paperback, 250 pages
Published Jan. 31, 2014 by Buku Fixi (Fixi Verso).
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 …
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.
After reading the Vulture/New Yorker article I have chosen to remove my reviews of this man's content from my accounts. I choose to place this text here because I think it is important to juxtaposition these things. I also don't think that pretending I never read these things is particularly helpful either.
Beautifully written and descriptive farm setting.
A truly charming tale that kept me intrigued the entire time. Though a child of the 70s as opposed to the 60s I still saw enough in the joy of my childhood in Neil's world that the world touched my soul in wonderful ways.
A marvelous blend of fantasy and recollection. The tone is intimate and heartfelt, and thoroughly delighted.
I really loved the book. Really truly.
Magnifique. Je crois que je vais demander Neil Gaiman en mariage à la longue. Une superbe histoire, un glissement tout en douceur vers un autre monde pas si différent du nôtre et pourtant étrange, entouré de mystères. Tout en douceur, en poésie, un magnifique conte d'enfance. A lire absolument.
In short this book had so many beautifully descriptive sentences weaved together. I just loved it.
I don't know what is wrong with me and my taste in books. It started not long ago with The Luminaries. Everybody loved it... except for me. Then it was The Hundred Year Old Man, which was universally adored (but I hated it). I was so pumped to see that The Golem And The Jinni was getting fantastic reviews and was so excited to dive in, but it did absolutely nothing for me. Now, I see that Patrick Rothfuss (yes, Patrick Frickin' Rothfuss!) gave a glowing review of Neil Gaiman's latest (Neil Frickin' Gaiman!!!). And the book was... what, exactly? I really don't know. Maybe I need to give it time to see of it will grow on me. It seemed sort of boring, missing all do the soul that was in Coraline and The Graveyard Book. This really seemed like it should have been a short story. It was …
I don't know what is wrong with me and my taste in books. It started not long ago with The Luminaries. Everybody loved it... except for me. Then it was The Hundred Year Old Man, which was universally adored (but I hated it). I was so pumped to see that The Golem And The Jinni was getting fantastic reviews and was so excited to dive in, but it did absolutely nothing for me. Now, I see that Patrick Rothfuss (yes, Patrick Frickin' Rothfuss!) gave a glowing review of Neil Gaiman's latest (Neil Frickin' Gaiman!!!). And the book was... what, exactly? I really don't know. Maybe I need to give it time to see of it will grow on me. It seemed sort of boring, missing all do the soul that was in Coraline and The Graveyard Book. This really seemed like it should have been a short story. It was just a swing and a miss for me. At least there are about 7 billion other people out there who loved the book. Don't let me stop you from reading it. Statistically speaking, you'll probably love it.
I don't even know that I really feel that three stars is fair for this, but I'd just feel dirty giving two stars to Neil Gaiman.
Actual Rating 3.5
Beautiful, moving, evocative, utterly disturbing. Inexplicably brings to mind parts of my own half remembered childhood. Is it an ocean at the end of the lane, or just a pond?
A harrowing nightmare tale with heart told through the memories of the narrator as he sits by the ocean at the end of the lane near his childhood home. I loved being with the Hempstocks and I recognize them/her from earlier tales and ages. The cosmology is enchanting; I'd enjoy spending more time in this world. At the end, though, the book lifts up notions of worth and being "good enough" that made the story even more meaningful for me ... and perhaps also for you.
