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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Book Review - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

From Goodreads:

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 have always meant to read Neil Gaiman, and came across this one recently. I love the cover of this book!

This is a thin book, with less than 200 pages. But I regret to say, I read only about 1/5 of it... I may have finished if (1) I didn't have to return to the library - couldn't renew as there was another hold; (2) I didn't have other books I need to read for blog tours; or (3) I am not so busy I hardly have time to read so must be picky with what I read.

I was excited to read this book, and it was off to a good start... but then, it just didn't hold my interest... I didn't really care about the characters, or the plot. 

If you have read this book though, is it worth giving it a try again? Or trying another Neil Gaiman book - if so, what should I start? (I haven't watched Coraline... )

Did Not Finish.




Note - The book was borrowed from the library.



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3 comments:

  1. I need to try it. I had no idea it was short for some reason.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't know either until I picked it up from the library - 181 pages!

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  2. I've been meaning to read Gaiman for years. Looks like this is not the place to start!

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