'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman

Ciervo Blanco Book Club organizes a book discussion in English about the novel ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ by Neil Gaiman

This is a free book discussion in English. The only requirement is to have read the book!

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Sussex, England: A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie – magical, comforting, wise beyond her years – promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly’s wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

[/section] [section title=”About the author” tip=”Open for more information about the author”]

Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, in 1960 and since 1992 has lived in the United States, currently residing near Minneapolis.

Following the publication of his groundbreaking series ‘Sandman’ (1989-1996) he has become established as one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.

Gaiman is active as a television and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for the original BBC TV series of ‘Neverwhere’ (1996); the feature film, ‘Mirrormask’ (2005), the script to Robert Zemeckis’s ‘Beowulf.’ He has written and directed two films: ‘A Short Film About John Bolton’ (2002) and ‘Statuesque’ (2009). An animated feature film based on his book ‘Coraline,’ directed by Henry Selick and released in early 2009, secured a BAFTA for Best Animated Film and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category. His 2011 episode of Doctor Who, “The Doctor’s Wife,” caused the London Times to describe him as “a hero.”

He is also an established writer for children. His work for young readers, The Graveyard Book was published in 2008 and won the UK’s Booktrust Prize for Teenage Fiction and the Newbery Medal, the highest honor given in US children’s literature, as well as the Locus Young Adult Award and the Hugo Best Novel Prize. The awarding of the 2010 UK CILIP Carnegie Medal makes Gaiman the first author ever to win both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal with the same book.

Gaiman’s 2013 novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards and was a New York Times Best Seller. A film adaptation of the novel is planned.

Neil Gaiman is married to the musician Amanda Palmer, they have a son, Anthony, together.

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Book discussion: ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ by Neil Gaiman

When: Sunday, November 22nd 2020 at 18:00 (6pm, Madrid local time, GMT+2)

Where: Zoom, online. ID: 727-737-7475

We’ll use the software Zoom to meet. Please use the following ID to access: 727-737-7475 or click on https://us04web.zoom.us/j/7277377475
Password, if any, will be “cb”.

Language: English (we’ll debate in English)

Organizer: Adrian Diaz

Contact: +34 668853320

Mandatory: Read the book

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