Age Group: Adult (All Ages, really)
Publisher: HarperAudio
Narrated by Neil Gaiman
Source: Bought
Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Fantasy, Neil Gaiman
Categories: Fantasy, Child's POV
Goodreads - Amazon
- Neil Gaiman's WebsiteRead in July 2013
Summary:
It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it. His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.
My Opinion:
I had never read a Gaiman book. I had no idea what all the fuzz was about. I have friends who love him, and they were all really excited to see Ocean hit the stores. So, when it came out, I had to have a copy for myself (thank God for online shopping, because it hasn't made it to Argentina yet).
I started listening to it one day while cleaning, early in the morning. Neil's voice instantly caught me. It is such a deep and soothing voice, I would have listened to it even if the book was about advanced chemistry. I had finished listening to the entire thing by that same night.
Neil's voice brings his narrator to life, a middle aged man coming back home for a funeral. His home town brings back memories he thought he'd lost, and suddenly he finds himself walking towards a familiar place, from when he used to live there.
From then on, he remembers his childhood and we see it all through a kid's perspective. Everything that surrounds this little kid, his family and the friendships he makes, it's all told beautifully.
I remember smiling a lot while listening to the ab. This seven(?)-year-old who sees everything clearly, who loves his new friends and who has no trouble believing in magic. I want to know more kids like him.
You really don't need me to tell you more about its plot (only that it involves a lot of magic, dark forces trying to rule over a piece of land that is not theirs, and a pair of kids trying to fight it off). You just need to know that this is a book that will rock you to the core, make you grin like a fool a lot, and just leave you feeling good about life.
It is a masterpiece, and I'm so glad it was my first Gaiman novel. I'm currently reading American Gods and it is great, too. Diferent, but great. Ocean is already in my All-Time Favourites list.
I started listening to it one day while cleaning, early in the morning. Neil's voice instantly caught me. It is such a deep and soothing voice, I would have listened to it even if the book was about advanced chemistry. I had finished listening to the entire thing by that same night.
Neil's voice brings his narrator to life, a middle aged man coming back home for a funeral. His home town brings back memories he thought he'd lost, and suddenly he finds himself walking towards a familiar place, from when he used to live there.
From then on, he remembers his childhood and we see it all through a kid's perspective. Everything that surrounds this little kid, his family and the friendships he makes, it's all told beautifully.
I remember smiling a lot while listening to the ab. This seven(?)-year-old who sees everything clearly, who loves his new friends and who has no trouble believing in magic. I want to know more kids like him.
You really don't need me to tell you more about its plot (only that it involves a lot of magic, dark forces trying to rule over a piece of land that is not theirs, and a pair of kids trying to fight it off). You just need to know that this is a book that will rock you to the core, make you grin like a fool a lot, and just leave you feeling good about life.
It is a masterpiece, and I'm so glad it was my first Gaiman novel. I'm currently reading American Gods and it is great, too. Diferent, but great. Ocean is already in my All-Time Favourites list.
