Ocean at the End of the Lane

I picked up Ocean at the End of the Lane late last year, but with graduation looming in the fall it got pushed to the bookshelf waiting to be read with a plethora of others in the ‘to read’ pile. While most people ‘binge’ watch television, I binge on books (well books by certain authors at least). I tend to be analyze a lot when I read, so it can take me awhile to get through a book, especially if I am not familiar with the author, or it has been awhile since I've read anything of theirs. So reading as much as I can by one author back to back, the patterns and voice of the writer become familiar and I can usually move through much quicker. I’m still pretty lazy reader though (scatter brained would be the best way to put it).

With Neil Gaiman’s work, I had read four or five over the summer of 2013 until school broke up my reading cycle, and after graduation decided to clear up a few other of my ‘to read’ list before I knocked out Ocean. Gaiman had quickly climbed the ranks of my favorite author’s during the last year, and I was savoring the opportunity to read his latest work, even if I was behind the times from everyone else.

Even though I had taken a break from Neil’s work, Ocean was a quick read for me and not simply because it was only 180 pages. There wasn't much of a need to analyze this one since it was pure Gaiman from get start: There’s the touch on ancient mythology (a prerequisite for most of his work), the alluded to but not specifically named creatures (think Silas from the Graveyard Book), the presence of the evil ‘thing’ that is bound and determined to hurt a child, and a story that seems to walk the line between a children’s tale and an adult one.

I’m sure many might look at some deeper meaning to the story, but for me it was how we tend to remember things that happened very differently from the way other who were involved might. Sometimes it’s intentional, and sometimes it just happens and we don’t know why. But regardless of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we will hang on to what we believe because they are ‘our’ memories, and they belong to us.

I enjoyed Ocean and would probably put it behind Graveyard Book and American Gods, but ahead of Coraline and Stardust in my rankings of Gaiman’s work. Only gripe, if I have one, is that it could have been a bit longer. I understand that it was a short story that kept growing, but I felt like it could have been fleshed out a little more. Otherwise it was very enjoyable, and of course, highly recommended.