with us for as long as we live. So maybe that's the ocean and the pound is just the story other can see. Ok, now I'm starting to make no sense XD.

"The 15th is great! It gives me time to finish a few books too. I have been wanting to read this for some time.
Same here. I don't have this in audio format so I won't be as fast with it, but I'll do my best to keep up ^^.

Here is the topic for this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[[deleted user]]

Don't worry about being fast. we can go as slow as you want.

[Tessa]

YEY! XD

[[deleted user]]

If you want we can read a set number of chapters per day.

[Tessa]

Unfortunately, the book is not split by chapters, but by images. I have this on my kindle so I could split it with 10%, 20% and so forth. Do you have the paperback version?

[Christina]

Oh you guys have finished! I started on the train this morning and was immediately captivated! I like Neil's writing style :) I will open your spoilers as I get to them!

I'm about 3 chapters in and so far (view spoiler)[the MC and his dad find their car stolen, and there's the dead body of the man who killed MC's cat Fluffy... Lettie is showing the main character her pond/ ocean and they take out a dead fish with a pence in it.

Not sure what's happening yet, but everything is so mysterious! (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

Tessa let's move the conversation about our next book to that thread.

[Christina]

Chapter V: (view spoiler)[Whats with the hole in the MC's foot... (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

Christina wrote: "Chapter V: [spoilers removed]"

Just what and you will see.

[Christina]

@Lindsey
This is like watching a horror film!!!

[Tessa]

Yeah, chapter 7 (view spoiler)[will really feel like the Shining when the dad loses it XD. (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

@Tessa that is a great way to describe it.

[Christina]

That film gave me nightmares!! If I remember correctly, there was this bath scene with a nekkid corpse... and then there were those bloody twins :S Anyway...

Up to Chapter X. I opened your spoilers.(view spoiler)[That's the scariest! When a seemingly normal person suddenly becomes a madman :\ Didn't expect it at all

I can't believe the main character is 7 yo. Wouldn't blame him for peeing himself. He handled in quite well with the escape. When he witnessed Ursula and his dad... I was so disgusted.

Felt so relieved when the mc arrived at the Hempstocks place!! Are they witches or what...?! Because they said they weren't
(hide spoiler)]

[Tessa]

@Christina (view spoiler)[Not witches, I think they are protectors or gatekeepers or something like that. Keepers of the order between this world and the other one, the one from where Ursula came. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

@Tessa
That makes sense!

[Christina]

Finished:
Such an open ended conclusion... Sigh I don't take these well :(
(view spoiler)[So the mc's memories are kind of a blurry in the epilogue..
It was heartbreaking when Lettie saved him with her life... her 'going away party to Australia' was really sad ;( (hide spoiler)]

[Tessa]

What going away party? O_o

[[deleted user]]

(view spoiler)[The going away party was the "story" they feed to everyone so they had a reason why Lettie was gone. But I believe the MCs mind knew something else happened to her and that's why his soul/heart/mind kept taking him back to there (hide spoiler)]

[Carly]

I read this one recently and enjoyed it.

Never went through all that with a sibling. I accepted my brother - 6 years younger - as my brother. Didn't feel we were in competition for attention from our parents.

But then again, I don't remember looking for attention. I guess I did when very small, but I don't remember feeling that way for most of my childhood. I think I would have liked less attention, actually - my parents sat on me, like a beloved egg.

I did, however, experience sibling rivalry through my own children. My two daughters always had a feud going - it was exhausting.

[Tessa]

I accepted my brother - 6 years younger - as my brother. Didn't feel we were in competition for attention from our parents.
That's because you were the older sibling. You never needed to compete with anyone for your parent's love when you were little because you were sorta, the only one around XD. When you finally weren't you were old enough to know better. My guess :P . Siblings of the same gender and if closer in age compete even more.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

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Date Changed. Restarting March 21st 2015. Happy Reading ☺

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[Berit]

I'm in on this one, ironically I have to read it for an April book group so I may as well read it a little early with you all!

[[deleted user]]

Berit wrote: "I'm in on this one, ironically I have to read it for an April book group so I may as well read it a little early with you all!"

Yay, the more the merrier! :)

[C.P.]

I'm in for this one too! Just picked it up today. :)

[[deleted user]]

Have either of you read any Gaiman before? I've read Stardust and I really liked it, so I want to try out some more.

[Berit]

No, this is my first, but I've heard a lot of good things.

[C.P.]

No. This will be my first. I want to read Coraline. I tried Stardust (because I love the movie), but couldn't get into it. That was years ago though.

[Amy]

I've started this one early. I'm on chapter four (view spoiler)[ I don't like the main character much. He's a little unreliable and weird. We shall see. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

Chapter six (view spoiler)[ So Ursula is what? A worm? I'm a little lost at the minute and bored. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

End of chapter seven (view spoiler)[ drowning is more traumatic than being hit in my opinion. I would be terrified. What he said to Ursula wasn't even that bad. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

End of chapter nine (view spoiler)[ I wish I could connect to this story more. It is interesting though, I want to know more about Lettie's farm. I don't understand how the farm can be so magical when Lettie says that they are not witches. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

Just finished (view spoiler)[ Wow, I liked the ending but I really want to know what happens to Lettie! (hide spoiler)]