Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Rating: 4/5

This was a different read for me as my go to are mystery/thrillers where the answer is finally revealed, however this one required both imagination and interpretation, I really enjoyed it!

What I loved:

The epilogue. I was originally leaning towards a 3/5 however, after the epilogue I realised the beauty of this story and I had to bump it up to a 4/5 as it had made me ponder long after I finished it.
The characters. I felt a lot of empathy for the protagonist who had a very lonely and tough childhood. The majority of the book was in his perspective which was fun and frustrating at the same time. Naturally as a child, he would more readily accept all the fantasy and magic. I wanted to know more but I realised at the end that simply revealing the answers would lose its mysterious elements and double meaning.
Techniques. How the author makes the reader connect with the protagonist as a little boy and as an adult. The way it reminds us of our own childhood where we would get lost in our imagination and not question whether it was real or not.

What I wasn’t a fan of:

There were a lot of random fantasy and magical elements mashed up together. Although I was intrigued, I did have a lot of “what the” moments. But again, I acknowledge that it’s also the point of the book as this is from the perspective of a little boy.

My interpretation

Click here to see spoilers

The protagonist’s coping mechanism was to escape reality and forget. This was evident from his childhood and continually returning to the Hempstock family.

During his childhood, the boy lived in his imagination to deal with difficult times, such as the appearance of Ursula who had broken his family and found safety and comfort with the Hempstocks, especially Lettie. In the fantasy, Lettie had sacrificed herself for the boy whereas the alternate explanation was that she had left for Australia. The protagonist readily accepted the latter and forgot his adventures with Lettie because that was the easier and logical version to believe as an adult and as a form of protection from his traumatic experiences. In the Epilogue the appearance of the double moon and the confusion of whether there were 2 Hempstock ladies suggests that perhaps the boy’s imagination were in fact true.

After a discussion with a fellow goodreads friend I realised that the protagonist was never named so that the reader is put into the boy’s shoes to remind us of our own childhood where we once imagined without a second thought of whether it was real or not.