The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Film Review | Literature Review | Training

21 February 2021

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I first encountered Neil Gaiman as Amanda Palmer's husband who happened to be a writer. His spoken word pieces on their collaborative live album were good, so I picked up his book on the Norse Mythology a few years back and read it to the kids at bedtime. We were preparing to move to Norway at the time, so it was also on topic. I enjoyed it so much I've been meaning to pick up another book by him since then, but it just didn't happen until now. Fittingly, Gaiman dedicates The Ocean at the End of the Lane to his wife Amanda.

The story focuses around a young boy with a Dahlesque set of misfortunes in life. To these are added some magical experiences and access to a world he never knew existed where he befriends a set of women: a daughter, a mother, and a grandmother he assumes. By the climax of course the whole world hangs in the balance. Along the way he learns some things about himself and some things about other people. It's a story I've probably read in different versions with different names and different details a hundred times, but somehow that doesn't make this one any less special.