eilonwyhan

A man recalls the horrific summer of his seventh year, and the magical sacrifice that saved him. Absorbing and chilling read.

A man returns to a country lane where he lived forty years ago, and begins to remember a trauma he suffered when he was seven years old. The family's tenant, a gregarious South African opal miner, has committed suicide because he lost all of his money gambling, including that of his investors. This death awakens something old as time, an entity that desires nothing more than to take over this world and shape it to its own needs. Unfortunately for our narrator, it has used him to enter this world, and begins its takeover by using his family to terrorize him. Fortunately for our narrator, the Hempstock family down the lane has taken him under their protective wing. Through their quirky, creative, and VERY old magic, the three women face down this ancient entity and protect their young charge.

Gaiman's dedication said: "For Amanda, who wanted to know." It seemed to me as I read this book that elements of some of his other books, mainly Coraline, seeped into the story. The parents, at first loving, turn into something "other" and the father becomes downright sinister. I'm realizing that in some ways, Gaiman's stories are a lot like Roald Dahl's: full of adults who are at the very least negligent of their children, and at the worst, verging on homicidal. Children are left to fend for themselves, using their own strength and wits. It was almost a relief that there were adults in this book that were fiercely protective, and didn't witter on about helping or staying out of the family's business. I wondered as I read it, "Was some of this plucked from his own experience, hence the dedication? If so, wow."

I read this book really quickly, it was that absorbing. I love the way Gaiman writes. Somehow he creates fully-realized worlds without flowery prose. I could see the country lane and smell the surrounding fields of grass. I could picture the ramshackle, but tidy, Hempstock home, and feel the weight of the world fall from our narrator's shoulders the moment he entered it. There were a couple rather adult scenes in it, so I would not give it to anyone under late-teens, though it was a lot like Coraline or The Graveyard Book in tone.