I've decided to start a thread dedicated to Joyland. A number of posts in Calvin's Corner should be moved here.
John
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I've decided to start a thread dedicated to Joyland. A number of posts in Calvin's Corner should be moved here.
John
Thanks ;)
Thanks! :)
I just finished. First of all, I loved it. I think back to something said in Hearts in Atlantis, some books have good writing, some have good stories and some have both. This has both. For me a book gets a good rating when I feel an emotional attachment to the characters. This has that. Dev is a very likable person. I wish I was able to describe what I'm thinking. The best I can say is that the "ride" of reading through this book was so enjoyable that I wanted it to go on. There are some books where once you know how they end, that's it. They might be clever or action packed but nothing more than just a cheap thrill.
Right now I don't have much in way of discussion. Although I do wish that Dev had had the opportunity to see the ghost.
I agree with your review, the characters are likable and seem real, not flat. I blew through it in two days which doesn't happen often, it is a fairly short book but it grabbed my attention and held it. A couple things tipped off the culprit. The white hair and the tipped hat. I don't try to figure things out before I get to the end, but these two clues tipped it off for me.
I think that this can happen when the right personalities are thrown together and they know that they will be together a lot in the future. I've met people and our personalities just click so that it seems that we've known each other for years. I felt that this was the case with the Joyland trio, they just clicked. Other people that I've known for years and it seems I hardly know them at all.
I thought it was great. My favorite King novels of the last decade are Duma Key, The Dark Tower, and 11/22/63, and this one sits beside those pretty damn comfortably.
Just finished it and loved every page. I really didn't have any expectations one way or the other before I started, but was really surprised with how good it was. I haven't come across too many books lately that are both emotionally satisfying AND an exciting page turner, so that was a treat.
And just when I thought SK might let Mike live.
I actually had thought there would be a little more story of Dev trying to "save" Mike. Early on and a few times during the book it was mentioned that Dev can't save them all, so that is what I was expecting.
I wasn't sure which thread to post this in, but here's some news from the Publishers Weekly daily email today:
"A trade paperback that has no e-book available, Stephen King’s Joyland, from Hard Case Crime, sold about 74,000 copies last week, making it the third bestselling print title in the week trailing only Entwined and Inferno."
Brian
Does that number seem kind of low to anyone else? Especially for King?
I've heard a lot of reports of people only finding 5 or 10 copies of the book in their local Barnes & Noble, with those copies back in the fiction section or on an endcap instead of out front. Random House handles the US distribution for Titan, so maybe they didn't want to pay for the prime real estate at the front of the stores and that hurt sales?
Brian
Definitely possible. I know I wouldn't have found all the copies I did unless I went searching all over BN. I mean, there weren't even any in the Stephen King section. :lol:
Same thing happened to me. Your nearest one isn't White Marsh, is it?
I found my copies at the B&N on the "New in Paperback" table. They had 10-15 copies there.
John
Maybe people in Ohio are more literate than Maryland? It wouldn't surprise me. :lol:
I enjoyed the book, it was a fun read. I was surprised as to how short the book was, but yet it was very concise, and a complete story.
I thought King did a good job describing the inner world of the Joyland park, and the life of working in the park, the life of being a carnie. He made it seem very romantic. Yet he didn't get too involved or add too much unnecessary information or side stories that weren't pertinent to the main plot. Devon and the rest of the characters were very likeable, even the bit players like the costume lady and the landlord.
I was surprised by the 'twist' and how the book ended. Overall it was a great read. The narrator of the audio book wasn't so great, but it didn't spoil the book for me.
One complaint. King couldn't resist his jabs against Dick Cheney and the Christian faith. I get tired of his politics making its way into his books. His recent books would be much better if they didn't include his political jabs. It's pretty tiresome.
I am of the opinion that it is his story, I guess he should be allowed to tell it however he wants too.
John, thank you for starting this thread, I've been looking for this for the past few days.
I loved this book; the hard-boiled style, the nods to Donald Westlake, all of his messages about growing up and being the person you are meant to be.
I agree with Brownings on the debate point. I'm Catholic, and Libertarian but I lean towards Republicans on the majority of issues, but I think it's the author's right to write the story how he or she sees fit. Every piece of writing is going to have the author's opinions in it one way or another, even if it's the polar opposite. I don't think it was overdone, or tarnished the story in any way.
I really dug this one. Breezed through it in a day. King really knows how to get to the meat of a coming-of-age tale, and this is no exception. I had the killer pegged by the halfway point, though, but it really didn't matter because it played out so wonderfully. I also found it to be quite cinematic.
Under the Dome is a great book. Easily top 10 for me. I guess if King makes one of his characters a right wing DB, then that must be a reflection of King himself.....or it could just be a character in a work of fiction. Hopefully King doesn't ever write about an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist, because I guess by your rationale, that would make SK Osama Bin Laden.
I didn't even notice the Cheney thing. I was too busy enjoying the story. Dunno, maybe that kind of stuff stands out more when your own beliefs don't align with author's. If it was truly just about not mixing religion and politics and fiction, well, please go make the same kind of posts about The Stand, 'Salem's Lot and DT books with Callahan. There's a pretty heavy-handed pro-Christian feel to The Stand. It's still one of my favourites and I'm taking it to have it signed in October.
I'm about the opposite of King's political opinions as can be, but I barely noticed those mentioned in Joyland. The story just grabbed me.
John
Yep. Sometimes you just have to accept that people are different and roll with it. My beliefs are not exactly in sync with King but they're pretty close. There are others though from whom I couldn't be further but I still love their books (Simmons, Koontz, Frank Miller, OSC, Heinlein, the guy who writes Fables). A good story is a good story, period.
Nope. It's about him interjecting his political/religious bitterness into his stories. I don't much care what his political views are, whether they agree with mine or not. I don't care to read stories with any of that interjected. The Stand and 'Salem's Lot involved religion, but did not include opinions in favor one way or the other. None of the Dick Cheney stuff, or the NRA stuff, or the Baptist Preacher stuff was integral to the story and was just a matter of King spewing his personal bitter opinions. IMO as a story teller, that is irresponsible.
I think it produces a well-defined FICTIONAL character.
Although I found the Jim Rennie right wing nut job caricature in UTD to be overkill at least it was within context of the story. The Cheney reference in Joyland came out of the blue and had no bearing on the story. The good news is If SK needs straw man characters for future novels he need look no further than the current administration for inspiration.
I'm gonna piggy back on this. I'm closest to the Towson location. I had to hunt for a copy. Nothing in the SK section, just two copies on the new in paperback section. It was an off day at the Towson location, tho. Hardly any employees around. I couldn't even find Curt and I always see him.
But, anyway, I really enjoyed this one. Ardai said the end made him cry and I wasn't too far behind. Gobbled it within a day, hit all the right emotional points.
Welcome to the forums Don!!
As to political/religon stuff in this book, there was so little I didn't even notice it. *shrug*
Thankee, all. I am well met, I'll tell ya that!
I didn't get the impression that King was attacking the Christian faith given that the story seems to confirm the existence of the afterlife, something that Annie doesn't initially believe. Stephen King talked about God for an interview about Joyland and said he believes in intelligent design (or the possibility of it at least). Granted he has had a couple of negative depictions of Christianity in his books but I don't know how you can look at The Stand or Desperation or Father Callahan's arc in the last three Dark Tower books and see King as an anti-Christian writer. He doesn't strike me as being bitter either just because he has a few pointed views.
Also I really enjoyed the book but I am a bit amused for a line called "Hard Case Crime" that it's probably his most low-key story to date with the crime element only coming to the forefront in the last third of the story. I'm sure the publisher isn't complaining though. :P Joyland's probably one of those books that I'd give to someone who hasn't read a Stephen King book before and thinks that he's just a horror writer.
Yeah, King's beliefs are definitely not "bitter", far from it.