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yoe's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
novabird's review against another edition
5.0
When I am feeling vulnerable and world-weary, I return to this adult fairy tale. It never fails to rekindle my sense of wonder. My fount of energetic-power, houses, my resiliency and hope. I rediscover this truth as being embedded within stories. And my narrative meaning-making soul is always reignited.
Being transported into a world created by Neil Gaiman is a gift like no other. His authorial voice itself has the power to enchant. The power of childhood is that life is both enchanted and real.
In this novelette, Gaiman uses a child’s voice and perspective and a commoner tongue that delivers a powerful message that contrasts reality with enchantment.
In, ‘The Ocean,’ a forty-something-year-old man unknowingly returns, again and again, to his original place and time of enchantment. He returns as his seven-year-old self, to see his childhood friend, Lettie, and to visit an ocean of forgotten memories.
The ocean represents a feminine cosmology where there are three generations of women; Old Mrs. Hempstock, Ginnie, and Lettie who can “snip and cut” (p 95) the fabric of reality, just as the Three Fates; Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos determined the destiny of everyone born in Classical Antiquity. They combine as a trio into an even greater force known as Moirai.
“The second thing I knew was that I knew everything. The ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe.”
“I found myself thinking of an ocean running deep beneath the whole universe.”
Gaimen also refers to various fabrics of reality throughout, ‘Ocean:’
Skarthach of the Keep, in her original form is like dirty, gray sheets of cloth, old fabric, or rotting canvas. She can selectively tear pieces from her own self to serve her purposes of binding for example, which has the power to turn the boy’s world gray. Skarthach has the power to change the lives of humans, by altering their realities, with money and then with pain.
“…that the reality I knew was a thin layer of icing…”
“…I understood dark Matter, the material of the universe that makes up everything that must be there but we cannot find…”
The combined forces of the trio: of Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos - the Moirai, is defined as one's portion or part in destiny, which consists of good and bad moments. As the Moirai (Fates) predetermined it, it was impossible for anyone to get more than his ordained part, portion or share. Moirai functioned as a natural law and drew up the boundaries of this law. A portion in destiny was something similar to their portion in boote.
“There are pacts, and there are laws and there are treaties, and you have violated all of them.”
Now you may be thinking, “Where is she going with this?” And I agree I am being rather obscure:
“I wish you’d talk properly,” I said. “You talk in mysteries all the time.” p. 115
The boy had used up a large piece of his boote in his borderland experience between magical realism and fantastical realms. He had crossed over from the real into a nightmare enchantment and there is always a price to pay for using up too much boote in any world view.
We all give up the knowledge of an enchanted fabric of reality in our journey to adulthood, to the real world of materiality and money. Most of us have forgotten what originally enchanted us in our childhood. And the seven-year-old boy was far too young to have to swallow that coin of reality.
Gaiman gives us the reader, more than magical realism, and more than fantasy. He reaches farther back than that and gives us something from our childhoods, a fairy tale, an adult fairy tale, almost mythic in its representation. It is an adult fairy tale because it deals with the theme of enchantment and disenchantment through several horrific passages that are understated, yet leave an indelible residue of reminders of what may be some causes are for disenchantment and act as a reminder of things that are more important.
I fully appreciate Gaiman’s earlier works, but with Gaiman’s ‘Ocean,’ I find I am in love with his imaginative genius and his application to a greater whole. He wrote, ‘Ocean,’ for his wife and it is so evident that this was a gift of love.
I don’t often go out to the movies, but on the premiere of, ‘Ocean,’ I will definitely be one of the first in line.
I highly recommend this for anyone who has an inkling left of their power to suspend disbelief. Then it is like stepping back in time to when you had a greater sense of the enchanted and then not forgetting it, ever.
Being transported into a world created by Neil Gaiman is a gift like no other. His authorial voice itself has the power to enchant. The power of childhood is that life is both enchanted and real.
In this novelette, Gaiman uses a child’s voice and perspective and a commoner tongue that delivers a powerful message that contrasts reality with enchantment.
In, ‘The Ocean,’ a forty-something-year-old man unknowingly returns, again and again, to his original place and time of enchantment. He returns as his seven-year-old self, to see his childhood friend, Lettie, and to visit an ocean of forgotten memories.
The ocean represents a feminine cosmology where there are three generations of women; Old Mrs. Hempstock, Ginnie, and Lettie who can “snip and cut” (p 95) the fabric of reality, just as the Three Fates; Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos determined the destiny of everyone born in Classical Antiquity. They combine as a trio into an even greater force known as Moirai.
“The second thing I knew was that I knew everything. The ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe.”
“I found myself thinking of an ocean running deep beneath the whole universe.”
Gaimen also refers to various fabrics of reality throughout, ‘Ocean:’
Skarthach of the Keep, in her original form is like dirty, gray sheets of cloth, old fabric, or rotting canvas. She can selectively tear pieces from her own self to serve her purposes of binding for example, which has the power to turn the boy’s world gray. Skarthach has the power to change the lives of humans, by altering their realities, with money and then with pain.
“…that the reality I knew was a thin layer of icing…”
“…I understood dark Matter, the material of the universe that makes up everything that must be there but we cannot find…”
“. … As if it were eating a curtain or a piece of scenery with the world painted on it. In a handful of heartbeats, where the constellation and sky had been, there was only a pulsing nothingness.
The combined forces of the trio: of Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos - the Moirai, is defined as one's portion or part in destiny, which consists of good and bad moments. As the Moirai (Fates) predetermined it, it was impossible for anyone to get more than his ordained part, portion or share. Moirai functioned as a natural law and drew up the boundaries of this law. A portion in destiny was something similar to their portion in boote.
“There are pacts, and there are laws and there are treaties, and you have violated all of them.”
Now you may be thinking, “Where is she going with this?” And I agree I am being rather obscure:
“I wish you’d talk properly,” I said. “You talk in mysteries all the time.” p. 115
The boy had used up a large piece of his boote in his borderland experience between magical realism and fantastical realms. He had crossed over from the real into a nightmare enchantment and there is always a price to pay for using up too much boote in any world view.
We all give up the knowledge of an enchanted fabric of reality in our journey to adulthood, to the real world of materiality and money. Most of us have forgotten what originally enchanted us in our childhood. And the seven-year-old boy was far too young to have to swallow that coin of reality.
Gaiman gives us the reader, more than magical realism, and more than fantasy. He reaches farther back than that and gives us something from our childhoods, a fairy tale, an adult fairy tale, almost mythic in its representation. It is an adult fairy tale because it deals with the theme of enchantment and disenchantment through several horrific passages that are understated, yet leave an indelible residue of reminders of what may be some causes are for disenchantment and act as a reminder of things that are more important.
I fully appreciate Gaiman’s earlier works, but with Gaiman’s ‘Ocean,’ I find I am in love with his imaginative genius and his application to a greater whole. He wrote, ‘Ocean,’ for his wife and it is so evident that this was a gift of love.
I don’t often go out to the movies, but on the premiere of, ‘Ocean,’ I will definitely be one of the first in line.
I highly recommend this for anyone who has an inkling left of their power to suspend disbelief. Then it is like stepping back in time to when you had a greater sense of the enchanted and then not forgetting it, ever.
claracalymayor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
marsh31's review against another edition
5.0
“Grown ups don’t look like grown ups on the inside either. Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know what they’re doing. Inside they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren’t any grown ups. Not in the whole wide world.”
This story swept me away in a way that I didn’t realize it could. It followed a man remembering events when he was a boy, and all the bad things with it that seem to slip away. This book is about more than things are not what they seem, but it embraces the feeling of childhood and the struggle of growing up in a way I never thought of. Adults don’t know what they’re doing as much as children.
This story swept me away in a way that I didn’t realize it could. It followed a man remembering events when he was a boy, and all the bad things with it that seem to slip away. This book is about more than things are not what they seem, but it embraces the feeling of childhood and the struggle of growing up in a way I never thought of. Adults don’t know what they’re doing as much as children.
heyalexa's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nikki52010's review against another edition
4.0
This book is unlike anything I have read before. I look forward to reading more of his work!
baybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters. And as for grown-ups...' She stopped talking, rubbed her freckled nose with a finger. Then, 'I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.
alexiasp's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I didn't know what to expect, maybe a little horror fantasy story written for kids. It was nothing like that.
It perfectly encapsulated the feeling of being a child and being afraid - of the world, of people -of not feeling safe in your own home, and, of course, with a little fantasy twist. And it is so original. I'm not ok right now. I need to pick up a funny popcorn book ASAP
It perfectly encapsulated the feeling of being a child and being afraid - of the world, of people -of not feeling safe in your own home, and, of course, with a little fantasy twist. And it is so original. I'm not ok right now. I need to pick up a funny popcorn book ASAP
kelseyrox8's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes