The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

This book has taught me that I need to read more Neil Gaiman. The man is an artist with words. The only other Neil Gaiman I had dabbled in was The Graveyard Book, and although it was good, it wasn't as good as this one. I've had a few recommendations for American Gods, Neverwhere, and Coraline... so those have been added to my very long "To-Read" list.... we'll get there eventually. I actually just had someone ask me if I had read American Gods yet... so... I really aught to do that.

I felt really connected with this book. Like, there were parts of this book where I felt that my heart actually hurt, not because it was particularly emotional for me as the reader, but more like when you are talking about lice and then your head itches. My heart hurt because the main kid's heart hurt... and because Gaiman is amazing. So fantastic.

I don't like to have spoilers in my reviews, so excuse the following extremely vague statements. I feel that they are worth mentioning, but I don't want to spoil any plot for anyone.

I love how great the grandmother relationship are in this book. Not even necessarily between Lettie and her Grandmother, but between her Grandmother and the main boy. It goes to show how great grandmothers (and grandpas too!) are and how much value they have in everyone's lives. Gaiman had this great line: "It was as if the essence of grandmotherliness had been condensed into the one place, at that one time" Beautiful.

I also loved the kitten the boy picked. If all cats were like her, I would probably want one. Allergies be damned!!

For the record, I HATE when author's don't name their main characters/narrators. I keep referring to "the boy" because he is never named. That drives me nuts. He has a name. Everyone does. So why are we not privy to that name? I struggle with writing reviews when I don't know the character's name. I feel like it never reads properly no matter how I frame a reference to him. Drives me crazy. UGH!

One of the greatest things I love about this book, and something that stands out from other books is how AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC the cover of this book is. This cover (as seen above) is so wonderful because it depicts an extremely important part of the book, but also manages to not contain any spoilers. It is a beautiful depiction of a stellar scene, but nothing will be spoiled by seeing it beforehand. If you read this book, you will not know the relevance of this cover until the very moment you are reading it. That cannot be said for many books. Any books that have covers created from scenes generally run a risk of spoilers, the Harry Potter Series comes to mind (the american covers are the WORST!), but this one? Nada. It is perfect.

I questioned at a few points in this novel whether it was an Adult novel or a Young Readers one, because the main character is a child, but there are a few scenes that could be a bit scary, but then there were also ones that seemed childish. It seems like it's a tough one to classify because it takes so many elements from different types of fiction. I think technically it's classified as Adult Fantasy, but I think I would classify it as Adult Fairy Tale, so if that seems like it might be your kind of book, this one might be for you.