The Ocean at the End of the Lane in Into the Forest

Jun 30, 2013 Ronyell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, adult-book, strong-hero, strong-heroine, my-blog-reviews, neil-gaiman, read-in-2013

Now, I have been reading Neil Gaiman鈥檚 works for many years now and I have been enjoying most of his works (my personal favorites being Coraline, the 鈥淪andman鈥� series, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book). So, imagine my amazement and delight when I realized that Neil Gaiman had a new book coming out called 鈥淭he Ocean at the End of the Lane!鈥� And before I knew it, I immediately ran to the bookstore to buy this book and I started reading it right away! I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised ...more

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Dec 10, 2013 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it really liked it

Shelves: magical-realism, 2013-200s-club-challenge, angsty-read, favorites, set-in-uk, 1st-person-pov, told-in-flashbacks, urban-fantasy, gods-and-goddesses, children-in-danger-harmed

The Ocean at the End of the Land straddles the line of magical realism and fantasy, in my opinion. There is a good dose of reality, and did that really happen mixed in with some very visually stunning imagery. It's also quite sober and heartbreaking in a subtle, literary fashion.

I think there is a reason that adults continue to read stories with children as the main characters. We never truly detach or divorce ourselves from our child selves. It's therapeutic to look back at that time through th The Ocean at the End of the Land straddles the line of magical realism and fantasy, in my opinion. There is a good dose of reality, and did that really happen mixed in with some very visually stunning imagery. It's also quite sober and heartbreaking in a subtle, literary fashion.

I think there is a reason that adults continue to read stories with children as the main characters. We never truly detach or divorce ourselves from our child selves. It's therapeutic to look back at that time through the viewpoint of a child character in books and to work through the issues from our own childhood.

That is why I did connect very well with the narrator of this book. I remember vivid the powerful mix of fear, curiosity, joy and the intensely visceral assimilation of all sensations from my childhood.
Also in some of the bittersweet experiences that the narrator has. Not in a small way, our parents are godlike figures to us. They live on pedestals and glimmer like gold, until they don't. Until something reveals their feet of clay. However, even as children, we want to keep believing in the purity of their perfection, because we can't not believe. That dose of reality finally takes effect as we near adulthood, if we're fortunate enough to hold on to that innocent view of our parents until then..

I felt the pain of this young boy as his family is nearly torn to shreds by the arrival of a very old, very cruel force. I felt his uncomfortable situation of being the only one in his family who sees through her seemingly benign facade. At the same time, I felt great comfort in knowing that Hattie and her family are there to protect and even coddle him, when his own family fails. I loved the way they take him in and feed him delicious, satisfying food that made my mouth water as I read this book.

I like that we don't quite get all the answers for who Hattie and her family are. We just know that they are old, very old, and they have enormous power. However, they are not invulnerable.

Gaiman succeeds as he typically does in tempering the truly sinister with the sweet comfort of the familiar and childlike. He knows how to use just the right phrasing to convey this duality in his storytelling. Even though this is an adult book, I feel that it speaks to the young girl in me.

I can't say much more about this book because my mind is not very clear right now, and I read this last week (and there have been some busy days for me), but I can say that this was an enjoyable reading experience. It accomplishes much in the short span of pages, and leaves this reader with even more to ponder and to ruminate on.

This is the first book by Gaiman I've read in print. I've been getting his narrated audiobooks from the library (and enjoying them tremendously). His writing stands up to both media formats, but I have a feeling that I will probably get this to listen to as well, because I love his soothing voice and the manner in which he uses that voice to better illustrate his words on the page for an auditory experience.

Definitely a 4.5/5.0 star read for me. ...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Michele rated it it was amazing

Shelves: folklore-myth-magic

How do you do this in only 178 pages, Neil? How?? How???

You know how there are some books that, when you finish them, you don't want to start another one, at least not right away? You don't want the experience you've just had to be overwritten, or diluted; instead you want to cherish it for a little longer. Let it steep, as it were.

This is that sort of book.

The main character is a child, but this is not a children's book, not by a long shot. A healthy dollop of myth, a bit of poetry, a glimpse ...more

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Jun 26, 2013 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Honestly I'm kind of speechless. I'm still taking it in. I've never read a book quite like this and I say that in the best possible way. Gaiman's story telling is, as always, flawless, and once the story starts to unravel into the incredible fantastical tale it is it's so easy to get sucked in and read it all in one sitting. It's a strange mix of a child's fairytale and a more adult story that makes it into something I don't think I could really categorize by target age. I realize that this is j ...more

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Jun 23, 2013 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, read-2013

Pretty much sat down and gulped this down in one reading (bless kids who have long naps when they're sick!).

Just absolutely beautiful. ...more

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Jun 21, 2013 Sienna rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013, kindle

In an ideal world, this review would begin with a graph: a measurement of my emotional reaction to The Ocean at the End of the Lane starting with the weirdly magical announcement that it would be published on my birthday. It would depict the delight I felt at the book's beginning 鈥� would this be a return to form for Gaiman, whose recent work has left me underwhelmed? 鈥� and display little quoted snippets of wisdom and fellow-feeling, like

I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.

and

I l

...more

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Sep 04, 2013 Garry rated it liked it

It seems odd to say about a book that is so short that I liked...about half of it. At the end, Gaiman says this started out as a short story that grew. Well, it that explains why it felt like a short story that had overstayed its welcome, padded itself out a bit too much, and not that it was a fully, big story distilled down to its powerful essence. At times the logistics of the magic going around overtook the, well, the magic of the story. But it does an excellent job of looking back at childho ...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magical-realism, favorites, sf-f-group-books, urban-fantasy, reread, fantasy, ya-challenge-10, best-book-i-read-in-2013

Read June 27, 2013

I am predisposed to love this: I went to see the author be interviewed, to answer questions, to read from this and his book coming out in September, to get this and another book autographed to benefit an independent bookstore opening a new location, where there hasn鈥檛 been a bookstore since Border鈥檚 closed and to benefit my public radio station. Whew!

And love it I did. It鈥檚 short, but it鈥檚 not simple. Its narrator is seven years old, but it鈥檚 an adult book.

I asked Neil Gaiman ...more

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Aug 07, 2013 Lesley rated it it was amazing

I love Neil Gaiman and I was so glad that he wrote another story! He is the best audio reader, too!

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Jan 04, 2013 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Sometimes, a story takes you in and doesn't let you go, and it ends on a perfectly discordant note; one that leaves your heart aching just enough. The Ocean at the End of the Lane did that for me. I'm always happy to spend time in a world created my Neil Gaiman, but this one seemed particularly poignant. ...more

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May 08, 2013 Danyelle Leafty rated it liked it

3.5 Interesting story that I really enjoyed. There is a bit of adult content (as seen through the eyes of a child--and I have to admit that I was as baffled as he was), and a lot of childhood nightmarish horror. But it also achieved a Grey Havens type of bittersweet longing at the end.

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