The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

I’m sad to say that Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane is my first experience with the author; besides the movie Stardust and the Doctor Who episodes he’s written. However, that being so—The Ocean at the End of the Lane was a fantastic start to my new found love of Gaiman. How have I been reading this long without having picked up a work by him before?

Gaiman pulls you in immediately in his latest adult novel, thrusting you directly into the heartbreak of the narrator’s funeral of a never mentioned family member. The narrator experiences what we all have: the awkward meet and greet of old family friends and long distance relatives that you can’t remember the names of. You never learn the name of the narrator himself, which sets your soul into the character’s slot. Before the dreaded reception, the narrator takes a literal drive down memory lane to a childhood friend’s house. Reminiscing about the adventure he’d forgotten, Gaiman opens up a portal into a magical side of the world that confronts the realities of abuse, infidelity, and the bravery of a child.  

The narrator is the outcast child; no one shows up to his seventh birthday, nor does he get along with his older sister. He does what many children in that situation do, and retreats into himself and into books. The ageless matriarchal Hempstock family is introduced after a conflict with a minor character and the youngest, Lettie Hempstock, takes responsibility of the narrator as well as offering him friendship. She brings him into a part of the world he’d only ever imagined lived in story books or in the imagination of other children. But she doesn't take him in to the beautiful, happy-ever-after side; she, instead, shows him the dangers of the creatures that are from the other side of her Ocean. Together they must fight to return a creature back to the safety of the magical world after the narrator unwittingly helps it travel into the human world.

Gaiman’s prose is so simplistically beautiful that it draws you in without you noticing. Before you know it, you’re running down the lane with the narrator, terrified of the darkness behind you. Your heart aches as you see things that the narrator is still too young to properly understand. You question the nature of the creature the narrator has brought to his world: is it truly evil, or is it simply a creature that is struggling to fulfill its natural calling?

Gaiman blends reality with just enough mysticism to create a fascinating reality. His narrator’s struggles are so relatable that the reader will find plenty in common the young child. The reader’s heart will ache with him, their stomach will clench in fear, and finally the bittersweet ending will have the reader slowly closing the book and holding on the words for a little bit longer.

You can find Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane at any major book retailer, and probably your local independently owned bookstore. I highly suggest buying this book, as it’s one you’re going to want to keep on your shelves to revisit later.  

The image is copyright to HarperCollins Publishers and Neil Gaiman.