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This was my first Neil Gaiman book and I absolutely adored it.
“Grown-ups don’t look like grown-ups on
the inside either. Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know
what they’re doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did
when they were your age. Truth is there aren’t any grown-ups. Not one, in the
whole wide world.”
This was the first book that I actively
looked for in a long time, I heard about the author, Neil Gaiman, after
watching Doctor Who, he was the writer for two of my favourite episodes and
after doing some research I found that he writes books as well, so I started
with his latest book. Ocean at the end of the lane was first published in June
2013.
Another thing that surprised me as I read
was the fact that I usually don’t like fantasy books; this book captured my
attention from the beginning.
The thing that really impressed me was the
fact that when the narrator was at the Hempstock farm, you could feel how safe
he felt with them. On the other hand you could feel his anxiety when he had to
go home and face Ursula.
The other thing that also impressed me, it
was a fairly short book for fantasy, usually they are fairly big books for the
authors to be able to paint their world, this one was different as the author
got ones attention immediately, the plot moved quickly but not with such haste
that you felt something was lacking in the book.
Synopsis of the book:
The book starts with a man who returns to
his hometown for a funeral, he visits the house where he grew up, and this
stirs memories of his childhood. He remembers a young girl, Lettie Hempstock,
who told him the pond in her backyard was actually an ocean. He then visits her
house, and the pond.
The story of his childhood begins where he
remembered that they had a lodger who committed suicide in his father’s stolen
car. His death sets the events of the story in motion. His death allowed a
supernatural being to come into our world. After a coin got lodged in his
throat one night, he asked Lettie for help, she insisted he should join her on
a journey to find the being, she instructed him to not let go of her hand, but
in a moment of shock he did and he felt pain as something lodged in his foot,
that night he pulled something that looked like a worm out of his foot, but a
piece got left behind.
The next day he was told by his mother she
will be starting a new job and they will be looked after by a woman named
Ursula Monkton. He took an instant disliking to her, but the woman won over his
father and sister. He realised that this woman was the worm he pulled out of
his foot. He was locked in his room after several attempts to escape to the
Hempstock house. Late that night he got his chance while Ursula’s attention was
focused on his father, and he barely makes it to Lettie’s house.
Lettie and the narrator confront Ursula,
who refused offers from the Hempstocks to leave peacefully for a world that is
less dangerous for her. She did not believe them and was attacked by
“varmints”, they have a purpose similar to scavengers. After she was destroyed
they turned on the narrator, insisting they needed to eat his heart since a
piece of Ursula remained there. The Hempstocks swore to protect him; Hemptstock
brought him back to the safety of their property through the ocean from their
house, which Lettie carried in a bucket.
The Hempstocks promised to keep him safe,
but the varmints began to eat his world. This proved effective since the
narrator then attempted to sacrifice himself, only for Lettie to jump in
between him and the varmints. Lettie’s grandmother threatened the varmints with
annihilation if they did not leave. The complied but Lettie was near death. The
Hempstocks placed Lettie’s body in the ocean behind their house, where they
said she would rest until ready to return to this world. After this the
narrator’s memory of the incident faded, he had no recollection, instead
believing that she had gone to Australia.
The book then returns to the present day,
where the narrator finished remembering and is shocked to find out that this is
not his first visit to the house.
“You don’t pass or fail at being a human,
dear”
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