YMMV / The Dream Palace

• Squick: Greg, who is 26, dates and has a sexual relationship with 16-year-old Lolly (who is immature and sheltered for her age, and looks young enough to be mistaken for a pre-teen.) His previous girlfriend Liza was 17, so he has a history of dating young teenage girls; and he's attracted to Lolly specifically because she looks like a younger version of Liza. In turn, Lolly's attraction to Greg is in large part because she associates him with her father, and Greg deliberately plays up to this so that Lolly will like him. He often treats her like a child, and likes to see her in school uniform.
• Tear Jerker: The scene where Little Glad dies. Made worse by Lolly initially mistaking her agonal breathing for snoring, and sadly thinking that Little Glad is too old and sick even to realise she's dying.
  When she dreams is she still a sick old woman? Or is she young again, sprightly in a silky dress and high heels? Is she tripping off to a dance like Cinderella? Watch out for when the clock strikes, Little Glad. You'll wake up and your hair will fall out, your teeth will rot, your legs will buckle, your bladder will burst, and you won't even know why, because your mind won't work.
• Values Dissonance:
  • At the age of 16, Lolly has already left school and works in a care home. 16 is still the minimum school leaving age in the UK, but in today's world she would be encouraged to go into further education or vocational training rather than straight into work with vulnerable people. It is also mandatory for carers to undergo a fair amount of training before they can work with the elderly, whereas in the novel Lolly is expected to learn on the job.
  • The staff at Seaview are callous, neglectful, and uncaring towards the elderly residents. Although this is sadly not unusual in care homes today, it is at least acknowledged as a problem, and such establishments are more strictly regulated.
  • The attitudes that Shirley and the police express towards drug addicts and squatters are incredibly stigmatising and very much of their time. While this is partly intentional, Lolly (who is sympathetic to Greg and the others at the Palace) does it to a lesser extent.
  • Annie's first love, a Traveller, is repeatedly referred to in terms that are now understood as offensive.
  • Lolly and Lynn are both allowed to stay out late at night with their boyfriends - since Shirley doesn't know who Greg is and thinks he is Lolly's age. Although both girls are legally of age for sex, and their mothers are open-minded about it, modern parents would be more likely to frown on letting a teenager stay out till the early hours without even a phone call.