Some things change, and some remain the same. Perhaps it’s the power of memories that help keep these things the same. It’s a similar feeling when the protagonist of this novel returns to the farm which changed things when he was a child. He finds himself walking back to the back of the farm, to a pond that the girl there had once called an ocean.
And then, we go into flashback. To the day he had turned seven but no one attended his birthday party. To the strong dislike he felt for the man who had not just taken his room, but also accidentally killed his cat. To the things he had to compromise with his sister. And to that day, when going along with his dad to find that man dead, he met a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, who took him to see her ocean. But the Hempstocks aren’t what they seem. To escape from the new “housekeeper”, he goes back to the hempstocks, and another adventure unravels.
Gripping; I don’t think any other word suits this story better. From the start, till the end, it engaged me and made me hold on to every word. Trust me, imagining some part of this novel wasn’t easy at all; actually it was creepy, given that the description was quite vivid. The characterization is amazing. You feel what a seven year old feels. The resentment toward the people who seem to be suddenly entering his world; thinking who can be trusted and who cannot, his fears and his innocence; every little detail was quite spot on. In a way, could relate to the nameless boy too. It took me a couple of reads to understand the ending though.
This is a book to savor! That’s certain!
| Book Details | |
|---|---|
| Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane | |
| Author(s): Neil Gaiman | Genre: Fiction |
| ISBN/ASIN: 9781472208668 | Publisher: Headline / Hachette India |
| No. of Pages: 260 | Price: INR 299 |
I own a copy of the book. The views expressed here are my own, frank and uninfluenced.
(© 7th August 2015)
This is a book I really have to read. I was given the first chapter as a teaser with another Gaiman book. Must buy
Yes. Really a wonderful book it is, Ritu.