"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman is a novel which follows a seven-year-old boy as his older self is looking back to his childhood. Narrating the story of Boy and his friend Lettie Hempstock, Gaiman transports the reader to a world with monsters and magic as the boy is trying to escape his real life struggles.
I found this book to be a good, short read with only 240 pages and the story is very applicable to children or adults. This definitely is not a book that you want to read if you are looking for a cheerful and uplifting story. I found it to be imaginative, and thought-provoking with quite a sad and hard-hitting ending. As it was very loosely based on Gaiman’s childhood and is told from a younger person’s point of view, it’s an exciting book with a fun plot and exciting characters. However, after taking a deeper dive on the story, there are so many less obvious themes such as loss, bereavement and friendship. What I really liked about this novel is the more that you think about it, the more you discover. This is not a surface level book, it will leave you thinking.
I read this novel after going to see the stage show at His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen in 2023. I was blown away by the stage show and how they brought the story to life. There are many mythical characters throughout the story such as the flea (a big monster), or hunger birds (the scary birds that come and eat the monsters). After seeing this on stage, I was not as impressed with the novel. I felt as though, if I hadn’t seen this previously in front of my own eyes, it would be very difficult to follow the story and know what was going on. When I read books, I imagine the characters and the story in my head as I go, and I think that if I had not already seen this I would have been quite lost. Although the story was amazing, I could see many details being missed due to the amount of action going on at once.
One thing that might have swayed my review of this book is the fact that this is a fantasy story, which is not the type of book that I would usually go for. I did pick it up already knowing that I really liked the story, but for me, this solidified that fantasy reading is not my type of thing.
Overall, I found the story and idea behind this novel to be very original and creative. I really liked that there was a wide target audience and each age would appreciate the story for a different reason. However, I think that the story can be difficult to follow, meaning that the reader won’t always get to appreciate the full story. In saying that, if you enjoy reading fantasy then I would recommend this novel to be put on your reading list.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is available in bookshops now.
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