The Ocean At The End Of the Lane By Neil Gaiman
Warning - This is an outlier review for "The Ocean At The End of the Lane" My sensitive, empathetic soul, love for animals and a cogent thought-process couldn’t marry the plot. The first-half with the animal-cruelty and child-abuse by the protagonist’s father gave me heebie-jeebies. The novel starts with a quote by Maurice Sendak- “I remember my own childhood vividly . . . I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn’t let adults know I knew. It would scare them.” The delicious food devoured by our unnamed protagonist throughout the major part of the plot was my only fuel to keep up with the book. I was jolly-well wallowing in the vivid description of the meals. Our 7-year-old nameless protagonist, uses kitten (who is killed quite early-on in the plot), books and “world of fantasy” as escape mechanisms from the indifference of his loveless parents and the company of humans. "Books were safer than other people anyway" He is extremely imaginative, creative, detailed, ob...