Review by jarom - The Ocean at the End of the Lane

jarom 's review for:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

4.0

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A well-shaped novel of magical realism, The Ocean at the End of the Lane centers around a rare perspective of a child trying to grasp at existentialism. What is the nature of our universe, and how does it relate to a child's place in the lives of the adults around them? Two ideas, two sides of the same coin with an ocean between them, each the most significant thing and the most insignificant thing in light of the other. The story, told with so much melancholy there might as well have rain clouds in every chapter, paints a fascinating take on a supernatural order of things, just as much vividly described as it is deliberately obscured by it's very unknowableness and our unreliable narrator. The duality of the book is summed up by a final lingering message that is conflicting comforting and somber: "There is no pass or fail at being a person."

Content Warnings