The OCean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes you just realize you entirely missed an author who became culturally important, and it seems like you should figure out why. In Neil Gaiman's case, I'm still a little unsure. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is an imaginary tale that takes a wistful look at childhood, evil, and memory. The story ushers readers through very satisfying emotional registers, and things oscillate from very good to to very scary to very bad and then back to mostly okay.

I don't read a lot of fantasy, and in recent years, as I've tried to read more, I've been pleasantly surprised. Here, the story is good, the writing is excellent, and while it was completely fine, this is not the book to hand the reader who likes their realist fiction in an effort to convert them. It's a story. Parts of it are original, all of it is well done, none of it is leaving much of a resounding impression on this particular reader.

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