The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the July pick for the FLICKS Book and Movie Club.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a lot different from most novels that my book club reads.  It is a fantasy novel with an ending that still has me puzzling whether I interpreted the book correctly or not.  

An unnamed narrator has returned to the place where he grew up to attend a funeral.  While there he finds himself drawn to a farmhouse at the end of the lane where his friend Lettie and her mother and Grandmother lived as a child.  He recalls that Lettie called the pond an ocean and then goes off into a remembrance of his seven year old self meeting Lettie and the adventure that he had that summer.  While with Lettie he brought a being from another realm to this world that is threatening to destroy him and his family.  Only with Lettie and her family’s help will he be able to defeat this foe.

SPOILER ALERT unfortunately, even though this was a very short book, no one in my book club read it besides myself, although one did start it.  I really wanted to discuss the ending.  Truthfully I found this book to be a bit odd, but yet the ending puzzled me and has kept me thinking in the weeks since I finished it.  Was the narrator imagining this world to cover up traumatizing events from his childhood, or is there a world that only children can believe in that he could no longer see as an adult?  If you read this book, what did you think?  SPOILER END

Overall, I’m glad I read this book for the ending that really has had me thinking, although I found the book a bit disturbing at times.  It looks like I need to pick better next time to get my book club on board with reading my choices!

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow – Thanks!