Yes, I’ve finally read The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and this is the long overdue book report!

The delay from the Just Arrived post on June 26 is not because I found the book an arduous read, but simply that I have been buried so deep writing Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three) that reading has taken something of a back seat.

But now, onwards to my report back on this book, which really has been getting a lot of positive attention worldwide.

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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, by Neil Gaiman (Headline, 2013, 243 pp)

What’s It About?

The backcover blurb describes The Ocean At The End Of The Lane (OCEAN) as a “fable” and that feels right for the (Merriam Webster) dictionary meaning of “a legendary story of supernatural happenings “, but not so much in terms of “a narration intended to enforce a useful truth”—except in the sense that although all fiction is of course made up, the best fiction also resonates with a sense of greater truth.

So if I look briefly at what OCEAN is not: it is not a fable in the sense of a moral tale, and nor is it the child’s book I was expecting given the cover, the size of the book, and the fact that the protagonist is seven years old—and probably, if I am honest, because Neil Gaiman’s two most recent publications, The Graveyard Book and Odd And The Frost Giants were both children’s stories.

So what is OCEAN? It is a story for older readers (ie both YA and Adult, in my view) that does indeed deal with supernatural happenings in our everyday world, that I would class primarily as Horror—but tinged with more than a little Wonder (there is absolutely no sense whatsoever, despite the premise, in which this is paranormal urban fantasy)—and with a strong sense of the autobiographical to some of the realism aspects of the book.

To give a brief outline of the plot, without (I hope) spoilers: a seven year old boy in post-World War 2 England witnesses a suicide, as a result of which he falls in with the Hempstock family—granddaughter, mother and grandmother—who own the farm at the end of the lane where the suicide happens. The protagonist’s adventure with eleven year old Lettie Hempstock (although Lettie, we learn, may have been eleven for a very long time indeed) gangs somewhat awry and results in a supernatural being manifesting—in the form of an “Ursula Monkton”—in this world. The rest of the story concerns Lettie and the protagonist’s (whose name we never learn; he is only “I”) attempts to set right the consequences of Ursula Monkton’s manifestation.

What I Liked About The Ocean At The End Of The Lane:

Overall, I enjoyed OCEAN very much indeed. One of the strongest elements of the story for me is the way in which Neil Gaiman captures the child’s eye view of the world: the relationship with adults, the way everything trends towards being seen in black and white (the protagonist is seven remember) and the lack of the emotional filters that an adult would employ. In part, this gives the Horror elements of the story their power–and the Horror is anther very strong aspect to this book. I felt it so strongly at one point, dear readers, together with the child’s sense of helplessness, entrapment and fear, that I had to stop reading. It was at that point I decided that “this is not a children’s book”—and then, of course, found out that it was not intended to be!

Other aspects of the story I loved include the wonderful portrayal of the character of the boy and the evocation of the post-war era: through the brief but skilful descriptions of the family and the community, as well as the inner world of the boy, including his reading material. It is these elements , together what we learn of the protagonist’s life once he has grown up, that conveyed the sense that material in OCEAN is autobiographical. The fact that we never learn the protagonist’s name, that he is only ever “I”, reinforces this impression.

I also very much enjoyed the characters of the three Hempstock women and the world within a world of their farm, which is where the story’s sense of wonder is strongest.

And I can’t finish the “What I Liked” section without mentioning the way Neil Gaiman manages to combine a sense of simplicity to his writing with a wonderful use of language: it’s one of the aspects of his writing that I also enjoyed a great deal in The Graveyard Book.

Quibbles (If Any)

As you know, I only do reports here on the blog for books I’ve enjoyed, but that doesn’t mean I may not have minor quibbles. They are very minor indeed for OCEAN and  probably more correctly classified as subjective concerns rather than quibbles with the actual story or its telling.

My main concern is to warn that this is not a children’s book, despite the child on the front cover. The backcover says “there is primal horror here” and this should be heeded. I would go further and say that for some young readers aspects of this story would be terrifying.

My second quibble is definitely subjective, which is that I personally don’t care for autobiographical elements in fictional works. So although I think that sense did not detract from OCEAN’s overall strength as a story, it does affect whether a story will be “my favourite.”

The third quibble relates to the back cover material and is definitely an issue with the way these are often written, rather than with OCEAN! But yes, the backcover does indeed say that this book is: “a fable that reshapes modern fantasy.” So I have to say that, in my opinion, no, it doesn’t—at all. OCEAN is  a great story, very well told, but I failed to detect any reshaping of what I know of the genre. And in fact modern fantasy doesn’t need to be reshaped, it’s doing just fine as it is, in all its multiplicity of subgenres and forms!

So Overall, Then…

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is a fine tale, featuring several wonderful character portrayals in a skilfully evoked world, one where the sometimes quite terrifying horror is countered by elements of profound wonder and delight. I enjoyed it a lot and thoroughly recommend it for YA and Adult readers who enjoy blendings of the fantastic, the horrific and the real. I believe it will appeal to readers who enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s earlier novel, Neverwhere, as well as China Mieville’s The City & The City, Raymond Feist’s Faerie Tale, and Melissa Marr’s Graveminder.