The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

by Neil Gaiman

WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2013 BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the bestselling magical novel from Neil Gaiman, one of the most brilliant storytellers of our generation and author of the epic novel American Gods, and the much-loved Sandman series. 'Possibly Gaiman's most lyrical, scary and beautiful work yet. It's a tale of childhood for grown-ups, a fantasy rooted in the darkest corners of reality' (Independent on Sunday). If you loved the mesmerising world of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus or were drawn into J.K. Rowling's magical universe, this book is for you.

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark.

Reviewed by empressbrooke on

3 of 5 stars

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I feel like I'm the only person not rating this 5 stars and gushing over how it changed my life. I think maybe I shouldn't have read all these full-of-praise reviews before starting it. It reminds me of how everyone kept enthusiastically telling me that The Hangover was the funniest movie ever made, and when I finally saw it, all I could think was, "Well, I laughed at it, but funniest movie ever made? It wasn't that great!"

What I'm trying to say is that I probably would have liked it more if my expectations hadn't been pumped up so high that I was expecting the foundations of my world to move. It also felt a bit like [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg|2834844] Part 2, and I really, really loved Coraline so this book had some very big shoes to fill.

On the upside, Gaiman's prose was wonderful as always, and I liked his version of the Maiden/Mother/Crone trio being farmers in the English countryside. He does have a knack for weaving in mythology in a way that makes it feel new and fresh.

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  • Started reading
  • 27 January, 2014: Finished reading
  • 27 January, 2014: Reviewed