The Ocean at the End of the Lane

A Novel

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Neil Gaiman

Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Narration by the Author or Authors, 2014

Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, 2014

Sussex, England: A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

©2013 Neil Gaiman (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Beautiful story

Read by the author, very believable, compelling story. enough complexity to let you re-read a few pages.

wonderful

Thank you Neil for this wonderful book. it was amazing and emotional and awesome. Don't ever stop writing.

Amazing story and performance

I could not stop listening and had images of the Hempstock family and their adventures in my mind in between readings and, I am sure, long after. This will be a book I listen to often.

A must read!

Best story I've heard in a long time! LOVE IT!! This book is so engaging and you get pulled into the story! You feel what the characters feel. Narration was great!

Gaiman keeps turning out gold

This reminded me of American Gods with its just-under-the-surface-of-reality magic setting. Lots of little references to themes the author is fond of, without seeming recycled. There are some genuinely tense moments, and the choice of a first-person narrator remembering his childhood was brilliant, as he was able to access his youthfully innocent viewpoint without sacrificing any complexity of language or storytelling.

As always, Mr. Gaiman's reading of his own work was warm and wonderful, with some very subtle character voices aiding my immersion in the story.

Enchanting

What did you love best about The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

Lettie and the Hempstock family

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lettie. She is wise (way beyond her years), she's strong, confident, and follows through when she says something. She's compassionate and believes every creature has a place and that place should be respected.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where Lettie walks up and saves the unnamed young man from Ursula. In this scene you witness the first glimpse of apprehension in Ursula.

Any additional comments?

There are times when I regret putting off reading (in this case listening) to a book, this is one of those. This book is enchanting and keeps the reader engaged the whole way through. I didn't even notice that the name of the young boy is NEVER mentioned, this is true for his family as well. Apparently names carry a lot of power in this novel.

This book is a great read, which I plan on buying for my daughter. I think she'll enjoy this and the strong female lead we get in young Lettie. I hope there is a sequel, I would love to know what happens to Lettie, does she ever return? Will she still be the same or will she grow? What becomes of the Hempstock homestead? So many questions, I'd love for Mr. Gaiman to answer in his next book.

Loved

Where does The Ocean at the End of the Lane rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

First

What did you like best about this story?

It's transporting.

Have you listened to any of Neil Gaiman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't. I will definitely be listening to more.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Just a beautiful story. It's fantasy, so will not be for everyone, but I found it magical. Having read other reviews, lots of people like to put heavy analysis into it as symbolic of childhood fears and loss and blah blah blah. I just liked it as a story, plain and simple.

Great

Another great novel by Gaiman! I love his ideas and the eloquent way he puts them into words! A great book!

Another Stand Out Book By Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is my favorite writer. So, I read each new thing he does with a very open mind. But also with quite a lot of expectations. I'm happy to say he's yet to disappoint me. I find it impossible not to be taken in with what he writes. I suppose his ability to take a very real world and shine a light on the magical places JUST on the other side of it is a large part of it. His characters feel so real, even when they are fantastic. There is a lot of this that feels very personal, and that adds a lot of interesting shades and textures but does not color the actual story in a distracting way. If anything, it just made it easier for me to connect to the story. I think his work calls to that part of me that—despite being a very rational sort of person—still wants desperately to believe in those magical places... just on the other side of the door, at the edge of vision, in that cold little aching place in our heart, or at the end of the lane.

Really really good

I wanted to start over at the beginning as soon as I got to the end.