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A review by mccauleyauthor
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
3.0
This was a tough rating for me. It took me nearly three months to get through this book. I can't recall the last time it took me more than a few days to get through a book. I considered DNF'ing a few times, but I would find myself randomly thinking of Cory Mackenson and Zephyr, and what the boy and his town had in store next. For that reason, I can understand why so many love this book.
The world-building here is incredible. If Zephyr were a real place, and you happened upon it one day by mistake, you'd know instantly where you were...that's how vivid the town and its people are. The end of the novel had a powerfully nostalgic effect on me; nostalgia for a place I'd only just finished reading about. But the same attention to detail that made the world of this book feel so familiar and lived-in, also made getting through it such a chore.
Yes, the tediousness of Boy's Life, more than anything else, is what truly stands out to me. I read the book about two chapters at a time. The main hook, the murder mystery, captured my attention right away, but the book itself isn't really about the murder at all. In fact, it's not really about anything. It's made up of multiple vignette's, told in retrospect from the 12-year-old protagonist's POV (though at times McCammon lazily explains away why Cory is aware of events for which he wasn't present), with the murder mystery loosely tying everything together. There were far too many bizarre or fantastic events occurring in this town for my taste, and those elements constantly took me out. Most of the events in this book, frankly, were unnecessary. You could remove full chapters of this book, full characters, full settings, with little-to-no effect on the overall story. It's overstuffed and overlong, plain and simple.
Despite having struggled to get through the novel, I went with a 3/5, because I can't say I didn't like it. In fact, I would love to see some sort of film or television adaptation of this book, as it would be fun to see some of these events and characters brought to life on the screen. However, I have no desire to revisit the world of the book as it stands on the page.
The world-building here is incredible. If Zephyr were a real place, and you happened upon it one day by mistake, you'd know instantly where you were...that's how vivid the town and its people are. The end of the novel had a powerfully nostalgic effect on me; nostalgia for a place I'd only just finished reading about. But the same attention to detail that made the world of this book feel so familiar and lived-in, also made getting through it such a chore.
Yes, the tediousness of Boy's Life, more than anything else, is what truly stands out to me. I read the book about two chapters at a time. The main hook, the murder mystery, captured my attention right away, but the book itself isn't really about the murder at all. In fact, it's not really about anything. It's made up of multiple vignette's, told in retrospect from the 12-year-old protagonist's POV (though at times McCammon lazily explains away why Cory is aware of events for which he wasn't present), with the murder mystery loosely tying everything together. There were far too many bizarre or fantastic events occurring in this town for my taste, and those elements constantly took me out. Most of the events in this book, frankly, were unnecessary. You could remove full chapters of this book, full characters, full settings, with little-to-no effect on the overall story. It's overstuffed and overlong, plain and simple.
Despite having struggled to get through the novel, I went with a 3/5, because I can't say I didn't like it. In fact, I would love to see some sort of film or television adaptation of this book, as it would be fun to see some of these events and characters brought to life on the screen. However, I have no desire to revisit the world of the book as it stands on the page.