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A review by marleysclassics
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
3.5
I liked this book. To be honest, my expectations were a little higher, simply because Neil Gaiman is such a highly praised author. I have heard a lot about his poetic way of writing, about the depth of it when dealing with different themes (for example childhood, memory or family in this case). And yes, there are a lot of quotable passages that talk about what it is like to be a seven year old boy, or to be a child, a person that has to lead a life, in general, to which I very much related most of the time. Yet, there could have been more depth in my opinion. Especially when it comes to basically philosophising about the world I recognize that the goal probably was to say a lot with a very simplistic yet poetic style, but for me it didn‘t work out completely. Instead, it almost sounds a little pretentious at times.
Despite this criticism, I also fell in love with the prose. While its simplicity was too much for me on one hand, it creates an authentic perspective of a seven-year-old that is currently getting traumatised. I really liked the protagonist, felt what he felt, and related to him. Thus, most of the time it didn‘t take me longer than two sentences after opening the book to fall deep into the story again. I also like the characters of the Hempstocks, even though I‘d like to repeat my opinion about the philosophy concerning these characters: You don‘t have to explain everything about them, I know the not-knowing is (part of) what makes them so interesting, but you really could give us a little more to work with here.
Finally, another highly positive aspect: I loved the plot. Or maybe that‘s not the right word because I read this book kind of piece by piece, mostly only on ten-minute train rides. But instead of destroying the story, this way of experiencing it, made me love it even more because it made the different aspects of it stand out more: There is the part which is a children‘s book, there is horror, and myth, and fantasy, and magical realism, and something unidentifyable, and also everything at once.
You probably should‘t expect to read the best work of literature ever written, but a text from a highly skilled and highly imaginative author who knows how to bring you back to a time which you didn‘t think you experienced before picking up the book.
Despite this criticism, I also fell in love with the prose. While its simplicity was too much for me on one hand, it creates an authentic perspective of a seven-year-old that is currently getting traumatised. I really liked the protagonist, felt what he felt, and related to him. Thus, most of the time it didn‘t take me longer than two sentences after opening the book to fall deep into the story again. I also like the characters of the Hempstocks, even though I‘d like to repeat my opinion about the philosophy concerning these characters: You don‘t have to explain everything about them, I know the not-knowing is (part of) what makes them so interesting, but you really could give us a little more to work with here.
Finally, another highly positive aspect: I loved the plot. Or maybe that‘s not the right word because I read this book kind of piece by piece, mostly only on ten-minute train rides. But instead of destroying the story, this way of experiencing it, made me love it even more because it made the different aspects of it stand out more: There is the part which is a children‘s book, there is horror, and myth, and fantasy, and magical realism, and something unidentifyable, and also everything at once.
You probably should‘t expect to read the best work of literature ever written, but a text from a highly skilled and highly imaginative author who knows how to bring you back to a time which you didn‘t think you experienced before picking up the book.