This is a grand Myth in the finest sense of the word. I think it's only autobiographical in the sense that it's EVERYONE'S story, Gaiman's included. But they are always there, and always ready to help him heal. Maybe that's the real message of this book - the magic saved him, and he has been to the Hempstocks many times. Is this Neil himself? does he retreat to be with the magical, the mystical and the mythical whenever he finds the real world too real? Is his writing a way to deal with the things that have happened to him? There are a couple of stories he and his wife tell about how the book came to be, and both agree it was born out of a difficult time for the both of them. Every time he has felt lost, alone, has suffered some personal tragedy (remember he ends up there after witnessing the death of the opal miner, and the scene in the living room, as well). The narrator is told, towards the end, just how many times he has visited the Hempstocks.
Everyone who knows him, himself included, has talked about how personal this one is, how it is his most 'autobiographical'. I think Christina gets it right, and I wonder just how close it is to Mr Gaiman.
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