The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I like Neil Gaiman. My wife and I have watched Good Omens and loved it. I've read The Sandman (or at least most of it). Well, looking through his Wikipedia page, he's written or had his mitts in a lot of stuff that we like (some we didn't he know he did, like Stardust and Coraline).
In the case of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, my wife picked it up from an airport bookstore for a flight from Dallas to Pittsburgh. It's a three hour flight (though they seem to always estimate two and a half). I took a little longer than her one way read but, I'd like to think it was because I napped. This isn't to say there is anything book or bad with slow or fast reading but I've always wished I could read (and write) faster.
On to the story!
It's about a boy growing up, experiencing magic, and wondering whether or not it's real. It's framed by the now much older boy coming back to the lane on which the story takes place. He remembers when he was eleven years old with his Mom, Dad, and sister. The protagonist - I wish he was named for the sake of typing - meets the magical family at the end of the lane: an 11 year old girl (though how long has she been 11?), her mother, and grandmother. The protagonist accidentally pulls a being (called a flea) from another dimension in ours. He has to work with the family to send the flea back from whence it came.
I liked it. It has a quick conversational tone that I associate with Gaiman. There are some things that Gaiman writes that feel really heavy or serious but this feels a lot lighter. I don't want to say it's phoned in, but it doesn't have the same gravitas as something like American Gods. It's light magical realism. So, if you like that or Gaiman, I'd give this a thumbs up.
Another thing I liked about this book is that the protagonist is a pleasant enough kid. There's some other young adult fiction that I've read where the kid "normal" and he comes across as kind of a jerk. This isn't like that, he's nice enough.
Thanks for reading! Do you like Neil Gaiman?
I like Neil Gaiman. My wife and I have watched Good Omens and loved it. I've read The Sandman (or at least most of it). Well, looking through his Wikipedia page, he's written or had his mitts in a lot of stuff that we like (some we didn't he know he did, like Stardust and Coraline).
In the case of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, my wife picked it up from an airport bookstore for a flight from Dallas to Pittsburgh. It's a three hour flight (though they seem to always estimate two and a half). I took a little longer than her one way read but, I'd like to think it was because I napped. This isn't to say there is anything book or bad with slow or fast reading but I've always wished I could read (and write) faster.
On to the story!
It's about a boy growing up, experiencing magic, and wondering whether or not it's real. It's framed by the now much older boy coming back to the lane on which the story takes place. He remembers when he was eleven years old with his Mom, Dad, and sister. The protagonist - I wish he was named for the sake of typing - meets the magical family at the end of the lane: an 11 year old girl (though how long has she been 11?), her mother, and grandmother. The protagonist accidentally pulls a being (called a flea) from another dimension in ours. He has to work with the family to send the flea back from whence it came.
I liked it. It has a quick conversational tone that I associate with Gaiman. There are some things that Gaiman writes that feel really heavy or serious but this feels a lot lighter. I don't want to say it's phoned in, but it doesn't have the same gravitas as something like American Gods. It's light magical realism. So, if you like that or Gaiman, I'd give this a thumbs up.
Another thing I liked about this book is that the protagonist is a pleasant enough kid. There's some other young adult fiction that I've read where the kid "normal" and he comes across as kind of a jerk. This isn't like that, he's nice enough.
Thanks for reading! Do you like Neil Gaiman?
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