Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Finishing this short book was almost like having the air squeezed out of my lungs. As if I'd been holding it for ~180 pages.

For a synopsis, I think reading the publisher's blurb does just fine. For my thoughts on the book? sigh. Here are just a couple of favorites:

"Why didn't adults want to read about Narnia, about secret islands and smugglers and dangerous fairies?" p. 53

"Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everybody." p. 112

"This book is the book you have just read. It's done. Now we're in the acknowledgments. This is not really part of the book. You do not have to read it. It's mostly just names." p. 179 (yes, that is really the first paragraph of the acknowledgments... you just wanted to keep reading whatever it was he had to say next...)

Everything about this is lovely. And even though it's kind of fantasy kind of dark, it's mostly just a expose on love. And that makes it sound gushy, and it's just not. In other words, it's kind of impossible to describe, but I'll highly recommend it. Yes, even to you, whomever you are...