I write a lot, and for me fictional stories fall into broad categories. Those that with enough skill, time and effort, I could have written and those so far from how I think that I would have to be a completely different person to even begin to create. I don’t think of one as better than the other, but they mean different things to me. Stories where I can understand why the author made and even predict what can happened are fun both because I enjoy good stories and because I like to see the craft of writing the same way an artist might admire the brush strokes of a painting or be impressed because the painter had to create their own pigments. Then there are the books that I simply don’t understand. They take me to places I couldn’t see on my own, and I do not know what is going to happen. Neil Gaiman is one of the few writers who seems able to do both and sometimes in the same book. And “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” is a book that mostly fits into both. Much of the story felt odd and otherworldly, yet it never felt so alien that I couldn’t see the artistry.

What Happens in “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman?

The story is told from the point of view of a seven-year-old boy and feels like it is a fairytale or a myth. The protagonist is unhappy and unpopular among his peers. And the story starts with something that really struck me hard. He has a birthday party and none of the kids in his class come. This is made worse as they explain that his mother had parties and games prepared. But he seems to move on fairly quickly.

Not long after that he meets a young girl name Lettie Hempstock, she is 11 and has been 11 for a very long time. She is odd, but also kind to him. He meets her because she takes him back to his house when a boarder in their house commits suicide. Shortly afterward strange things begin to happen around the area almost all to do with money, including the protagonist coughing up a coin.

He goes to Lettie, and she explains the odd things are connected to the suicide. He stirred up a spirit who is convinced that giving money to people will make them happy. But while she isn’t exactly evil, she isn’t good either. And they need to send her home. Lettie brings him with her to do this, but insists he hold her hand and not let go.

Mostly he follows that advice as they meet a strange spirit that they call a flea. But partway through the spirit throws something at them and he instinctively grabs it letting go of Lettie’s hand for a moment. As he does, he is bitten in the foot by something. He then goes home.

The next day he discovers there is a worm in his foot. He is young enough to not understand how strange this is and removes the worm, telling no one. And shortly after, a new border comes to stay. He instantly dislikes her in part because she is giving people money. She insists he isn’t allowed to leave their property, and he knows something is wrong, so over the next few days he tries to escape.

Things escalate, but eventually he flees to the Hempstock property. They protect him from her but she put something into him with the worm and some small part of it is still in him. The only real way to get it out is to remove his heart, or so the flea says. But Lettie summons a group of spiritual “cleaners” who remove her from existence. But also insist that they must do their job fully and that means removing the protagonist as well.

The Hempstalks protect him, so these strange cleaners begin to remove reality. Realizing that it is him or the world, the protagonist gives himself to the creatures and runs out of the Hempstock property, but Lettie follows him. The creatures attack, but Lettie protects him until her grandmother arrives. She threatens the creatures will be erased from existence and they leave, but Lettie is badly injured. They put her in her pond and promise him she will, likely, someday reawaken.

What did I think of “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman?

This is a melancholy story. I can find melancholy without need of a book to lead me there, but prefer to avoid those places. That said, once you get past the more traditional sadness of being an unpopular child and into the main part of the story, it felt less real. It was still dark, but that is a different feeling. All that said, it’s not the type of Neil Gaiman story that I would seek but it was the perfect length, well written and an interesting story so it’s hard for me to not say I liked it. And it made me feel things, they were just things I didn’t really want to feel.

Conclusion

There is a lot to love about this story, and fans of Neil Gaiman will almost certainly like it as much as the rest of his work. But there is a darkness to it that keeps me from truly enjoying it, and if the darkness of abuse, fear and loneliness is going to make something unenjoyable then avoid this.