The Ocean at the End of the Lane

by Gaiman, Neil
ISBN: 9780062255662
4.7 (6)
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780062255662

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Overview

A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman's first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys.

This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the impossible all too real...

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Gaiman, Neil
  • ISBN: 9780062255662
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 7.90 x 0.60
  • Number Of Pages: 181
  • Publication Year: 2014

Customer Reviews

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5 ★   67%
4 ★   33%
3 ★   0%
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4.7
6 Ratings

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  • Hands-down my favorite Gaiman novel

    Kelsey G. - 1 year 2 months ago

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane was my first Gaiman novel, and, to date, still my favorite. As I've continued through Gaiman's works, I've noticed a trend of interesting, complex world building, or a punch-in-the-gut, ow-it-hurts-in-a-good-way ending, but not until Ocean has Gaiman been able to connect the two. Gaiman's Ocean world building focuses on the intrinsic strangeness of childhood, the lack of disbelief, simply because you don't know that it's impossible, and is supplemented by traditional folk/fairytale. I love the overarching tone of this book, the melancholic bittersweetness, and the commonplace strangeness. The characters can be a little one-dimensional, but the strength of both of the story and the writing carried me safely back to the shore at the end of the lane.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Childhood innocence & friendship, with a little harsh reality thrown in.

    Kari S. - 1 year 9 months ago

    Neil Gaiman never fails to entertain and delight. There's not much of an explanation behind the magic and fantasy Gaiman creates in this novel, but the plot carries the reader along so fluidly that one doesn't even miss it. It's a quick read for anyone that loves magic and fairytales, perfect for a snowy night tucked in at home.

    HPB Staff Review

  • A simple tale but with big and complex thoughts

    Laura K. - 3 years 9 months ago

    This is a book that started as a short story and morphed into something more. What's enjoyable about Gaiman is that he has a complex range of works from comics like Sandman to weighty tomes like American Gods. This is still a novella so if you've wanted to try Gaiman's writing but have been too overwhelmed by American Gods or Sandman this is a great place to start. It has the intriguing ideas of his adult novels but the young perspective as some of his younger audience books. It takes place as a man remembers a time from his boyhood where strange occurrences started happening and sort of how he started to grow up when an otherworldly force invades his home. In some ways, it's a simple tale but with such big and complex thoughts in them that it takes the story and makes it more.

    HPB Staff Review

  • 'Oh, monsters are scared,' said Lettie. 'That's why they're monsters.'

    Samantha C. - 4 years 10 months ago

    Our unnamed narrator returns to his childhood home for the first time in years to attend a funeral, but by returning, he has unlocked a memory forgotten for decades. When he was seven, a house guest stole the family car and committed suicide in it. This tragic event causes a ripple of supernatural energy that leads to a dangerous creature entering our narrator's world and threatening his life. He befriends an eleven-year-old girl (who has been eleven for a very long time), and she, her mother and her grandmother help him to stop this creature. This story is beautiful, tragic and poignant. It is about so much more than a scared little boy; it's about memory, friendship, good food and warm baths. Absolutely magical.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Short but engaging.

    Angie B. - 5 years ago

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman, is a book about memory. Gaiman tells a story of the power in childhood memories, which can change our lives and inform our decisions, and can take us to far reaching destinations and return us home again. These memories help us become who we really are. In The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a young boy (7) who is oddly never named by Gaiman, meets Lettie Hempstock, a strange older-than-her-years girl of 11. She mistakenly introduces him to a new reality where a circle of rhododendrons becomes a fairy ring, otherworldly monsters seek to eat your heart and oceans masquerade as duck ponds. Lettie takes the boy with her to do a chore at the pond, but inadvertently he smuggles a hungry dark creature through this magic ocean gateway into the pond. The story becomes about the battle to send this creature back where she belongs before she hurts the boy. In this surprisingly short but engaging story, Gaiman weaves a tale that is exciting, frightening, sad, and magical. It is a story of the things we almost remember, of creatures glimpsed from the corners of our eyes, and the scary stories our grandmothers told us to keep us safe.

    HPB Staff Review