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payeswoods's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
Edit: just found out this guy is a monster. It will be my last Gaiman book, smh.
“Adults follow paths. Children explore.”
“Adults follow paths. Children explore.”
The story telling in this is so exceptional that I didn’t realize until after completion that we’re never told the narrator’s name. Sorcery! I was immediately captivated by how Gaiman painted his child vs adult theme. This book brought to mind all the horrors that children witness and stay silent about, while adults think their kids are none the wiser. Gaiman has a way of showing (not telling) the heartbreaking truth of a situation that I immensely enjoy. The narrator learning that his bum ass dad never liked burnt toast was truly eye opening to how adults can commit such senseless acts of neglect and think nothing of it. Extraordinary storytelling.
The climax did not wow me, even though I really really wanted it to. The heroic event in this is too similar to Narnia’s. It was too obvious for me and I would have liked more wonder. The unexplained mythology is unfortunate, but I don’t think it harms the novel in an unforgiving way.
The climax did not wow me, even though I really really wanted it to. The heroic event in this is too similar to Narnia’s. It was too obvious for me and I would have liked more wonder. The unexplained mythology is unfortunate, but I don’t think it harms the novel in an unforgiving way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, and Suicide
Minor: Confinement
soggycedar's review
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Torture, and Blood
Minor: Animal death
jefferz's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Taking the reader back to the English countryside through the eyes of a seven year old boy, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean At the End of the Lane is an intriguing short novel that I’ve heard such strong opinions and feelings about. Part pseudo Grimm fairy tale, part dark fantasy escapism, Gaiman’s story reads almost like a fictional memoir as its unnamed adult narrator recalls a dark and strained period of his childhood. Much like how time bends and distorts events based on how they’re remembered, so too does the story as the narrator is faced with magical and otherworldly beings in the quiet English countryside. Perhaps the hype set too high an expectation or my impression of the book’s direction was misguided from the get-go (the plot was not what I was expecting), but I found myself wanting to like this book a lot more than I actually did. Despite finding the ambition respectable, I often felt mildly frustrated with the plot not connecting and was left feeling like it ultimately didn’t amount to much in the end. The presentation and writing was great but the actual content felt too abstract and random to leave much of an impression for me.
The main highlight of the novel is Gaiman’s effective juxtaposition of how events or people are seen and interpreted between children and adults. Starting with the narrator and his father’s discovery of a man who committed suicide in their stolen car, the story gradually leans towards a fantasy angle involving magic, monsters, and other worlds. Due to his young age as well as how much time has passed since the events occurred, you’re left wondering how much of the story was real (if any at all) or how much was a child’s imagination running wild while scared. I enjoyed reading this book from a critical reading standpoint (to a point), attempting to analyze and interpret how these different occurrences could’ve happened if they were instead experienced by an adult.
The prose is mostly functional and not overly lyrical, but has a frank, matter of fact character voice that I like that is occasionally quite poetic. I’ve seen a bunch of reviews criticizing that the narrator’s character is bland and the weakest element of the story. However, I personally thought it was well done and captured the nature of an introverted, book-loving shy child which served as a good foil to “neighbor” Lettie’s vibrance or really all of the Hemstock family’s contrasting dynamics. The prologue chapter featuring the narrator as a middle-aged adult perfectly sets the simple, yet reflective tone and is the hook that got me excited for the impending and highlighted darkness and commentary on what makes us human.
Unfortunately as the story progressed, I increasingly felt like I wasn’t going to get that. Perhaps I have darker standards than the norm or expected far worse based on reviews mentioning child abuse/neglect angle, but there’s really only one notable scene involving child abuse/violence and rest being familial discourse and drama. As the tense atmosphere grows, the story leans heavier into fantasy elements that feel sporadic and random. On one hand I understand that Gaiman is trying to capture the wild imagination and mind of a child. However the story leans into the unexplainable otherworldly angle so hard that I found it increasingly difficult to follow where the plot and themes were going. I previously reviewed Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun which was another novel that highlighted dark parental topics through the eyes of a child which I found very effective so I’m not against the concept, but the execution of this one felt messy and unfocused.
The metaphorical symbolism of what the narrator experienced grew fainter and fainter, particularly in the second half of the book when Lettie confronts the main antagonist of the story. The sequence felt unnecessarily drawn out (particularly everything involving the varmites after) to stretch the story out of the novella category and to add a call back to the book’s title. In my opinion, that entire run of 40 pages could’ve been cut entirely and all of the narrator’s great internalized fears manifested into reality could’ve been reworked into the confrontation with the main antagonist. And to be sure there were some great quotes, but they felt like a series of beautiful vignettes that were moving on their own while messy and vague when strung together. As the last few chapters ended, I was left baffled thinking “well that was something I guess”.
Despite being well-written and conceptually interesting, I felt like I missed something both from an emotional angle and a literary analysis angle. What started off tonally solid just grew more outlandish and abstract as it progressed and there’s frankly some very strange and bizarre choices that almost seem comedic, in direct contrast to the tone this book is going for. This is my first real Neil Gaiman read (I loved watching the adaptation of Good Omens and the very little I read of American gods years ago) and I can tell that nearly all my personal nitpicks with The Ocean At the End of the Lane has to do with the story and ideas, not Gaiman’s actual writing or style. Case and point, I loved the prologue and epilogue more than the rest of the book. My overall impression is that the book was quite messy and jarring, which somewhat makes sense after reading Gaiman’s acknowledgements covering the novel’s origin of a short story that was reworked and expanded to be a novel; the original short story synopsis sounded like it would’ve been much more to my taste with less distracting elements.
The main highlight of the novel is Gaiman’s effective juxtaposition of how events or people are seen and interpreted between children and adults. Starting with the narrator and his father’s discovery of a man who committed suicide in their stolen car, the story gradually leans towards a fantasy angle involving magic, monsters, and other worlds. Due to his young age as well as how much time has passed since the events occurred, you’re left wondering how much of the story was real (if any at all) or how much was a child’s imagination running wild while scared. I enjoyed reading this book from a critical reading standpoint (to a point), attempting to analyze and interpret how these different occurrences could’ve happened if they were instead experienced by an adult.
The prose is mostly functional and not overly lyrical, but has a frank, matter of fact character voice that I like that is occasionally quite poetic. I’ve seen a bunch of reviews criticizing that the narrator’s character is bland and the weakest element of the story. However, I personally thought it was well done and captured the nature of an introverted, book-loving shy child which served as a good foil to “neighbor” Lettie’s vibrance or really all of the Hemstock family’s contrasting dynamics. The prologue chapter featuring the narrator as a middle-aged adult perfectly sets the simple, yet reflective tone and is the hook that got me excited for the impending and highlighted darkness and commentary on what makes us human.
Unfortunately as the story progressed, I increasingly felt like I wasn’t going to get that. Perhaps I have darker standards than the norm or expected far worse based on reviews mentioning child abuse/neglect angle, but there’s really only one notable scene involving child abuse/violence and rest being familial discourse and drama. As the tense atmosphere grows, the story leans heavier into fantasy elements that feel sporadic and random. On one hand I understand that Gaiman is trying to capture the wild imagination and mind of a child. However the story leans into the unexplainable otherworldly angle so hard that I found it increasingly difficult to follow where the plot and themes were going. I previously reviewed Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun which was another novel that highlighted dark parental topics through the eyes of a child which I found very effective so I’m not against the concept, but the execution of this one felt messy and unfocused.
The metaphorical symbolism of what the narrator experienced grew fainter and fainter, particularly in the second half of the book when Lettie confronts the main antagonist of the story. The sequence felt unnecessarily drawn out (particularly everything involving the varmites after) to stretch the story out of the novella category and to add a call back to the book’s title. In my opinion, that entire run of 40 pages could’ve been cut entirely and all of the narrator’s great internalized fears manifested into reality could’ve been reworked into the confrontation with the main antagonist. And to be sure there were some great quotes, but they felt like a series of beautiful vignettes that were moving on their own while messy and vague when strung together. As the last few chapters ended, I was left baffled thinking “well that was something I guess”.
Despite being well-written and conceptually interesting, I felt like I missed something both from an emotional angle and a literary analysis angle. What started off tonally solid just grew more outlandish and abstract as it progressed and there’s frankly some very strange and bizarre choices that almost seem comedic, in direct contrast to the tone this book is going for. This is my first real Neil Gaiman read (I loved watching the adaptation of Good Omens and the very little I read of American gods years ago) and I can tell that nearly all my personal nitpicks with The Ocean At the End of the Lane has to do with the story and ideas, not Gaiman’s actual writing or style. Case and point, I loved the prologue and epilogue more than the rest of the book. My overall impression is that the book was quite messy and jarring, which somewhat makes sense after reading Gaiman’s acknowledgements covering the novel’s origin of a short story that was reworked and expanded to be a novel; the original short story synopsis sounded like it would’ve been much more to my taste with less distracting elements.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual content
lb_1903's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A beautifully written book. I can't say how much I love this, I have read it so many times and will continue to revisit it for many years to come. It's moving, sad, tense, magical and mysterious. It's a dark fairytale, shows the loss of the boys childhood innocence, but also the light he finds in finding a true friend. I have also listened to this many times as an audiobook narrated by Neil Gaiman, and I recommend listening to it too if you can, he does an amazing job at making it beautiful and haunting at the same time.
I was lucky to see the stage production of this twice, it was breathtaking, and made me love the book even more.
I was lucky to see the stage production of this twice, it was breathtaking, and made me love the book even more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Suicide
louiepotterbook's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
As much as I enjoyed this book the author is still a horrible person. This book was lent to me otherwise I wouldn’t have read it and I highly encourage everyone to avoid giving him any of your money. I hope his victims get the justice they deserve and Neil steps on a pile of Lego’s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
ashleyj_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
𝙁𝙔𝙄 I don’t buy into cancel culture. However, I did consider current events when wanting to read this book. I did decide to source this book ethically: I borrowed the digital version via library app.
Four stars only because I want to know more about the Hempstocks. I understand why we’re not told more, but that’s not the point here. I’m very curious and one star’s worth of upset about it.
This is well-written: seamless timeline changes, and action to thought/dialogue pieces. The not magic is beautifully created and experienced by character and reader.
What a wild, fascinating, and mind boggling experience for a child!! It’s no wonder he doesn’t know where home is as an adult.
Four stars only because I want to know more about the Hempstocks. I understand why we’re not told more, but that’s not the point here. I’m very curious and one star’s worth of upset about it.
This is well-written: seamless timeline changes, and action to thought/dialogue pieces. The not magic is beautifully created and experienced by character and reader.
What a wild, fascinating, and mind boggling experience for a child!! It’s no wonder he doesn’t know where home is as an adult.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide
Minor: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, and Death of parent
jashvina's review
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Child abuse
Minor: Infidelity
thesvnthsense's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content
soph22's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Grief
eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Grief