The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Reviewed by: Laura Warren, Reference Assistant
Genre: Fantasy
Suggested Age: Adult/Young Adult
What is the book about?: The story begins as a middle-aged man returns to Sussex to attend the funeral of a family member. Driving the familiar streets, he is drawn to the site of his childhood home, which hasn’t existed for a number of years. He ends up at the Hempstock’s farmhouse, where a rush of memories leads him to their duck pond, or as his childhood friend Lettie used to call it, the ocean. As he stares into the ocean, he is flooded by memories of his childhood that he had mysteriously forgotten. The memories begin with an opal miner who lodged with the boy’s family. The miner’s suicide opens the door for malicious forces to creep into the lives of the boy’s family. The malicious being hides in plain sight under the guise of normalcy, and our main character is the only family member aware. He turns to the enigmatic Hempstock family for help. Old Mrs. Hempstock, Ginnie Hempstock, and Lettie help navigate the nightmare that has infested the narrator’s family in a bizarre and magical manner. Will their help be enough to free him from this twisted fairytale?
My review: I curled up on my couch, on a rainy night, with this novel and couldn’t put it down until I read the very last word. Neil Gaiman is a master of the dark and twisted fairytale. His imagery is uniquely terrifying, and his storytelling grips you and doesn’t let go. Gaiman has an uncanny ability to remember what it feels like to be a child and to know that there are terrible and beautiful things going on that adults have grown to look past. The isolation and fear that our main character endures will carry you back to your childhood, to those moments where our imaginations get the best of us. You will begin to question those moments. Were they real or were they imagined? Has our adult memory changed our childhood stories? How much faith can we really place in our memories? No one dissects these themes better than Neil Gaiman. I will go back to this sinister story again and again.
Rating: 5/5
About FDL Reads
Welcome to FDL Reads, weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library. Librarians (and possibly some other guest reviewers) review all types of books, from children’s picture books, young adult favorites, to the latest adult thriller, and share their thoughts each week at fondulaclibrary.org. If the book is owned by Fondulac District Library (or another local library), you’ll see a direct link to the catalog entry and whether or not it is available. If it is checked out or at another local library, you will be able to place a hold as long as you have your library card and PIN numbers. As with any book review, these are our opinions…we disagree amongst ourselves about books frequently. We all have different likes and dislikes, which is what makes the world an interesting place. Please enjoy, and keep on reading!