This book review is published in conjunction with Battenkill Books of Cambridge, N.Y., my local bookstore. If you like this review (this is a print only book), please consider buying it from Battenkill. You can call 518 677-2515, order from their website (they take Paypal and ship anywhere in the world) or you can e-mail Connie Brooks at [email protected]. Help support a great independent bookstore, buy local, stave off the Corporate Monster.
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For all those people who lament the struggles of the paperback and for anyone who wants a sweet, sexy, spooky jewel of a book to read this summer, Stephen King has given you a print-only paperback edition of “Joyland,” $12.95 (Hard Case Crime). This is as close to the perfect summer read as you will get, the book is rich and spooky but in no way horrifying, it is a very touching coming-of-age story with a young hero who is nothing but brave, good and resourceful. You root for him every step of the way.
“Joyland” is the story of Devin Jones, a twenty-one-year-old virgin fresh from a broken heart who leaves his widower father back in the Northeast and heads for North Carolina (the book is set in 1973) to work at the venerable and struggling Joyland Amusement Park. “Jonesy,” as he is soon to be known is not one of those difficult young people. He is polite, empathetic and courteous. Like all sensitive young men, he wants to be a writer. Everyone likes him and sees the good in him. The book evokes an age when kids could go off and have a summer experience that will shape and mold them for the rest of their lives.
King has a blast creating the magical, nostalgic and rich world of the old-style amusement park, the ones driven out of business by the corporate theme parks in the 70’s and 80’s. King invents his own carny language, some of it real, some of it not and some great carny characters – the wise-cracking but good hearted boss, the mysterious Madame Fortuna, the part phony, part real fortune teller who migrates to Brooklyn off-season and warns him of the dangers he may face that summer. Devon plunges into this world with abandon, and he soon makes new and good friends, proves himself to the carny old-timers, save’s a girl’s life, befriends a dying boy with psychic powers, falls in love with the boy’s beautiful and over-protective mother.
The story begins with pure nostalgic and carnival adventure and atmosphere (the ferris wheel is the “chump-hoister”), but there is, of course, a shadow, a hint of menace to come. A young girl was murdered in the House Of Horrors some years earlier, the murderer has never been caught, the woman’s ghost is seen in the creaky old funhouse from time to time, she still haunts Joyland, they believe she is trying to get out of the funhouse, and when Devon decides to take a year off from school and work at the amusement park throughout the winter we know he is going to get into that funhouse, try and solve the mystery, and get into trouble. King drops some clues along the way, if you are paying attention you might be able to pick them up yourself. He plays fair with the reader.
King is a masterful story-teller and the plot starts to pick up speed and some edginess throughout the second half of the book, as it becomes clear the murderer may be closer at hand than anyone realized. Devon becomes deeply involved with young Mike and is determined to get him into Joyland for a final fling over the strong objections of his mother, who thinks he is too frail. Devon succeed’s and Mike’s last trip to the carnival is a heart-tugger.
The story is just a delicious and compelling read. King is very restrained in this book, it never gets too gory or too scary, the plot is no more disturbing than one of the softer mystery writers (think Louise Penny), but King evokes the lost world of the carnival and earnest and open imagination of a young man and fuses them together brilliantly. There is a hint of real menace that gives the book some intensity. “Joyland” is an especially good read for women, it is evocative and romantic without being disturbing and King knows how to put a yarn together. “Jonesy” is a sweet kid, you care about him from the first. I recommend it highly. Book lovers who are resisting the e-book revolution can feel good that this one will not be on a Kindle, at least not for awhile.
E-book lovers can get outdoors and buy this one from a bookstore, hopefully Battenkill (518-677-2515). I will be recommending books at Battenkill Saturday (tomorrow) from ll a.m. to noon.