Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

42 reviews

literate_liz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

I’ve never read a book that has made me feel so many things. Neil Gaiman poetically describes loneliness, grief, friendship, trust, mistrust, distrust, fear, faith, and so much more in less than 200 pages.

The only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars was a specific bathtub scene that just didn’t seem to fit in my opinion. But other than that, this was a magical read that packed a punch from the first page. Can’t wait to read it again.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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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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batcaves's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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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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actualophelia's review against another edition

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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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linw21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book was incredible and the writing was absolutely marvellous. It definitely has the same vibes as his short stories, which makes sense, cause it started out as one.
You should definitely check the trigger warnings before reading this book, because it is INTENSE.

Content Warnings