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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
Stephen King by way of Ray Bradbury and Norman Rockwell. The writing is really what won me over. At times it felt like little vignettes that were unrelated but the ending ties it all up nicely. Felt like my summers as a boy.
Boy's Life is a truly wonderful coming of age tale that could, quite possibly, be my favorite read of 2021. It certainly belongs in my top three for the year. This was the first novel that I've read by Robert McCammon, and surely will not be the last.
This one felt really special. While the story initially hooks you with the central plotline of a murder mystery, and is lightly peppered with some supernatural aspects, Boy's Life honestly goes deeper than that. It brought a lot of nostalgia and feelings of my youth due to its primary focus on the main character, his relationship with his family and friends, and several big moments in his life that many of us also go through. Cory experiences a wide range of emotions as he goes through important chapters in an eventful year of his life. The impact of grieving, discovering his passions, and learning more about the town of Zephyr and the people who live among him. It's a truly memorable story with some very heartfelt moments. His relationship with his father was my favorite aspect of the novel.
I loved Boy's Life and I can't imagine finishing the reading year on a higher note than this, but that's what I love about books. There's always a captivating story on the horizon. This was absolutely one of them. Highly recommended!
This one felt really special. While the story initially hooks you with the central plotline of a murder mystery, and is lightly peppered with some supernatural aspects, Boy's Life honestly goes deeper than that. It brought a lot of nostalgia and feelings of my youth due to its primary focus on the main character, his relationship with his family and friends, and several big moments in his life that many of us also go through. Cory experiences a wide range of emotions as he goes through important chapters in an eventful year of his life. The impact of grieving, discovering his passions, and learning more about the town of Zephyr and the people who live among him. It's a truly memorable story with some very heartfelt moments. His relationship with his father was my favorite aspect of the novel.
I loved Boy's Life and I can't imagine finishing the reading year on a higher note than this, but that's what I love about books. There's always a captivating story on the horizon. This was absolutely one of them. Highly recommended!
This book was sentimental and riddled with cliches, but I still enjoyed reading it. It was sort of an odd mixture of suspense, magical realism, and coming of age.
Back in the glorious 1960s, when men were milkmen, women spent much of their time baking, and children said "Yes, sir" to their elders, a young boy came of age in the small town of Zephyr, Alabama. The story begins when 12-year old Cory Mackenson and his father (a milkman) were driving around on his milk route when a car careens out of the forest in front of them and crashes into the lake. Cory's father jumps into the lake in a rescue attempt, but finds that the "driver" is dead, naked, strangled, and handcuffed to the steering wheel.
The remainder of the book is split between Cory's attempts to solve the mystery of the man in the lake, and darkly amusing vignettes involving the monster that lives in the river, the escape of a demonic monkey who craps everywhere, boys and their bicycles, the guy who walks around town naked, a zombie dog, the Ku Klux Klan, going to the carnival, etc.
It contains a typical example of the tiresome cliche of the Magical Negro in Moon Man and the Lady, two magical Negroes who live on the Negro side of town. There was always a deus ex machina who would save the day when someone was in trouble, sometimes in the form of a magical Negro. Predictably, everything was wrapped up tight in the end, the bad guys were in prison, the magical Negroes triumph over the KKK, and Cory and his friends go on to become productive members of society.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this, but it's time to go back to real books.
Back in the glorious 1960s, when men were milkmen, women spent much of their time baking, and children said "Yes, sir" to their elders, a young boy came of age in the small town of Zephyr, Alabama. The story begins when 12-year old Cory Mackenson and his father (a milkman) were driving around on his milk route when a car careens out of the forest in front of them and crashes into the lake. Cory's father jumps into the lake in a rescue attempt, but finds that the "driver" is dead, naked, strangled, and handcuffed to the steering wheel.
The remainder of the book is split between Cory's attempts to solve the mystery of the man in the lake, and darkly amusing vignettes involving the monster that lives in the river, the escape of a demonic monkey who craps everywhere, boys and their bicycles, the guy who walks around town naked, a zombie dog, the Ku Klux Klan, going to the carnival, etc.
It contains a typical example of the tiresome cliche of the Magical Negro in Moon Man and the Lady, two magical Negroes who live on the Negro side of town. There was always a deus ex machina who would save the day when someone was in trouble, sometimes in the form of a magical Negro. Predictably, everything was wrapped up tight in the end, the bad guys were in prison, the magical Negroes triumph over the KKK, and Cory and his friends go on to become productive members of society.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this, but it's time to go back to real books.
This one took me a while. Partly because my enthusiasm for reading continues at a low ebb, partly because I had some other real life stuff going on that kept me from reading, and partly because when I did have time to read, I found myself finding other things to do rather than pick this book up.
Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. I think many people besides me have compared this to several of King's stories, most notably The Body and IT. For me, the king of childhood nostalgia remains King. Maybe that's because I read many of King's books when I, myself, was on the cusp of childhood and adulthood. But I think King also captures that magic a bit more. I can't help but think of the scenes from IT that are just so perfect; building the dam in the barrens, the rock fight with Henry Bowers & Co., etc. I also felt more connected to those kids individually because the reader spends time in each of their heads, whereas Boy's Life stays entirely with Cory.
Anyways, this book was still highly enjoyable. I could even argue that the writing itself is more literary than King. But I felt that there were a few too many things going on. We've got a murder mystery that rather fades to the background for most of the book and which Cory strongly figures a suspect somewhat early on but gets dragged out for quite a while. We've got a river monster. We've got a KKK subplot going on that gets wrapped up rather quickly. There's a small-town crime syndicate. There's the local bullies. Likewise, some of the characters do the same. We spend a decent amount of time with the enigmatic Vernon Thaxter, only for him to completely disappear in the second half. Things appear only to get wrapped up in a rather quick, couple-page-long scenes. There also wasn't enough "kids doing kid things" to really get into that childhood nostalgia. I think this book could have cut some of the subplots and focused more on the central ones and spent more time with the kids being kids.
But, there were some great characters. Cory and his family, Vernon, and The Lady and her household were all great.
Also, my copy is the (as usual) wonderful Suntup Press edition. I'll also be getting Suntup's Swan Song by McCammon when that comes out.
Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. I think many people besides me have compared this to several of King's stories, most notably The Body and IT. For me, the king of childhood nostalgia remains King. Maybe that's because I read many of King's books when I, myself, was on the cusp of childhood and adulthood. But I think King also captures that magic a bit more. I can't help but think of the scenes from IT that are just so perfect; building the dam in the barrens, the rock fight with Henry Bowers & Co., etc. I also felt more connected to those kids individually because the reader spends time in each of their heads, whereas Boy's Life stays entirely with Cory.
Anyways, this book was still highly enjoyable. I could even argue that the writing itself is more literary than King. But I felt that there were a few too many things going on. We've got a murder mystery that rather fades to the background for most of the book and which Cory strongly figures a suspect somewhat early on but gets dragged out for quite a while. We've got a river monster. We've got a KKK subplot going on that gets wrapped up rather quickly. There's a small-town crime syndicate. There's the local bullies. Likewise, some of the characters do the same. We spend a decent amount of time with the enigmatic Vernon Thaxter, only for him to completely disappear in the second half. Things appear only to get wrapped up in a rather quick, couple-page-long scenes. There also wasn't enough "kids doing kid things" to really get into that childhood nostalgia. I think this book could have cut some of the subplots and focused more on the central ones and spent more time with the kids being kids.
But, there were some great characters. Cory and his family, Vernon, and The Lady and her household were all great.
Also, my copy is the (as usual) wonderful Suntup Press edition. I'll also be getting Suntup's Swan Song by McCammon when that comes out.
Just listened to the audio, which is a reread for me, and it's still one of my favorite books.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Most excellent.
A clean mix of a very compelling murder mystery, a coming-of-age period drama, and a supernatural fantasy.
McCammon has been compared to Stephen King by some.
I guess I can see it.
Except better in every way.
A clean mix of a very compelling murder mystery, a coming-of-age period drama, and a supernatural fantasy.
McCammon has been compared to Stephen King by some.
I guess I can see it.
Except better in every way.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had really high hopes for this book, and it was good, but it wasn't as good as I expected based on reviews. I came looking for something a bit like the Blackwater Series, and it is in some ways, but more than anything this is a nostalgia trip. I guess it's hard to understand the nostalgia of being a 12 year old Alabaman boy in the 1960s when you're a 30 year old English woman in 2025.
I can see why so many people love it, because if what you're after is boyhood nostalgia, then Boy's Life does an excellent job.
It's well written and I finished it in 4 days (fast for me, for a 600+ page book), so I can't say I didn't enjoy it. But I would say it reads like a YA written for adults, which just isn't really my vibe.
Nonetheless, I don't regret reading it. The paperback is £22 in the UK, but I read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. I'm glad I didn't pay £22. I'd have felt a bit scorned.
There are some nasty racial slurs and some very unpleasant animal abuse that I really wasn't expecting. I'd say they're the main trigger warnings in my opinion.
I can see why so many people love it, because if what you're after is boyhood nostalgia, then Boy's Life does an excellent job.
It's well written and I finished it in 4 days (fast for me, for a 600+ page book), so I can't say I didn't enjoy it. But I would say it reads like a YA written for adults, which just isn't really my vibe.
Nonetheless, I don't regret reading it. The paperback is £22 in the UK, but I read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. I'm glad I didn't pay £22. I'd have felt a bit scorned.
There are some nasty racial slurs and some very unpleasant animal abuse that I really wasn't expecting. I'd say they're the main trigger warnings in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Murder