The Ocean at the End of the Lane

This story is creepy and dark and yet somehow still manages to keep a childlike sense about it. It's slightly bizarre, in true Neil Gaiman fashion, and borders more on nightmarish than on whimsical imagination, but is a fast-paced ride that will keep you turning pages. I feel like I stumbled on a corner of Britain that holds old magic and dark pathways or portals to places beyond our reality. Pulled into a dark and surreal realm where you're not quite sure what is reality and what is fantasy, or do they mirror each other? I'm only realizing now that the narrator is never named!! And yet he is the core of the book and seeing the story unfold through his eyes, a 7-year-old's eyes, gives it that childlike sensibility and a viewpoint that captures a child's view of the adult world so vividly and well. It also made me revisit memories of my own childhood where I took paths less trodden through field and marsh, over and under fences and through forests, imagining them as fantastical places, giving it an almost nostalgic feeling. I think it was the perfect quick read for fall!