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A review by billymac1962
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
5.0
This is the second Robert McCammon novel I've read. The last one was many many moons ago, Swan Song, and the similarities to Stephen King's The Stand were somewhat warranted. Some reviewers like to also draw comparisons of Boy's Life to King's The Body, but I would imagine if Swan Song had never been written, this comparison would not come up.
This is a coming of age novel, and simply speaking, this animal is a cliche in itself. To complain of this being a knockoff of King, Harper Lee, Dan Simmons (Summer of Night) is like slamming Zeppelin for ripping off delta blues licks. It is what it is.
What it is, is one of the best novels I've read. McCammon has a big bag of goodies, and he pulls out every one of them and throws them into this story of a 12 year old boy from 1964 Zephyr, Alabama. There are tinges of horror, fantasy, the supernatural, and a mystery that takes us through the whole story. The backdrop of 1964 Alabama is a telling of the coming of age of America, as well. Racism, Rock N Roll, Progress, Vietnam, these are all facts of life that are lurking around the corners of carefree, simpler times.
If there were any gripes about the novel, I'd say that some of the boys' dialogue was a little awkward. There are also two plot developments where I could not accept these characters doing this or allowing that, and there are the inevitable cliches that come with any coming of age story.
Any other novel, and I would knock a star off. I can't do that here. No way.
Boy's Life was a novel I could not wait to get back into. I would crave the coming weekend where I could finally get a few non-stop hours with Cory and his friends and adventures.
There are times when you read a novel that had been so good to be into that it takes forever to write a review. That's what's happening here. I'm trying way too hard and the words aren't coming naturally. I don't want to overhype it,yet I really want to convince people to read it.
The story's not without its flaws. But the experience of being "in it" is just, well, really nice.
Maybe it was just what I needed at the time, but, with a 5-star average rating at Amazon, with over a hundred ratings, I guess everyone else got that, too.
The Goodreads average stays high with my two-cents worth. I loved it.
This is a coming of age novel, and simply speaking, this animal is a cliche in itself. To complain of this being a knockoff of King, Harper Lee, Dan Simmons (Summer of Night) is like slamming Zeppelin for ripping off delta blues licks. It is what it is.
What it is, is one of the best novels I've read. McCammon has a big bag of goodies, and he pulls out every one of them and throws them into this story of a 12 year old boy from 1964 Zephyr, Alabama. There are tinges of horror, fantasy, the supernatural, and a mystery that takes us through the whole story. The backdrop of 1964 Alabama is a telling of the coming of age of America, as well. Racism, Rock N Roll, Progress, Vietnam, these are all facts of life that are lurking around the corners of carefree, simpler times.
If there were any gripes about the novel, I'd say that some of the boys' dialogue was a little awkward. There are also two plot developments where I could not accept these characters doing this or allowing that, and there are the inevitable cliches that come with any coming of age story.
Any other novel, and I would knock a star off. I can't do that here. No way.
Boy's Life was a novel I could not wait to get back into. I would crave the coming weekend where I could finally get a few non-stop hours with Cory and his friends and adventures.
There are times when you read a novel that had been so good to be into that it takes forever to write a review. That's what's happening here. I'm trying way too hard and the words aren't coming naturally. I don't want to overhype it,yet I really want to convince people to read it.
The story's not without its flaws. But the experience of being "in it" is just, well, really nice.
Maybe it was just what I needed at the time, but, with a 5-star average rating at Amazon, with over a hundred ratings, I guess everyone else got that, too.
The Goodreads average stays high with my two-cents worth. I loved it.