The only fault I could find
with Neil Gaiman's “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” was that it was rather short, and
took me only 3 or 4 evenings to complete.
If you have read Neil Gaiman before, you know to expect the unexpected. There is magic and there are gods and supernatural beings mixed with everyday reality, making his stories a tightly woven fabric where the reader comes to see nearly anything that happens, even the weirdest and strangest things, as normal or natural.
Fantasy books are not my
preferred genre (not anymore - I was heavily into it from when I was about 13 until maybe 18); apart from the Harry Potter series (and Narnia, of
course!), there are few I really like. Neil Gaiman definitely is among
those few.
The main character tells the story from his perspective. He is a middle-aged man when the book
starts and ends, but the actual events takes place when he is seven years
old. Most of the time, what he thinks and how he
perceives his environment appears rather credible for that age. What I
find hard to believe, though, is something that happens early on in the
book: His parents' tenant commits suicide, and the little boy
understands what the pipe leading from the exhaust
into the car means when he arrives at the scene. Would you have known
the meaning of such a set-up when you were seven? Not me, that's for
sure.
Further down the road from
where the boy (who remains nameless throughout the book) lives is a
farm. There, a trio of grandmother, mother and daughter live: the
Hempstocks. 11-year-old Lettie Hempstock makes friends with
the boy, and it is with and through her that he embarks on an adventure
that is beautiful and terrible at the same time. When the children
emerge at the other end of the story, nothing will ever be the same
again.
I really wanted to know what
would happen next, and was not disappointed. There were danger and
friendship, spooky and funny moments. I'm not a fan of horror stories,
so I won't read all of Neil Gaiman's books, but I
truly liked this one and I also enjoyed "American Gods" some years ago.
Had "The Ocean" been available when I was a child, I think I would have
liked it a lot, too.
[The copy I was given to read was the German translation. A very good one, this time, not like "Die stille Kammer".]
I loved this book, it is one of my favorites of the year.
ReplyDeleteIt is rare that someone other than me even knows the books I review on my blog, let alone loves them! Thank you!
DeleteI've read a few by Gaiman but not this one. Yet.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine you'd like this one, Monica.
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