“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”
Neil Gaiman has been one of those authors on my to read list for quite a bit of time, and now that I have read one of his books I only wish I would have started exploring his works a lot sooner. I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane as my first Gaiman book, and I definitely understand all the love for this author. The writing is so beautiful and it transported me back to that feeling of wonder when reading fairytales as a child.
“I do not miss childhood, but I 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 things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”
In The Ocean at the End of the Lane our narrator is back in his hometown for a funeral, and revisits his old neighbourhood, flashing back to a time during his childhood that affected him deeply. A death close to home sets free a darkness that is not easily processed by a little boy. He finds comfort and a safe haven in the farm down the lane, where his new friend Lettie lives with her mother and grandmother. Throughout the story we journey through the events that occur, seeing everything unfold though the eyes of a child. With beautiful writing and passages that will stick with you for some time, The Ocean at the End of a Lane is a truly magical read.
“I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just were.”
About a Book 