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Sunday 24 June 2018

"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" Is A MUST Read

Author: Neil Gaiman
Publication Date: June 18th, 2013

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.

Review


The Ocean at the End of the Lane will hold onto and drag you into the dark depths of its mysterious tale. There’s no other way to explain Gaiman’s novel other than being a modern day myth or fairytale of some sort. I didn’t expect it to be a short story, but as it unfolded I realised I was hooked on one single plot line that seemed so simple but kept taking turns and twists, I had no idea where it was heading. 

The story came to life through Gaiman’s writing - he is an absolute genius at creating an engrossing tale with vivid imagery and such real characters. It was a such a strange read that I couldn’t stop reading. I finished it within two hours. The story is suppose to be a mystery but Gaiman weaves magic and life lessons, leaving me quite emotionally drained from being so invested. It’s madness and creativity and ingenuity all in one, which is insane that it worked so well together. Be sure to pay close attention while reading, because there’s a complex layer underneath the plot and even now I want to go back and re-read to see if I’ve missed anything. 

Honestly, I read this at the end of last year, but The Ocean at the End of the Lane was such a unique and intense read it took me awhile to process how I felt about it in words. Such an impressionable read and has further made me love Gaiman’s works! One of my favourite reads last year.

That's the trouble with living things. Don't last very long, Kittens one day, old cats the next. And then just memories. And the memories fade and blend and smudge together.

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