While
this is Rex Stout day for FFB ongoing things here prevented me from managing to
be on topic. Instead, I am offering you another repeat review of a quality
book. I first reviewed Joyland by
Stephen King three years ago. It is a mighty good read. For more reading
suggestions for FFB today head on over to Patti Abbott’s blog.
Devin Jones thought he had plans for
the summer of 73. He was a student at The University of New Hampshire as was
the love of his young life, Wendy Keegan. Both have university jobs thanks to
the work-study program and they do everything together. Everything that is
except “it.” Devin Jones thought the summer of 73 would go the same way as the
summer of 72 had with both of them working on campus, her in the library and he
in the Commons Cafeteria. And maybe, finally, after months of waiting and the
occasional almost, “it” would finally happen. That was his plan until Wendy
announced that she and her friend Renee would be working that summer at Filenes
in Boston. That was not the only bombshell she threw devastating Devin. Wendy
also announced that maybe the break would do them good as she said “’I’ll miss
you like mad, but really, Dev, we could probably use some time apart.” (Page
13)
While he wasn’t anywhere near to
accepting it, Devin knew what was most likely the end of their relationship
when he heard it. He also knew that a summer of mopping floors and carting
dishes was not something he wanted to in the first place. With no Wendy around
things would be even worse. Then, thanks to a magazine ad, Devin Jones applied
to work at Joyland. The amusement park in North Carolina near the beach is far
away from school, Wendy Keegan, and is a chance for Devin Jones to do something
entirely different for a few short months. A place that sells fun to those who
pass its gates, it also was the scene of a brutal murder long ago.
It is also a place when Devin Jones
will achieve redemption in a sense. Author Stephen King has written an incredible
and deeply moving novel that tells the powerful story of one man and the lives
he touched at Joyland. His actions and the reverberations of those actions
fundamentally changed the course of nearly everyone’s life that he came into
contact with that summer.
It wouldn’t be a Stephen King novel
if it wasn’t called “a horror story” as it is on the back cover synopsis.
Beyond the fact that the book is published by Hard Case Crime, don’t let that
characterization of Joyland fool you. There is a touch of the paranormal here but
it is one that won’t scare you though, by rights, maybe it should just a
little. Something unexplained by rational objective thought is at work here,
but, it never comes across scary to the reader.
And there is certainly, as befitting
the publisher, a complex mystery at foot. More than one and they will be
gradually revealed over the nearly 300 page book. That mystery is a major
player in the book and yet a small player for much of the novel until the final
forty pages that solve the mystery and much more. This is a novel that moves
slowly and gradually and takes time to develop the primary theme.
At its heart, Joyland is a book of
remembrance of things past. How what we did at 21, both big things as well as
little things, will have far different meaning to us at 40, 50, and beyond. It
is only later in life, decades later even, when looking back we realize how
things changed at different points in our lives. Sometimes we learn dark truths
when we are young. Sometimes not until we are far older. But, as the years pass
and the ability to see things clearly sharpens by way of hindsight, it becomes
obvious how a point here and a point there changed everything. Such is the case
here in this slow moving complex tale by Stephen King. Joyland is one of those
rare books that will fundamentally mean different things to readers of
different ages and different perspectives. One thing that all should be able to
agree on is the fact that there is deeply moving story telling at work in the
book.
Joyland
Stephen King
Hard Case Crime
June 2013
ISBN# 978-1-78116-264-4
Paperback (also available in audio and
eBook formats)
288 Pages
$12.95
Material supplied by the good folks
of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013, 2016
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment