They deeply care for one another, and Lettie will do anything to keep him safe in the strange and supernatural world that he finds himself in. The story is often dark and chilling, yet at times is warm and embracing, especially where Lettie and the boy (who is never named) are concerned. The creative skills of the author flood the pages and keep you tethered to the heart of the boy. A childhood that as an adult, he seems to have blocked out, and together, you get to witness why. Gaiman takes you on an engaging exploration of this young boy’s less than normal childhood. What hits you first about this book is how imaginative and intuitive the plot is. This is the story of the man’s childhood, told through the eyes of his seven year old self. Memories that he has suppressed until now. On entering he is overwhelmed by visions that bring him memories of being a seven year old child to the forefront. The man is drawn to the house and goes for a closer look, knocking to see if the Hempstock’s still live there. It was also the house that had the big pond, or as Lettie called it, ‘ocean’, to the rear of the property. The house was the home of a dear friend that he had long forgotten about, Lettie Hempstock, who lived there with her mum and grandmother. On driving through, he comes across a house that catches his eye. The book opens with a middle-aged man returning to his childhood village for a funeral. I’ve known about Neil Gaiman’s work for a very long time, but have never actually read any, so when I was asked if I would review The Ocean at the End of the Lane I didn’t need to think it over. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed – within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.įorty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. 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. 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. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Book Review
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