There is no denying that Neil
Gaiman is a compelling writer. He comes up with cliffhangers that demand you
continue reading to find out what happens next.
That said, I generally find
something lacking in many of his stories. There is always that something that
leaves me vaguely unsatisfied after reading his book. As a result, I generally
prefer his short stories to his novels. He is one of the most celebrated
fantasy writers of his time, and rightly so. But for some reason, even though I
find his stories interesting, unique and original, I hesitate to call any of
his works ‘great’.
Recently, I finished The Ocean at The End of The Lane. My
first impression was that it was his best work yet. Unlike his previous novels,
I didn’t go away with that gnawing feeling of unsatisfied expectations.
The story starts off with an
unnamed narrator who went back to England for some unspecified event - but
which was most probably a funeral - and prompted by an urge that was only
partially explained at the end of the story, he visited his old neighbourhood
and drove down the lane to the farm of his old friend, Lettie Hempstock.
SPOILERS AHEAD
As he sat on the farm, his
memories returned to him and he remembered the three females on the farm:
Grandmother Old Mrs Hempstock, Mother Mrs Ginnie Hempstock and daughter Lettie
Hempstock, as well as the role they played in the life-and-death incident when
he was seven.
When he was seven, his parents
fell on hard times and had to take in boarders (tenants in American English).
One of the boarders was a South African miner who came in a cab that ran over
and killed the boy’s black kitten. In return, he caught a hostile tomcat and
gifted it to the Boy. Not particularly important plot point but for some reason
I find this part hilarious.
The significant role played by
the South African in the story was that he committed suicide after losing all
his money, and his friends’ money, at a casino. And he chose to die at the edge
of the Hempstocks’ farm.
The problem with this was that
the Hempstocks were no ordinary women. They were benign supernatural beings who
ensured that order was kept in all the worlds of the universe. When the miner
died at the edge of their farm, a place where the barriers between worlds run
thin, he awoke a being from another world (whom we shall call Rags) who began
to wreck havoc on this world.
The Hempstocks were apprised
of the situation by the Boy and Lettie was given the task of reining in Rags.
This seemed to be a duty that she was no stranger to. Her manner was confident
and easy and she decided to bring the Boy along. Just because she could. Even
though her elders advised her against it. Anyone who knows fairytales would
know what happens when the young go against the well-meaning advice of the
older and wiser.
And indeed, although Lettie
managed to subdue Rags, the latter found a way to follow the Boy back into his
world, where she materialised into Ursula Monkton, an au pair (babysitter to
the rest of the world) who made the Boy’s world hell. She banned him from
leaving the grounds of his house, so he could not go to the Hempstocks’ home
for help. She kept an eye on him as closely as the NSA monitors the world,
Americans and non-Americans alike. She seduced his father, and abetted him to
almost drown the Boy.
Eventually, the Boy managed to
escape to the Hempstocks’ farm. Lettie came to the rescue by calling forth some
supernatural birds that feed upon beings like Rags and Rags was devoured by
these creatures. Problem quite easily solved? Not quite.
That was not the end of the
Boy’s woes. It turned out that Rags had used the Boy as a portal to cross over
from her world to his. And a fragment of the portal was left in his heart. So
the birds refused to leave until their job was done, that is until they had consumed
his heart. In the ensuing face-off, Lettie was badly hurt, as close to death as
a being like her could be. Her grandmother and mother released her into the
ocean which resembled a pond (another manifestation of the women’s powers) so
that she could heal. It was hinted that her healing could take eternities and
that even then, she might not return. And if she did return, it could be in
another form.
After the incident, the Boy’s
memories were altered so that he didn’t remember Lettie sacrificing herself to
save him. What he remembered was that she left for Australia with her father.
Only at the crossroads of his life would he return to the pond/ocean. Another
reason offered for his occasional returns to the pond/ocean was that Lettie
wanted to see how the Boy turned out. Which was the true reason? Shrugs. With
Lettie’s powers, injured as she was, she could possibly have timed her desire
to see the Boy with his life-changing moments. The Boy never remembered those
times he returned to the farm. Just as it was shown that the moment he left
this time, at the end of the book, he began to forget again.
Gaiman is a master at
world-building. It is amazing how he could use such simple language to
construct a layered world imbued with magic and fantasy. There was the normal
mundane world which was a struggle for the Boy who was a loner and could not
fit in in school. When he met Lettie, he stumbled into her world where time
travel was normal and reality could be altered, or even deleted.
The charm of this story lies
in the strength of the world Gaiman built. Despite all the incredulous
happenings, he made it all so realistic and believable.
It is recommended that this
book be read just to see how simple words and language could be used to knit a
tight and gripping story.
My only gripe with the book is
that the problem of the ravenous birds who would not go away was resolved so
easily that it was a little contrived. But this is a minor quibble, in view of
the enjoyable hours I spent in the Boy and Lettie’s world.
