2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A fun little book for children and for adults to read aloud to children to brighten their day, for it can be read in one day. Aided by Chris Riddell's illustrations, I can really see 'Fortunately, the Milk...' being made into a cartoon series. It's a roller coaster ride and spectacularly silly, and the talented Neil Gaiman knows this and runs wild with his latest idea for a children's story (liberties left unchecked, because he's Neil Gaiman).
It starts off as a normal account of two ordinary children not having any milk for their breakfast cereal. Dad, left in charge without Mum, goes to the corner shop to get the milk. He takes ages apparently. And when he comes back, he tells of the most extraordinary account of his day to his kids.
'Fortunately, the Milk...' has everything that young boys and girls know and love: aliens, pirates, time travel (plot relevant, and Gaiman's involvement with 'Doctor Who' shows here), dinosaurs, volcanoes, ponies, vampires ("wumpires" ha ha), and piranhas; all in one condensed barrel of laughs.
What I find to be particularly funny about 'Fortunately, the Milk...', aside from the craziness that ensues from a boring routine task, is that the dad (who in the illustrations looks suspiciously like Gaiman himself) is rather nonchalant about the whole thing. No matter how serious or hopeless things get, his top priority is the milk bought at a corner shop not far from his home. He isn't a passive spectator, and does stuff to get himself out of tricky situations - perhaps inadvertently making history along the way. Dad and the milk go through so much, and might even end up saving the universe together...
There are many other amazeballs characters, such as Professor Steg the stegosaurus scientist, who has a balloon with a time machine in it that's powered by mundane junk and stones. Everyone is hilarious and barmy, and even the dad's kids are cute and make a solid presence in the book - and they act only as the listeners of Dad's story (they could be considered the chorus, if the story were a Greek play).
'Fortunately, the Milk...' - worth the read just to get one's creative juices bubbling. It's also a lot cleverer than it first appears; real effectual thought was put into it, as shown with the foreshadowing of the images in the first few pages. This story about milk proves that there is brilliance in weirdness, and that you can write a book about absolutely anything.
Mad as the Mad Hatter, Neil Gaiman's recent book for younger readers - plus his other book for adults, 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' - are pure entertainment and wonder.
Final Score: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment