Maciek's Reviews > The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
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In the acknowledgments section of his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman admits that the project was initially meant to be a short story, which grew to be a novel - not a very long novel, but a novel nonetheless. For fans it was big news, as it would be his first novel for adults since 2005's Anansi Boys.
I was never really into Gaiman's work - I wasn't crazy about American Gods or Neverwhere and Coraline, all of which are routinely mentioned as fan favorites. I loved Stardust, though - his short fantasy which I thought was beautiful and had to read in one sitting. The Ocean sounded like a a welcome return to the familiar field, and I was compelled to give it a try.
Gaiman's narrator is an unnamed English man in his forties, who returns to his childhood home located in the English countryside of Sussex. There he is drawn to familiar places which he has not seen for ages, and which evoke memories long buried. He ends up by the house of his childhood friend, Lettie Hempstock, and remembers when he was seven years old and how Lettie used to call the pond beside her house an ocean.
Ultimately, this is a lazy book - for several reasons. The first one is an enormously flat and dull narrative voice. The narrator is obviously remembering his youth from an adult perspective, but the end effect is reduced to sentences in vein of "I did this and that" "And then this happened". There's absolutely no childish joy or fear, or even the adult's surprise at a sudden recollection of a forgotten memory of youth. The language is lackluster, flavorless and as flat as the steppes of Kazakhstan, to the point of becoming downright dull and distracting because of its dullness. How are the readers supposed to give a damn if we can barely muster the strength to turn the page?
Perhaps it's my own recent personal experience of spending a week in an English village while visiting my friends, but I thought that the setting of this book was another lost opportunity. The countryside is beautiful, but all the the reader will get from it in this book is the fact that people live on farms and sometimes have small ponds near their houses. There's no sense of place specific to Sussex or England in this book at all; it could as well have taken place in the suburbs of Chicago.
Not that long ago I read and reviewed The Land of Laughs, the debut novel of Jonathan Carroll, a fan favorite considered to be classic of fantasy - which I found to b a bland play on fantasy tropes without much originality, I have the same complaints about The Ocean - which really is nothing more than an overly stretched short story, employing all the well known staples of the genre and made up to resemble a short novel. The protagonist is an obvious stand-in for the author, but besides waxing nostalgia and melancholy the novel doesn't seem to have any real goal or accomplish anything in particular. It reads almost like Neil Gaiman's rushed assignment for a creative writing class he took ages ago - full of pretension of powerful statements about human beings, deep as the ocean, but in reality being little else than the well-known drizzle deep no more than an ordinary puddle, which evaporates after a few days and leaves absolutely no mark.
I was never really into Gaiman's work - I wasn't crazy about American Gods or Neverwhere and Coraline, all of which are routinely mentioned as fan favorites. I loved Stardust, though - his short fantasy which I thought was beautiful and had to read in one sitting. The Ocean sounded like a a welcome return to the familiar field, and I was compelled to give it a try.
Gaiman's narrator is an unnamed English man in his forties, who returns to his childhood home located in the English countryside of Sussex. There he is drawn to familiar places which he has not seen for ages, and which evoke memories long buried. He ends up by the house of his childhood friend, Lettie Hempstock, and remembers when he was seven years old and how Lettie used to call the pond beside her house an ocean.
Ultimately, this is a lazy book - for several reasons. The first one is an enormously flat and dull narrative voice. The narrator is obviously remembering his youth from an adult perspective, but the end effect is reduced to sentences in vein of "I did this and that" "And then this happened". There's absolutely no childish joy or fear, or even the adult's surprise at a sudden recollection of a forgotten memory of youth. The language is lackluster, flavorless and as flat as the steppes of Kazakhstan, to the point of becoming downright dull and distracting because of its dullness. How are the readers supposed to give a damn if we can barely muster the strength to turn the page?
Perhaps it's my own recent personal experience of spending a week in an English village while visiting my friends, but I thought that the setting of this book was another lost opportunity. The countryside is beautiful, but all the the reader will get from it in this book is the fact that people live on farms and sometimes have small ponds near their houses. There's no sense of place specific to Sussex or England in this book at all; it could as well have taken place in the suburbs of Chicago.
Not that long ago I read and reviewed The Land of Laughs, the debut novel of Jonathan Carroll, a fan favorite considered to be classic of fantasy - which I found to b a bland play on fantasy tropes without much originality, I have the same complaints about The Ocean - which really is nothing more than an overly stretched short story, employing all the well known staples of the genre and made up to resemble a short novel. The protagonist is an obvious stand-in for the author, but besides waxing nostalgia and melancholy the novel doesn't seem to have any real goal or accomplish anything in particular. It reads almost like Neil Gaiman's rushed assignment for a creative writing class he took ages ago - full of pretension of powerful statements about human beings, deep as the ocean, but in reality being little else than the well-known drizzle deep no more than an ordinary puddle, which evaporates after a few days and leaves absolutely no mark.
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Reading Progress
June 30, 2013
–
Started Reading
June 30, 2013
– Shelved
June 30, 2013
– Shelved as:
2013-releases
July 1, 2013
–
80.0%
July 1, 2013
– Shelved as:
read-in-2013
July 1, 2013
– Shelved as:
coming-of-age
July 1, 2013
– Shelved as:
reviewed
July 1, 2013
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 108 (108 new)
message 1:
by
Michael
(new)
Jul 01, 2013 07:59PM
![Michael](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1567611029p1/4086118.jpg)
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![Aubrey](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1665875649p1/4119460.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Thank you, Michael! I really enjoyed Stardust and would recommend it to anyone. I think it just might be his best work - it's short and sweet and works just fine.
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
I can definitely understand how American Gods could shapre your personal literary world, Aubrey, with its mythology and epic ambitions, but I think that this novel just isn't worth your time. I have never read Sandman but have always heard great things about it. On the other hand, I have heard that Gaiman is planning a sequel to American Gods - so your hopes might just get answered :)
![Char](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1415394568p1/6581119.jpg)
After reading this, Maciek, I'm glad that I didn't buy it.
Excellent review, as always!
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
http://geektyrant.com/news/2013/6/28/...
![Dustin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1652325663p1/4268487.jpg)
I appreciate the link and your insight, Maciek.:)
![Bondama](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1256031685p1/2445523.jpg)
Which is why "The Ocean..." almost brought me to tears - of anger and disappointment. I, too, assumed that "Ocean" was something I really looked forward to. But it was a huge disappointment. And for me to say this about Gaiman is an enormous admission. I have to agree with you -- he got lazy.
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Thank you, Bondama! I think it's Neil Gaiman's rockstar status catching up with him. There's little energy or anything special in his writing here. He seems tired and on autopilot, rehashing old tropes without much attention.
![Dustin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1652325663p1/4268487.jpg)
Thank you, Bondama! I think it's Neil Gaiman's rockstar status catching up with him. There's little e..."
Wow, that is such a shame, coming from a much beloved and multi-talented writer.. a sad shame, indeed..:(
![Aubrey](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1665875649p1/4119460.jpg)
It is going to drag and bleat and mewl so much. I can't possibly see it surviving past two seasons, at the very most, no matter who gets their hands on it. The fact of the matter is that this is a very somber and weighty novel with very black humor, when there is humor, and the smallest moment of filler is going to puncture that canvas completely. They either need to shorten it, or do an infinitely better job with it than anyone has with a TV show (except for Hannibal, perhaps).
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Bondama](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1256031685p1/2445523.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Heli Kankainen](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
That's interesting, Heli! I heard so much about it recently, so it's a surprise to hear that nothing will come out of it. I hope that you will enjoy the book! :)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Thank you, Nataliya! I also wish that, but alas! I'm glad you enjoyed it to give it full 5 stars :)
![Beastnessa](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1445565582p1/20163498.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Dan](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1343270797p1/11292382.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Dan](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1343270797p1/11292382.jpg)
If you don't care for that one, or Voice Of Our Shadow or Outside The Dog Museum, then he's just not a writer who's going to flip your switch.
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Bee Turner](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1701369659p1/14732467.jpg)
![Matthew Roche](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
![Bondama](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1256031685p1/2445523.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Matthew, that's an interesting idea! It would explain the lack of joy in what should be a child's delight of exploring a new, fantastic world. But it still rings false for me. I was not what you'd call a happy child, but the greatest moments of happiness for me were when I discovered something which was fantastic - such as a wonderful book which transported me to another world. I know that the narrator is reminiscing about his childhood, but it's all just so dull to me - it's as if Neil himself was depressed and was just going through the motions. I just didn't think it worked at all - already I'm forgetting it quickly, as it's not a work which would stay with me for a long time. I think it'd work better as the short story it started out as.
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Yes, exactly! It might have been a personal way of dealing with depression, but it's still just not a good book (for me).
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
Yes, exactly! It might have been a personal way of dealing with depression, but it's still just not a good book (for me).
![Scotty](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1332903960p1/8087551.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Noel Brady](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1704668375p1/5009735.jpg)
![Maciek](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1280839159p1/2969647.jpg)
![Jen](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1398606884p1/8861799.jpg)