colleen the convivial curmudgeon’s Reviews > The Ocean at the End of the Lane > Status Update

"Different people remember things differently, and you'll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not. You stand two of you lot next to each other, and you could be continents away for all it means anything."

"I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I found joy in the things that made me happy."

"I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world..."

"She was the storm, she was the lightning, she was the adult world with all its power and all its secrets and all its foolish casual cruelty."

"I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just *were*."