The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By Neil Gaiman

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I've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman. I love fantasy and fairy tales I have been trying desperately to fall in love with Gaiman's writing.

I just can't do it.

The stories are good, more or less. They are very imaginitve and eerie. I just don't feel totally immersed in his worlds. That is why I can't feel much love for his books. I think after reading 3 in the last couple of months I can accurately say that I am not a Neil Gaiman fan. I really wanted to be, but he just doesn't float my boat in the creepy fantasy genre.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane has some interesting ideas. I love the idea of an ageless family of women living at the end of the lane. They have some sort of mystical power but we are not sure quite what. The suicide in the first chapters sets up a very creepy opening. I wanted to know more and I kept turning pages. What shut me down was the worm creature that came back with the narrartor from his first adventure with the Hempstock girl. I love magical realism and the worm made it hard to believe.
A number of other people seem to love this book, so maybe it's just me and my silly rules and expectations for magical realism.

Overall it's worth the read if you want to stay in the know. Get it from the library. It's only 190 pages and I usually have to have over 300 in order to justify buying a book.