The Ocean at the End of the Lane

This is a dark fairy-tale for any adult that has ever been seven years old. It speaks of childhood memories, of strange events that have been forgotten for decades. Gaiman takes us on a timeless tale of the extraordinary wonder of childhood discovery, and the loss that follows in adulthood.The story begins with our unnamed narrator leaving a funeral wake to take a drive in the country. Seemingly aimless, buried memories direct him to the place where he grew up as a small boy in the 1960s. The family home is long gone, but the lane remains and he recalls the farm at its end. Finding himself at the farm and sitting by its duck-pond, his memories of the summer of his seventh year are woken and that story begins in earnest.George is a lonely boy. He lives in an old house set back on a quiet lane somewhere in the Sussex countryside. He loses himself in books in lieu of adventures with friends he doesn’t have. He loves myths and legends and like most seven year old boys, he delights in in exploring the natural world. One day a tragedy befalls the South African lodger who is staying at George’s family home. Discovered dead on the back seat of the family car, the lodger’s death sets in motion a strange adventure that no adult would believe — but that every seven year old would know is truest experience they will ever have.The lodger’s death leads George to Lettie Hempstock, an eleven year-old girl who lives with her mother and grandmother on nearby Hempstock farm. From the start we understand that this family is more than they appear: Lettie explains to George that their duck-pond is an ocean and it was brought with them when they travelled from the Old Country. Friendship with Lettie is exciting: she sees and knows things that no normal eleven year old girl should, and George accepts it without question.But their friendship comes at a cost: The lodger’s death has awoken a mysterious creature; a creature that may fulfil any man’s wish but at a cost far greater than he could afford. Gaiman weaves the fantastic with the every-day as he builds a compelling and mesmerising world that sits outside our common human experience. George is caught at the centre of a tale of ancient terrors, uncommon magic and forces that have existed beyond the beginning of time.To reveal too much more of Gaiman’s dark tale would be to spoil it. Evoking the voice of Alan Garner, and animating the landscape with dark terrors, Gaiman weaves a new fairy-tale that feels familiar yet is fresh, beguiling and menacing in equal measure. It took me right back to the first time I read Weirdstone and left me similarly transfixed.The writing itself is beautiful. The voice given to young George is pitch perfect. Gaiman’s ability to recall the feelings and experiences of this lonely boy is so accurate that it’s heartbreaking. Every experience is keenly felt, and I related to so closely to George that I was transported back to my own childhood with its own traumas and tears.This is a timeless story of childhood dreams and nightmares. It asks questions about memory and loss and whether our recollection of our formative experiences can ever be trusted as the truth. But beyond these questions, the story gives us hope: hope that we can be worthy of the friendships we make and of the life that is given to us.I know I will re-read this tale many times. It will always make me weep because it holds the truth of childhood at its heart and respects it. It’s a story that knows we mustn’t ever forget what it’s like to be seven years old, for fear that we’ll forget how to live as an adult. While there is darkness and tragedy in Gaiman’s tale, there is ultimately hope — a hope that we be kinder, gentler adults and remember our childhood dreams so that our own children might have their own dreams too.

See my review of this book, and many more, at TalesfromtheGreatEastRoad.wordpress.comWhat makes us who we are? How much of ourselves is created by our memories? When a forty year old man returns to his childhood village for a funeral he rediscovers the home of an old friend, Lettie Hempstock, who believed the pond in her back garden was actually an ocean. As he explores Hempstock Farm, he finds memories, hidden inside his mind, unfolding and revealing a battle with a monster from another world when he was just seven years old.The Ocean at the End of the Lane is both a strange and beautiful novel. It manages to portray grand ideas and themes, such as memories and the changes we all go through from childhood to adult, on a small, almost isolated scale. The whole novel has a sense of being only a small part of the bigger picture, leaving a feeling of being almost uncompleted. This mirrors beautifully the unnamed narrator's situation - as a child he never fully understands what is happening to him, since adults often don't explain themselves to children in a possibly misguided belief that they won't understand. As an adult, however, he still doesn't see exactly what has happened as he realises that he has forgotten his adventure until he visits Hempstock Farm.The narrator is a very sympathetic character. He is a lonely young boy who feels isolated and struggles to communicate with his family. The monster, disguised as Ursula Monkton, who infiltrates his family pushes him away from them even further, and the fact that the family never realise her true nature makes it even sadder. The young boy has to live with the trauma caused by her manipulation of his father, which is never resolved or even addressed, as no-one else remembers what happened. This brings up the question as to whether the whole novel is in fact the narrator's way of dealing with this trauma, a fantasy conjured up because he couldn't face what had actually happened and no-one else knew or talked about it.The Hempstock women - Lettie, Mrs Hempstock, and Old Mrs Hempstock - are another part of the mystery in this novel. Reminiscent of the Pagan Maiden, Mother, and Crone, they are magical and mysterious, but again, never fully explained. As a child, the narrator barely questions them and is satisfied with the vague answers he gets. Who are these women exactly? How old are they, and are they immortal? What exactly is the Ocean in their garden?The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a beautifully written, dream-like novel that captures the imagination throughout - but ultimately leaves a feeling of being incomplete. Whilst it does create a sense of nostalgia, a lingering feeling of quiet sadness stayed with me many days after finishing the book - and I believe that this shows Neil Gaiman's great skill as a writer.4 stars

A magical story that reads like a dream full of colour, intrigue, and leaves you on waking believing it was real.

What a stunning edition ! This book is a very good one to gift (either to yourself, or to someone)!!

La edición en sí es hermosa, aunque hubiera deseado que fuese un libro cosido y no pegado, al ser un libro de la editorial Morrow no se podía esperar otra cosa, sin embargo he de reconocerles que el hecho de que esté impreso en papel couché, que la edición tenga un cuidado espectacular y que me recuerde tanto a la edición de A monster calls de Patrick Ness han hecho que se lleve las 5 estrellas, la ilustradora es una genio! Todo el libro tiene ilustraciones prácticamente no hay hoja que quede en blanco pues hasta las guardas del libro vienen con información.La historia es muy emotiva, nostálgica y conmovedora, ese realismo mágico que pasa de un sueño a la realidad y viceversa. Si saben inglés y quieren empezar con un libro de Neil Gaiman que no sea tan infantil como puede ser Coraline o Stardust les recomendaría a parte de El libro del cementerio, este sin lugar a dudas. Soy coleccionista y aunque está es una edición que normalmente no taeria en la calle leyendo es una edición que bien vale la pena tener en casa solo de lo hermosa que es.

Maravilhoso, sem sombra de dúvidas nenhuma um dos melhores livros que já li. Neil Gaiman te prende a história de uma forma única e cativante, sensacional. Recomendo.

Una gran historia de fantasía repleta de emoción y giros argumentales muy inesperados. Una trama para dejarte llevar. Lectura fácil y ligera para nivel de inglés C1.

Received the book earlier than expected and was very happy to dive into it right away. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I absolutely loved it.