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This topic is for discussion of the Prologue and first three chapters of Neil Gaiman's 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane'.

Please don't post spoilers here for sections beyond that, and please don't participate here unless you're happy to read spoilers for those sections.

In the opening sections, we see the narrator returning to his childhood home and, perhaps more importantly, the house at the end of the lane. The narrator begins to remember more:

'If you'd asked me and hour before, I would have said no, I did not remember the way. I do not even think I would have remembered Lettie Hempstock's name. But standing in that hallway, it was all coming back to me. Memories were waiting at the edges of things, beckoning to me. Had you told me that I was seven again, I might have believed you, for a moment.'

-- Neil Gaiman, 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane'

How do you feel about the way the quality of memory is represented? Did it make you think about experiences of your own when revisiting places from long ago?

Supernatural elements are slowly introduced. What is your feeling about these and the way they seem to be building?

With respect to memory, I recently had a similar experience. My sister and I attended an event during "reunion weekend" at the high school we had both attended - she graduated the year I started. I had not seen some of the folks we talked to for about 40 years, including the twins. They were describing a time they had been at my house of which I had no recollection. As I've thought about it since, some memory has returned. Other people who came up to talk, I had no memories of, other than the name being familar, while memories of other individuals were crystal clear, once they told me who they were!

Memory I always find to be a rather interesting subject, particularly within books when deal with first person narrators where we have to rely upon the memory of the person telling the story. It always leaves the question of how much we can believe of what they tell us, because our memories trick us. Things which we may not fully remember, our mind will try and fill in the details and fabricate false memories, so we remember things the way we want them to have been, not necessarily the way they actually were.

In regards to the supernatural elements, I find them quite interesting, as it is one of the things which I do enjoy about Neil Gaiman, the way in which he will take the reader into some very strange places. I enjoy how he plays with our notions of reality, and possibility. But it also does make one wonder, if indeed these things are just the fantasy of a young boy.

As the story progresses it will be curious to see, if these supernatural elements are to be taken at face value, or if they are just a very active imagination.

But I do love the Hempstock family.

The supernatural elements are intriguing. Something is trying to give people money but not in the right way. I love the pace Gaiman has set. So far the coin in the fish (Biblical reference) and the coin in the narrator's mouth has me hooked (really bad pun intended!) The Hemlock family, who seem to have a sense of what is going on, is already likeable and endearing. Memory triggers are strange thing. So far I have no problem how Gaiman uses a return visit home to trigger the narrator's memories. So far, this book is satisfying (you can't go wrong with Gaiman)