Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

19 reviews

nzmerchant's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A truly captivating story that had me at the edge of my seat. Such a bittersweet ending. Think I’ll be thinking of this one for a long time.
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shelbybowers20's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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oliverreeds's review

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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brookey8888's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I’m not going to lie when I bought this book I thought it was a different book. Then when I realized it wasn’t that book I recognized the author so I was like I’ll just read it. That being said I didn’t know this was like magical realism and I don’t really like magical realism. It honestly just confuses me. So I was confused reading this like I understand everything that happened but I don’t know just me and this type of story and the way it was written doesn’t really vibe with me. I did like the women in this and it was interesting but it’s just not gonna be a favorite and I’m sad because a lot of people like it.
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leonormsousa's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

TRIGGER WARNINGS
animal death, bullying, child abuse, emotional abuse, infidelity, suicide, and violence


REPRESENTATION
none


REVIEW
I had very high expectations for this book and that's maybe why I ended up so disappointed with it. I definitely can see where the author was going and I can even understand why so many people loved it, but for me personally, it fell a bit short. Like one of my favourite books ever, The Shining by (the) King, it dwells on how children use their imagination to deal with trauma, leaving the reader to choose to believe or not in the fantastical elements of the story. And maybe because that is a topic that I absolutely love, I would have liked to see it explored in a deeper way. In relation to the adventure of the plot, it was interesting but it somehow didn’t pull me in, although I did like the two principal characters. The fantastical part was interesting and original, but 184 pages were, for me, not enough to explore its full potential. All in all, I did enjoy myself and I’m hoping that in a future reread (with the original English instead of the translated Portuguese like this time) I will fall in love with this book like I always expected. 
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ksuazo94's review

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dark hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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nickel_'s review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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actualophelia's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

As recommended by squash. 
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nikolas_fox's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I do believe this book and the many quotes inside it will live rent free in my head until the end of my days. I listened to the audio book, performed by Neil Gaiman himself, and it was so glorious that I will be picking up a physical copy so I can reread it over and over again. This book was so many things, and somehow it worked. I don't know what exactly made it work, but it worked. There was happiness, sadness, fear, trauma, and through it all an ocean at the end of the lane. 

I can't say that everyone will love this book, but I absolutely adored it, maybe because I saw some of myself in the main character, and I will enjoy every single re-read that I know will happen in my future.

“Books were safer than other people anyway.”
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