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Friday, January 10, 2014

Review: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

3 Stars


Neil Gaiman is a fairly good at writing books that will entertain all ages. I suppose he even sometimes has a difficult time deciding what genre his next novel should be categorized, since his story can range from children to YA to adult books. 

I necessarily don't have much to say about 'The ocean at the end of lane', besides essentially that it was a crossroad between children and an adult novel. 

The novel commences with a middle-aged men who after he attends a funeral, he goes to his childhood place, which is a farm at the end of the land. He then abruptly starts having recollections of curious events that happened in childhood, after gazing at a pond. 

The beginning was purely wonderful and enjoyable. I loved the setting of story, and I especially loved the tone of his seven year old self. 

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”


The middle and the ending became neutral. It simply became a book with a lot of weird magic in my view



Then I realized this is really a story that primarily represents growing up. 

I expect adults will enjoy this more than teenagers will, taking into account that that teenagers desperately just want to grow up faster – not get younger. I can imagine myself picking this up when I’m older. But as in now, the book is considerably hard to relate to. 

“I do not miss childhood, but I do miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from the things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”


One day this book might actually become one of my favourites. Who knows..

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