Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

64 reviews

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Sexual content and Child abuse

smallish_bird's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book aches from warmth and pain in equal measure. Reading it, I felt like I was a kid again; it's full of love and hope and fear and loss.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Suicide, Death, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content and Confinement

jabberwalky's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Animal death, and Suicide

markwillnevercry's review against another edition

3.0

I do not know. It was good at places. I really liked the way that magic was unexplained, I liked the part where the main character talks about how he used the old language in his dreams to make stuff better for other people, but that was it. The rest of the book was okay, I did not think that neither sex scene nor basically waterboarding where needed and they pulled down my overall opinion of the book. I was not way way too dissapointed, but I was not overjoyed either, it was just okay and I wished for it to be better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Suicide, Child abuse, Body horror, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Confinement

rosyhumbug's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

“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.”

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, from the lovely Neil Gaiman, was a breath of fresh air. It has all the whimsy of childhood fantasy, with the melancholy of growing up and growing away from magic. 

If you’re an adult with a hole in your chest, the magic missing, this book is for you. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content

oliverreeds's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

royalty's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

Minor: Infidelity, Gore, and Gaslighting

meliemelo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

 (2023 reread)
I reread this book before going to see the incredible, amazing play based on it. Thus, this read had much of a "how will they translate that on stage" feel to it (the answer? very creatively and so, so well, even better than anything I could have expected). Yet, I found myself fully absorbed once more by the story. It truly is a very special book to me.

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(2018 reread)
I was at the bookshop, looking for books to complete my Goodreads challenge, when I saw it: a nice paperback edition of the book that had touched me so profoundly years ago, and that I didn't own yet. So I got it. And read it again.

It's still deep, the connection I have to this book, to this story, the way it speaks to me. Neil Gaiman is an amazing writer, and one of my favourite authors, but this is different. I relate to parts of the story, and not just the ones that don't feel like fiction: I relate to the supernatural parts too, the way they reshape reality. It's not just the kind of books I love to read. It's the kind of book I want to write, someday.

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(original 2014 read)
I was really touched by this book. Neil Gaiman uses childhood memories to create something and it's both beautiful and terrifying. It's a kind of [b:Lunar Park|4031|Lunar Park|Bret Easton Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385309748s/4031.jpg|1374605], though I wouldn't be able to tell you which of the two books is scarier. I read them at two different parts of my life, and as much as Lunar Park disturbed me I don't think it was as profoundly as The Ocean at the end of the lane. I saw bits of myself in this book, small echoes.

And even without that, I loved it. I loved every single page of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Child death

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Sexual content

vaguely_pink'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Child death, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual content