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A review by vivaldi
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Just in: this is my first 5-star read of 2021 and it turns out to be a Neil Gaiman book that I wanted to get around reading since last summer because I was intrigued by the premise.
I went through my physical bookshelf and picked up The Ocean at the End of the Lane this week as I vaguely recall that one of my fave books (Piranesi by Susanna Clarke) is recommended for fans of this one. This prompted me to find out what makes book reviewers of Piranesi make connection to this Neil Gaiman book.
To put it plainly, The Ocean is weird, wonderful, and electrifying. It juxtaposes the voice of a seven year old to the haunting underlying messages tailored to adults. From the seven year old narrator, the (dream)landscape of the story immediately caught my attention. There's a lot of imageries and a bucketload of memories. What this story did: the line between memory, reality, dreams, and fantasy blurred as I ploughed through the book. What yet the effect of the blurring reality is a seamless one.
There are so many quotable quotes and glorious thematic developments packed in its mere 250 pages of the novel. (this is going to be expanded in due course) But I'm in love of Lettie Hempstock's splendid and whimsical universe: her pond which is also the ocean. Even though there are a lot of imageries (this is a dense read for its brevity), everything revolves around this ocean, the memories, the childhood, and the parallel to the narrator's dreams. The effect is both an enligtening and a haunting one. I also want to add that I laughed out out reading this book. For example the narrator's unfiltered take on the household caretaker and why he thinks this caretaker is a monster (not a human).
Long story short, I'm glad that I've read The Ocean at the End of the Lane physically. I finished this book feeling like a different person having realisations of the power (and subjectivity) of memories as well as the complexity of parent-child dynamics. The writing & the thematic development would warrant me to revisit the book quotes in the years to come.
P.S. Also I'm really looking forward to reading more Neil Gaiman books which features his inner Hempstock family musings!
N.B. This book contains the following triggers: insects, parental abuse, drowning, and death
I went through my physical bookshelf and picked up The Ocean at the End of the Lane this week as I vaguely recall that one of my fave books (Piranesi by Susanna Clarke) is recommended for fans of this one. This prompted me to find out what makes book reviewers of Piranesi make connection to this Neil Gaiman book.
To put it plainly, The Ocean is weird, wonderful, and electrifying. It juxtaposes the voice of a seven year old to the haunting underlying messages tailored to adults. From the seven year old narrator, the (dream)landscape of the story immediately caught my attention. There's a lot of imageries and a bucketload of memories. What this story did: the line between memory, reality, dreams, and fantasy blurred as I ploughed through the book. What yet the effect of the blurring reality is a seamless one.
There are so many quotable quotes and glorious thematic developments packed in its mere 250 pages of the novel. (this is going to be expanded in due course) But I'm in love of Lettie Hempstock's splendid and whimsical universe: her pond which is also the ocean. Even though there are a lot of imageries (this is a dense read for its brevity), everything revolves around this ocean, the memories, the childhood, and the parallel to the narrator's dreams. The effect is both an enligtening and a haunting one. I also want to add that I laughed out out reading this book. For example the narrator's unfiltered take on the household caretaker and why he thinks this caretaker is a monster (not a human).
Long story short, I'm glad that I've read The Ocean at the End of the Lane physically. I finished this book feeling like a different person having realisations of the power (and subjectivity) of memories as well as the complexity of parent-child dynamics. The writing & the thematic development would warrant me to revisit the book quotes in the years to come.
P.S. Also I'm really looking forward to reading more Neil Gaiman books which features his inner Hempstock family musings!
N.B. This book contains the following triggers: insects, parental abuse, drowning, and death