Stephen King is an extremely versatile writer. Growing up in Portland, Maine, he began by just writing silly stories for his mom. In fact, that’s how he made his first dollar in the writing “biz”. He would sell stories to his mom for a quarter a piece. His mom bought four, he got a dollar. Next he would sell his short stories to magazines. He took a lot of rejection until finally, in 1973 he wrote Jerusalem’s Lot (Later retitled to become Salem’s Lot). A chilling tale about vampires. And in 1974 published Carrie the popular story about the bullied Carrietta White who possessed the power to perform telekinesis, and got pig’s blood dumped all over her on prom night. His prime writing time was said to be in the 80’s when his novels Misery, and IT were published. However, I don’t believe his prime writing time has ever ended. It is still chugging on, with more modern books being published such as the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy, Under the Dome, and Joyland.
Joyland was published in 2013 and made it onto the New York times bestseller list. The Hard Case Crime edition that I bought was just $7.99 and 309 pages. Solely by reading the first couple of pages, you would also be a firm believer that at the age of sixty-eight, he could still write novels just as good, or even better than anything he has ever written before. The book is written in a flashback to the summer of 1973, when college student, Devin Jones, gets a job working at Joyland. If you couldn’t already tell by glancing at the cover’s artwork, Joyland is an amusement park. No where near as big as Disney World, but it is “big enough to be impressive.” However, the cover’s artwork could also be misleading after reading the first paragraph of the book. After the first paragraph, it is easy to assume that the book will be based off of some corny love story. Except it is not. Although Devin does refer to Wendy Keegan (the girl who broke his heart) frequently, she does not play an actual role in the book at all.
Joyland is about mystery, riveting legacy murders, and horror. In the beginning, the book is hard to put down. There were several times while reading when I have lost track of time. Though towards the middle, there were times when I felt like I was reading a never ending description to irrelevant things. Once getting past a few pages full of those descriptions, you were right back in the action. During the first fifty or so pages, the most mysterious thing seemed to be, wondering if Devin, Erin, or Tom would have to “wear the fur,” but after hearing Mrs.Shoplaw’s story about the “Funhouse Killer,” you can tell King had a different motive for the plot. Although it did take a little while for the true plot to really get moving, when it started, it didn’t stop. Do not read this if you have previously feared carnivals during the night time, carnies, killer carnies, guns, and especially do not read this if you are home alone for a week while the rest of your family is in Cancun.
However, it is overall an incredible book about heartbreak turning into something much bigger than you thought it could have had the potential to be. It has a chilling vibe that could make anyone want to make sure their door is locked and check to see if mom is still fast asleep on the living room couch. It even withholds some of my favorite quotes such as:
“When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.”
“The concept of loving anyone other than Wendy Keegan seemed utterly foreign to me.”
“His enormous hands seemed to be nothing but knuckles.”
King’s ability to describe anything in a way that will allow you to understand what he is saying is impeccable. Also, the truth in what he writes is influential. Definitely a good purchase. I recommend this to anyone who is feeling up to a thrill, and a read full of surprises.
