Joyland by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm kinda embarrassed.

I neglected reading Joyland because it was A: short and B: I didn't think it would be a trademark King.

For the first, I have no excuse. The second is all Shame On Me.

That cover is pure hogwash. The book diverges a bit from the normal SK in that he goes out on a REALLY STRANGE LIMB and writes an MC who doesn't have much in the way of faults. In fact, he's almost godlike the way young Danny Torrence was in the Shining. :) He's a damn good kid. A little depressed and unhappy, perhaps, but he breaks King's mold by being a genuinely decent kid!

*gasp* *shock*

Honestly, I found myself falling in love with this book from the very start and it only got better as it went on. I never really enjoy super-sappy nostalgia novels unless they're tinged with some really cool conflict and stakes, so Bradbury sometimes annoys me, but King? King does dead people with his beautiful memories and treasures and REAL HAPPINESS.

Yeah, King does REAL HAPPINESS here.

*gasp* *shock*

Yeah, no one is more surprised than me. I'm kinda blown away. :)



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