Helpful Score: 1
I picked this book up yesterday and read until 2am, finishing it, and immediately gave it to my 19 year old to read. Devastating, awe-inspiring, amazing. I haven't had a book grab me like this in a long time, I had to see it through to the end. Fortunately, it is not a terribly long book so it let me have some sleep.
It seems odd to say, but I think that this short novel is wonderful the way it is. Usually I would want something so well-written to continue but this story feels complete in it's incompleteness. There are many unanswered questions, many threads left loose, but it all feels right and seems to fit this story. I will be thinking about this tale for a long time to come and I know I will be rereading it, passing it along and giving it out as a gift to those I love who haven't read it.
An absolute must for fans of Neil Gaiman and a great introduction for any who haven't read him yet. Haunting.
It seems odd to say, but I think that this short novel is wonderful the way it is. Usually I would want something so well-written to continue but this story feels complete in it's incompleteness. There are many unanswered questions, many threads left loose, but it all feels right and seems to fit this story. I will be thinking about this tale for a long time to come and I know I will be rereading it, passing it along and giving it out as a gift to those I love who haven't read it.
An absolute must for fans of Neil Gaiman and a great introduction for any who haven't read him yet. Haunting.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was a quick read - certainly on the shorter side of "novel". I enjoyed it while I read it, but at the same time, I think part of the reason I read it so quickly was that I was trying to get to the magic that I expected to find. The book never quite reached the level of "Neverwhere" or "American Gods". I think one of the big problems is that 90% of the book is actually just a flashback. The narrator returns home for a funeral and while visiting childhood locations is drawn to a place that triggers forgotten memories. So, it's being told by someone that is just remembering these things - there's no tension, no worry about what's going to happen. And because of that, the book loses something.
The story is an interesting story, I liked the Hempstock's, but the story would have been better told from a "currently happening" perspective. I liked how despite trying to fix things, innocent child mistakes kept making things worse.
I think the biggest disappointment is the lack of impact on the main character - in every other Neil Gaiman book, the main character winds up changed forever from their interaction with the supernatural world. In this book the main character doesn't even remember what happened until he returned to the pond, and so it has no impact on his life. This left a bit of a empty feeling in me when I reached the end and realized I was done.
The story is an interesting story, I liked the Hempstock's, but the story would have been better told from a "currently happening" perspective. I liked how despite trying to fix things, innocent child mistakes kept making things worse.
I think the biggest disappointment is the lack of impact on the main character - in every other Neil Gaiman book, the main character winds up changed forever from their interaction with the supernatural world. In this book the main character doesn't even remember what happened until he returned to the pond, and so it has no impact on his life. This left a bit of a empty feeling in me when I reached the end and realized I was done.
Helpful Score: 1
I was dying to read this book. So I bought it the day it came out and instantly sat down and read it. It was a spectacular read with a dark fairy tale vibe to it and a very nostalgic atmosphere.
The book starts with our nameless main character who is a middle aged man who has journeyed back to his childhood town for a funeral. Once there he journeys to the Hempstock farm and starts to remember strange things about his childhood that he has long forgotten. Thus starts the tale of a seven year boy and a magical girl named Lettie Hempstock who believes the duck pond behind her house is an ocean.
Spectacular read with a dark fairy tale/folklorish vibe to it. I enjoyed it a lot. This book is very atmospheric, full of subtle magic, and a bit creepy.
As normal Gaiman does an excellent job with imagery and really makes the world and time come alive for his readers. The majority of the book is told from a childs perspective and as such the story has a very childlike quality to it. The narrator doesnt see things like an adult would and tends to simplify certain problems while still being able to accept a world beyond his imagination.
We are introduced to a world that is both nostalgic and eerily magical. There are monsters that dwell here and monsters that prey on those monsters. There are strangely sympathetic cats, little girls that are old, and ponds that are really oceans. It is a magical place that lies within and near our world. It is also a dark and scary place but not without its light.
The book mainly emphasis the power and importance of story and the quest of one adult to follow his nostalgia and unravel the mysteries that surround it.
This book would probably be appropriate for young adults, but not for younger readers. The monsters are way to creepy for younger readers, they were enough to give me nightmares. As well there is a scene where the narrators father is intimately involved with another woman (which the narrator as a child doesnt understand). There was also a scene where the narrator digs a gigantic worm out of his foot that really grossed me out...
The story wraps up in a way that is full of irony and will make you chuckle a bit as a reader. It is also a bit sad and melancholy. Its the type of story you think back to and wonder at. Definitely something I will read again at some point.
Overall I thought this was a spectaular read. I loved the dark fairy tale feel to it, the way childhood wonder and nostalgia are portrayed, and the absolutely terrifying monsters that the narrator encounters. Gaiman has a created a story full of the wonder of childhood, the terror of things that bump in the night, and the magicallness of it all. This is a wondrous story that I recommend everyone read.
The book starts with our nameless main character who is a middle aged man who has journeyed back to his childhood town for a funeral. Once there he journeys to the Hempstock farm and starts to remember strange things about his childhood that he has long forgotten. Thus starts the tale of a seven year boy and a magical girl named Lettie Hempstock who believes the duck pond behind her house is an ocean.
Spectacular read with a dark fairy tale/folklorish vibe to it. I enjoyed it a lot. This book is very atmospheric, full of subtle magic, and a bit creepy.
As normal Gaiman does an excellent job with imagery and really makes the world and time come alive for his readers. The majority of the book is told from a childs perspective and as such the story has a very childlike quality to it. The narrator doesnt see things like an adult would and tends to simplify certain problems while still being able to accept a world beyond his imagination.
We are introduced to a world that is both nostalgic and eerily magical. There are monsters that dwell here and monsters that prey on those monsters. There are strangely sympathetic cats, little girls that are old, and ponds that are really oceans. It is a magical place that lies within and near our world. It is also a dark and scary place but not without its light.
The book mainly emphasis the power and importance of story and the quest of one adult to follow his nostalgia and unravel the mysteries that surround it.
This book would probably be appropriate for young adults, but not for younger readers. The monsters are way to creepy for younger readers, they were enough to give me nightmares. As well there is a scene where the narrators father is intimately involved with another woman (which the narrator as a child doesnt understand). There was also a scene where the narrator digs a gigantic worm out of his foot that really grossed me out...
The story wraps up in a way that is full of irony and will make you chuckle a bit as a reader. It is also a bit sad and melancholy. Its the type of story you think back to and wonder at. Definitely something I will read again at some point.
Overall I thought this was a spectaular read. I loved the dark fairy tale feel to it, the way childhood wonder and nostalgia are portrayed, and the absolutely terrifying monsters that the narrator encounters. Gaiman has a created a story full of the wonder of childhood, the terror of things that bump in the night, and the magicallness of it all. This is a wondrous story that I recommend everyone read.
Amazing, touching story - typical Neil Gaiman. Read it in two days; it was that good. Young boy discovers a fantastic, dangerous world just down the lane from his house and makes powerful new friends, who fight to keep him and his family safe.
I was excited when I heard Gaiman had a book coming out last year, as I have enjoyed reading his books in the past. I liked the idea that he had written a short story that needed completing, a story that asked its writer to be written.
Well, he needn't have bothered. First off, this isn't much more than a short story, it's a novella rather than a novel. Second, this is another book where intriguing ideas are presented but little is done with them (Gaiman's strength, I am beginning to think). There are promising avenues that lead nowhere, and the ending is a disappointment. I passed my copy on as soon as I had read it.
Well, he needn't have bothered. First off, this isn't much more than a short story, it's a novella rather than a novel. Second, this is another book where intriguing ideas are presented but little is done with them (Gaiman's strength, I am beginning to think). There are promising avenues that lead nowhere, and the ending is a disappointment. I passed my copy on as soon as I had read it.
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ocean-at-end-of-lane.html
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is pure fantasy. The author intended for it be a short story, but the story evolved into a novel. The book pulls the reader into its world and does not let go.
A man returns to the place of his childhood for a funeral and takes a trip down memory lane. His home is no longer there, but he visits a neighbor's home - the family of a childhood friend. From there, the story is a reflection back into his childhood.
He grew up on a farm with his parents and sister. A lonely quiet seven year old boy. His family struggles with money. He becomes friendly with a young girl, Lettie, who lives with her grandmother and mother at the end of the lane.
From there, the story draws the reader into a world of creatures from another world, of good and evil, of friendship and sacrifice. There are allusions to traditions honoring women, mythology, and mysticism. Fantasy creeps into reality and leaves you wondering what is read. The tale is a dark one, but the ultimate message is about friendship and childhood memories.
This is a short book and a very quick read. What I love about this book is how visual it is. It feels like watching a story unfold not just reading one. I also enjoy the fact that it leaves you wondering what to believe. The boy in this book is a reader and his words describe this book for me: "I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were."
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is pure fantasy. The author intended for it be a short story, but the story evolved into a novel. The book pulls the reader into its world and does not let go.
A man returns to the place of his childhood for a funeral and takes a trip down memory lane. His home is no longer there, but he visits a neighbor's home - the family of a childhood friend. From there, the story is a reflection back into his childhood.
He grew up on a farm with his parents and sister. A lonely quiet seven year old boy. His family struggles with money. He becomes friendly with a young girl, Lettie, who lives with her grandmother and mother at the end of the lane.
From there, the story draws the reader into a world of creatures from another world, of good and evil, of friendship and sacrifice. There are allusions to traditions honoring women, mythology, and mysticism. Fantasy creeps into reality and leaves you wondering what is read. The tale is a dark one, but the ultimate message is about friendship and childhood memories.
This is a short book and a very quick read. What I love about this book is how visual it is. It feels like watching a story unfold not just reading one. I also enjoy the fact that it leaves you wondering what to believe. The boy in this book is a reader and his words describe this book for me: "I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were."
This book was a quick read - certainly on the shorter side of "novel". I enjoyed it while I read it, but at the same time, I think part of the reason I read it so quickly was that I was trying to get to the magic that I expected to find. The book never quite reached the level of "Neverwhere" or "American Gods". I think one of the big problems is that 90% of the book is actually just a flashback. The narrator returns home for a funeral and while visiting childhood locations is drawn to a place that triggers forgotten memories. So, it's being told by someone that is just remembering these things - there's no tension, no worry about what's going to happen. And because of that, the book loses something.
The story is an interesting story, I liked the Hempstock's, but the story would have been better told from a "currently happening" perspective. I liked how despite trying to fix things, innocent child mistakes kept making things worse.
I think the biggest disappointment is the lack of impact on the main character - in every other Neil Gaiman book, the main character winds up changed forever from their interaction with the supernatural world. In this book the main character doesn't even remember what happened until he returned to the pond, and so it has no impact on his life. This left a bit of a empty feeling in me when I reached the end and realized I was done.
The story is an interesting story, I liked the Hempstock's, but the story would have been better told from a "currently happening" perspective. I liked how despite trying to fix things, innocent child mistakes kept making things worse.
I think the biggest disappointment is the lack of impact on the main character - in every other Neil Gaiman book, the main character winds up changed forever from their interaction with the supernatural world. In this book the main character doesn't even remember what happened until he returned to the pond, and so it has no impact on his life. This left a bit of a empty feeling in me when I reached the end and realized I was done.
Another wonderfully engaging and deeply immersing story from Neil Gaiman of reality colliding with myth, youth with agelessness, good with evil, fear with bravery. This tale is beautifully told with rich attention to detail, bringing it to life as it is read. I loved it.
If you're looking for a great thriller author, Blake Crouch is your guy. This book was nonstop with a crazy twist at the end. I can see why it has been turned into a tv show. I can't wait to see what happens in the next two books.
A gentleman returns to his childhood home and begins to remember something from his past he suppressed or was magically blocked from his mind. As he recalls an old babysitter and her unique introduction to his family he realizes she is not what she seems. A young girl and her family try to help him rid the hold an evil presences.
Neil Gaiman has a knack for creating stories that seem like they have always been around. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is told as true fairy tale. When say fairy tale I don't mean Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, I mean a story straight from Ireland with actual fairies. Even though the word fairy is not mentioned in the story, the description of how mischievous fairies are is all over the villain. That is what I like about this book and Gaiman's writing.
My only dislike is that the book is too short. I feel there was so much more could be told about the girl, her mother and grandmother. Why was there a troublesome in the area of the lake? What was the lake's history? I hope maybe one day Gaiman will return to those characters in another story.
I am a sucker for stories with fairies and this one is so much more intriguing. Because I recognize details that come from old Irish folklore. It is also a short read and as I said shorter then I would like but still charming.
Neil Gaiman has a knack for creating stories that seem like they have always been around. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is told as true fairy tale. When say fairy tale I don't mean Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, I mean a story straight from Ireland with actual fairies. Even though the word fairy is not mentioned in the story, the description of how mischievous fairies are is all over the villain. That is what I like about this book and Gaiman's writing.
My only dislike is that the book is too short. I feel there was so much more could be told about the girl, her mother and grandmother. Why was there a troublesome in the area of the lake? What was the lake's history? I hope maybe one day Gaiman will return to those characters in another story.
I am a sucker for stories with fairies and this one is so much more intriguing. Because I recognize details that come from old Irish folklore. It is also a short read and as I said shorter then I would like but still charming.
Dark amazing fairy tale of childhood and what we know and what we believe. Read in one sitting since it is the kind of story you can't walk away from.
When I got this book, my first thought was, "What the heck! This is less than 200 pages and I paid almost full price for it!" I almost never buy books when they first come out but this little book is worth the money. It is an intense and scary little fairy tail for adults. I read it in 2 sittings. It would have been one sitting if I could have had my way.
This book is well-written, but it turns out the genre (fantasy/supernatural) is not my cup of tea.
This is one of my favorite books ever. The story and characters are relatable while being otherworldly. I can't go into too much detail without spoiling it. If you like fantasy & especially urban fantasy read this asap.
If Neil Gaiman is remembered as an author, it will be for this. It's semi-autobiographical mixed with fantasy and vague horror elements without ever feeling cheap or forced. I cannot say I have ever encountered such a haunting and beautiful story, as Gaiman recounts his childhood with such a familiarity I had to wonder if perhaps he had looked inside my memories. He never loses the audience trying to narrate with the voice of a child, and you'll smile and laugh and cry and sit at the edge of your seat until the last page.
SUSAN S. (susieqmillsacoustics) -
Neil Gaiman has an imagination that always amazes me. Every time I begin one of his books I know it will be a journey. This is a quick read, but so much fun! It's like a wonderful bedtime story with magic and monsters, thrills and chills. He has a way of capturing our most terrifying childhood fears, but leading us through with heart and leaving us to ponder the experience.
Not sure why this book got so much hype and 5-star reviews. It's basically a children's story fleshed out into a novel (would have been better as a short story). I had never read a Neil Gaiman book before (or even heard of him) but this title has been at the top of the best seller list for a long time and I was looking forward to reading it. I was very sorry that I didn't like it.
The story is a fantasy that is never explained. It's just a bunch of gobbledy-gook about some strange otherworldly place.
If you like fantasy, read it. If that isn't your cup of tea, I recommend skipping this book.
The story is a fantasy that is never explained. It's just a bunch of gobbledy-gook about some strange otherworldly place.
If you like fantasy, read it. If that isn't your cup of tea, I recommend skipping this book.
Yes, Gaiman is one of my favorite writers. Always his work is well done and the writing so lyrical while his plots are beyond imaginative. It is true with this one. Ocean touches the heart in the nicest and deepest way. The author captures the imagination of a seven-year-old in a way that is almost unbelievable. Finally, one cannot help wondering who and what is Lettie Hempstock, her mother and her grandmother. One certainly know that they are the good guys!
I started this book last night -08/17/13- and I couldn't put it down. Although it's only 189 pages, it felt it contained at least one hundred more.
The beginning is a bit unassuming and ordinary until the 7yr.old now a grown man going to his sister's house for a funeral turns a corner onto the lane of his old childhood's neighborhood.
The story engulfed me and brought back my own childhood fears and fantasies with it's monsters and benign forces and beings. It scared me too, I kept seeing the back of the book when I tried to get some sleep around 2:40 in the morning and I couldn't settle down. I kept turning on the lights and grabbing the book to keep on reading until I reach and part that seemed "safe" to go to sleep about.
Like the young boy in the story I could too immerse myself in books and live the stories in my mind so don't be surprised that I still do that and allow Mr. Gaiman to bring me along to the Hempstock Farm where the lane turns to the left and there is a pond that is really the Ocean that runs under the universe and that worlds like grains in a desert can be threatened, invaded and destroyed; a that there are boundaries between worlds that are fragile and that there are monsters that even monsters and old beings are afraid of.
The story did not disappoint me. It was more than I expected to be part of although I have been transported to similar ventures before. This one was very particular and precious -although not unique- in the realm of fantasy and I enjoyed it a great deal enough to give it 5 stars.
It did disturb me to the point I could not sleep well, I think I dreamed of those realms and the Ocean of the Origen and Knowledge -by the way this is the name I've given the pond. I understood what happened and how it happened, i just wish I could comprehend how Hempstock women came to be at the farm and why they chose that land.
This book will remain as part of my wish list and it will be worth a re-read.
The beginning is a bit unassuming and ordinary until the 7yr.old now a grown man going to his sister's house for a funeral turns a corner onto the lane of his old childhood's neighborhood.
The story engulfed me and brought back my own childhood fears and fantasies with it's monsters and benign forces and beings. It scared me too, I kept seeing the back of the book when I tried to get some sleep around 2:40 in the morning and I couldn't settle down. I kept turning on the lights and grabbing the book to keep on reading until I reach and part that seemed "safe" to go to sleep about.
Like the young boy in the story I could too immerse myself in books and live the stories in my mind so don't be surprised that I still do that and allow Mr. Gaiman to bring me along to the Hempstock Farm where the lane turns to the left and there is a pond that is really the Ocean that runs under the universe and that worlds like grains in a desert can be threatened, invaded and destroyed; a that there are boundaries between worlds that are fragile and that there are monsters that even monsters and old beings are afraid of.
The story did not disappoint me. It was more than I expected to be part of although I have been transported to similar ventures before. This one was very particular and precious -although not unique- in the realm of fantasy and I enjoyed it a great deal enough to give it 5 stars.
It did disturb me to the point I could not sleep well, I think I dreamed of those realms and the Ocean of the Origen and Knowledge -by the way this is the name I've given the pond. I understood what happened and how it happened, i just wish I could comprehend how Hempstock women came to be at the farm and why they chose that land.
This book will remain as part of my wish list and it will be worth a re-read.
This was a book club choice not my own selection. I started off enjoying the fairy tale like story, then it turned into a story of child abuse/neglect and it really lost its appeal. The book haunted me a bit.
Without a doubt, one of the best books ever! It's quick and just grabs the reader immediately and takes you to a world that is most intriguing, from the viewpoint of a 7 year old boy in England. It's a fantasy, but wow, what a story! AND so well written!
