The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Rating: 3/5

Summary:

One day, a young boy notices that the family down the road seems a little different. This doesn't deter him from becoming friends with the family's young daughter and embarking on a mysterious and magical adventure with her.

Strengths:

The title tells you everything about "The Ocean at the End of the Lane"! The Ocean it alludes to is deep (fathom-deep as the true meanings of kin, marriage, and death); blue (icy like Coraline's motherspider enemy, the demonic Nanny McPhee in the middle of the story; cold like the rigidity of death, the panic of succumbing to childhood traumas); and deep (fathom-deep as the true meanings of family, love, and death); and deep (fathom-deep as the true meanings of family, love, and vast (as the leitmotifs dot the plot in elegant splendor, tokens of the writer's stunning & grand imagination), with suds atop (the frivolity and juxtaposition of childhood features with the supernatural positively effervesce), but much darker & stranger as the composites of the undertow sometimes reach upward, showing us the complicated nature of human souls), but much darker & stranger as the composites of the undertow often reach upward, showing us the complex nature of human.

Weakness:

It was a jumble of made-up material that was not put together in a convincing manner. When you read a fantasy book, you usually believe in the author's creations, no matter how fantastical they are.

My Opinion:

Monsters come in a variety of sizes and forms. Any of them are frightening to humans. Any of them resemble things that people used to be afraid of a long time ago. Monsters are also creatures that people should be afraid of but aren't.