Just a short note. I finished Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel in one reading last
night (it’s quite short) and got a real kick out of it. I won’t say too much
about the plot, but it involves a man returning to his childhood home to attend
a family funeral. He leaves the service to visit a neighbour who lived down a lane by a small pond. There, he recalls the time when he had just turned seven years old, and begins
to remember things he hadn't thought of in decades. I liked Gaiman’s
descriptions of childhood, and noted he had a number of strange and slightly
quirky elements to his tale, but the story seemed pretty straight forward, and I
wasn’t sure if I would continue reading. Then there is an event that disturbs
the relative tranquility of the boy’s life and inexorably, with an ever-quickening speed, as if caught by a strong undertow, you are pulled into the story and into an ever-stranger world. Parts
of it are page-turners where you simply must find out what is going to happen next! There
are layers of myth and mystery that are gradually revealed, and by the novel’s
end you are reminded that reality may be much more of a stranger than you care to admit.... Well done!
Cheers, Jake.
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