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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
I absolutely adored every moment of this book. I didn't want it to end. Honestly. I've read enough to know when I get a glimpse of a world, when I visit, when I'm immersed, and when I am fully swallowed. This world of Zephyr swallowed me whole and spit me out, wanting more. I laughed, I wondered, I got a little sad and scared right alongside Cory. What a phenomenal world of characters representing the life of a dying town and their dying ways of living. I am sure I will come back and edit this because I just can not say enough. I am already missing this world.
Had I read the full description, I would have passed over this book. It’s listed as “fantasy.” But it reads more memoir or realistic fiction with just a few magical elements. You never really know if the fantastic elements are supposed to be real or just a product of young boys’ imagination. It reads very much like a Stephen King...a mix of “It” (without horror) and “Stand by Me”. Great read.
Robert McCammon did an amazing trick with this book, telling the adolescent adventures that weren’t at all like my own, of a boy who isn’t me, in a place that is nowhere like my hometown - and yet I felt like the story WAS everything I had lived through growing up. The story is suspenseful, funny, touching, and harrowing. And the magic of childhood has never been more beautifully captured. Topping that all off with a master-class in prose craftsmanship - pay attention to the way McCammon’s words move and breathe! - and this book is purely, simply astonishing.
What a terrific book! Young boy growing up in a small southern town in the 60s, and an intriguing murder mystery to boot.
This book injected the magic & whimsy of growing up right into my bones. a classic coming of age tale ala stand by me or sandlot & easily just as good. but what this one does is add a big healthy dose of magical realism. monsters ghosts mystics voodoo flying dogs. its got it all. i laughed & cried all over this thing. for joy & pain & both braided together. one chapter specifically had me crying harder than any novel ever has. im too damn tired to put more into this but this novel just waltzed on into my all timer club.
I read Boy’s Life for the first time some forty years ago and I was curious how it would hold up after all this time. I wasn’t disappointed. In this genre McCammon is one of the best I think. The story is set in small-town Alabama in 1964 and though it is narrated by a twelve year old boy, it touches on matters very ‘grown-up’ like racism, segregation, bullying, friends dying, corruption, word war II and (neo)Nazis. It is not a realistic story; there are monsters and some voodoo magic, but seen through the eyes of a kid it’s pretty scary just the same.
I don't give many 5 stars, but wow! I loved this book. Story of a young boy in a small town in the 60's. Adventures, mysteries, magic. Wow, wish I was starting it again.
That was absolutely satisfying! It was not a fast-paced novel, for the most part, but I found myself completely drawn into Cory's town of Zephyr. While he narrated most of it, there were events that took place where he was not present and he basically recounted it secondhand, but that worked pretty well. I think a narrator can definitely make or break a novel and Ray Foushee was absolutely perfect for this book. I was able to slow it down and speed it up and it didn't make a difference--I thought his narration was pitch-perfect. What I loved about this story was that I felt absolutely transported into Zephyr and felt as if I could look around and see the same things Cory saw. Although it slowed down at times, I never got bored, and there was just enough "unusual things" occurring in every chapter that it kept you guessing whether it was supernatural or in the writer's imagination. I've heard many people compare McCammon to King, and I can see some commonalities--both are very good at writing interesting, but ordinary characters. But I also kept thinking of William Kent Kreuger as I read this book. If you are a fan of either author and you enjoy interesting characters, I think you would probably enjoy this one. I can't say anything about the narrator currently on Audible but Ray Foushee was perfect and I would absolutely listen to this book again in the future.
