Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Fairy Tale

Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

11 reviews

zakcebulski's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

The king is back.
What a read. I was so excited to get into this story, and my lovely girlfriend ended up surprising my with it.
As this is the year in which I have by far read the most Stephen King, this book was a fantastic addition to his repertoire.
The story takes place from the point of view of 17 year old Charlie Reade, who is just one of the most likeable protagonists in the works of Stephen King. Charlie is an all around good guy who is athletic, and wants to help everyone.
He loses his mom to a driver in a horrendous fashion. After the accident that kills his mother his father falls in to a spiral of self destruction stemming from alcoholism.
Now, this would usually be a key plot point in a King novel- how many of King's characters are walking embodiments of "first the man takes a drink, then the drink takes the man"?
But, Charlie makes a deal with God to have his dad stop drinking, in exchange he offers the vague trade of doing something for God.
This ends up being fulfilled in the way of Charlie saving elderly curmudgeon Mr. Bowditch, who Charlie saves after he falls from a ladder and fucks up his leg.
While in the hospital Bowditch is forced to trust Charlie with not only maintaining his house but also with taking care of probably the best part of this book... RADAR THE GERMAN SHEPARD.
What a fucking GREAT character Radar is. I love dogs, and when I was reading this book, I was constantly smiling and grimacing based off of the experiences of the best friend around.

Mr. Bowditch has secrets tucked away in his shed, and, when he ends up dying of a heart attack, it is revealed that his shed is the portal to another world, akin to the steps in 11/22/63 which I thought of often. This world is called "Empis" and it is a fantasy world inhabited by many a kind people. However, these people are also plagued by "the gray" which is a physically progressing disease that causes people to essentially melt away. Charlie also finds out that there is a sun dial that has the ability to reverse time, which he intends to use on Radar as she is old and nearing death.
While there he successfully reverses Radar's aging, but, he is also capture by the evil king- the Flight Killer and the evil kingdom. It is the Charlie's task, along with those whom he interacts with along the way, to escape and save the kingdom.

The first thing that I have to praise is King's character writing. If you read any of my previous reviews of King's works, it is evident that one of my biggest gripes with his work is the character casts. Most of the time they are so evil or so good that there is no nuance to them. I did not feel that in this book. There are characters who are dealing with internal strife, and when they are evil, or they are good, you can understand their intentions, and they have time spent developing them. They don't feel like characters who are acting in a way solely to progress the story, rather, they are acting in a way because that is how they would, if they were real people.
I thought that the relationships between Charlie and Mr. Bowditch, Radar and Charlie's dad were some of the strongest character relationships which I have read recently. The cast of characters in Empis is girthy- there seem to be a new name on every fucking page, which can be a bit overwhelming, but, King managed to write them in a way in which they feel unique.

I thought that the scenes when Charlie is imprisoned were so well done, especially the fight scenes. The guards in the Empis jail were so intimidating and Charlie figuring out how to lead a revolt was truly fantastic. I thought that the looming threat of a fight to the death ala Battle Royale as it is the constant threat of the resistance numbers being cut down and down.
When the big bads were cut down, I did feel a surge of triumph. But, there were still some instances wherein you truly do feel sympathy because the character's backstory's are illustrated so exquisitely.

The imagery in this book runs the gamut from beautiful to terrifying, to awe inspiring to gore filled and horrific and I will be goddamned if I didn't love every bit of it. The set pieces- two moons colliding, a field of battle covered in blood and guts, a massive chronology reversing sundial. King's descriptive prowess is on full display here, and it was a blast to read.
His pacing in this book is some of the best that I can recall reading. It is about half way through the book before Charlie ends up in Empis. This does wonders to help build up the allure and wonder of what is going on in that damn shed. It also gives the reader the opportunity to learn more about the characters and to build relationships between the characters. Not once did I find the pacing to be slow to the point of overindulgence, or mastubatory. Rather, I found it perfectly fit with the narrative structure of the story.

You can tell that King had a fucking blast with this book. It was such a fun time to read through, and it was nice to read a King book where it had a happy ending?? I read this book with apprehension that Radar was going to die a hero's sacrificial death, and that did not happen thank goodness!!
I loved this book, and I can say that I would happily revisit this book in a heartbeat. We are truly so luck to live in a world wherein an author like Stephen King is still putting out stellar reads 5 decades since starting his career.

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