The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the second book I’ve read from Neil Gaiman. Although I’m not sure if this counts as the second book cause the first one I read was Good Omens. And as you know, he wrote it with the late Terry Pratchett.
I truly liked Good Omens and very much enjoyed it while reading. The Ocean at the End of the Lane had the opposite effect on me. As a highly emotional and easily scared person, I thought I should have prepared myself before reading the book. However, Neil Gaiman hooked me from the very first pages so I couldn’t stop reading anyway.
When I started reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it was two or three hours before I saw the first lights of the morning. I thought I’d read it for about half an hour and then I would sleep. It is interesting that I still haven’t learned that when it comes to books, things may not go the way I planned.
While I was afraid of the terrible monsters of that fantastic world Neil Gaiman created, I also thought about my childhood. My first lie, my first wrongdoing, my first rebellion against my family. Of course, I couldn’t sleep. I got up, wandered around the house a little and thought about when I was seven. I missed the house we were living in, my friends and our adventures, my cuddly family even the monsters under my bed.
I’ve decided that I was a good girl and so lucky to have such a beautiful childhood. So, as you can see, The Ocean at the End of the Lane will affect you more than you’d expect. Enjoy!
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
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.
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
