The unbelievable town - Stephen King on the carousel about "Joyland".
I like King, since I read "Carrie" in my teens years. I must admit that it was an excellent book, even if it would show off telekinesis and the massacre without using a saw. Anyway, I was a bit doomed on King, my parents were passionately buying all his books. Through all these years, King was not a master of horror for me, because he can't scared. King was the author who could write a great American novel but he was unlucky that the first novel he sold was a horror. And so King became an author, known for being able to scare. And "Joyland" once again shows that the last thing that King does well is scaring.
King writes three types of novels. Thick ones that are promoted in all bookstores (”Under the Dome”), the thinner (”The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon”, ”Lisey’s Story”) and those whose authorship is easily attributed to someone else. There are also novels from ”The Dark Tower” series, but I will not pretend that I read them. "Joyland" is one of those thinner novels by King. It's a pity. Because the initial idea is suitable for a thick book with a whole lot of details. What is the idea? Here we have a young boy during a student vacation, he is hired as an assistant in a funfair. It turns out pretty good at what he's doing, and since his heart is broken by the girl's departure, it stays even longer. The idea is so good that King perfectly describes all the small details of life in the amusement park from the side of employees. While reading about a dramatic summer spent behind the scenes of the funfair it begins to regret a bit that the author will try to add some paranormal or terrible elements to this picture. Because King is describing this closed world of people who are usually not seen and can not remember perfectly. As well as writing about these nice, idealistic young boys who have a good heart and good intentions. No one writes young people as well as King. My opinion is that, unlike many authors, it gives them a lot of sympathy, at the same time not forgetting that the completion of eighteen years does not make them adults. He is taking of a correction for the age of the characters that makes the author kind for them and is able to convince us to his heroes.
The book is...cool. Maybe a little more significant events and a little less classic King procedure, for example inserting sentences "I did not know that the last time", "I ate a hot dog and it's turned out that was the most important for dog this summer", (none of the sentences comes from the book). I know it draws in and tells you to continue reading, but when you know the procedure, it starts to irritate a bit. In any case, repeated a dozen times on 300 pages. No less a picture of summer during the study seen through the eyes of a funfair worker is a really nice starting point. But as in most King's books, everything that he entertains begins to break down exactly when the writer remembers that he is not the author of great novels but the author of horror. This means that to a pretty shapely plot of a novel about growing up and treating yourself from the first heart break love, the author strips a few paranormal elements and clicks on mysteries that are unexplained. They just attach it because it's not hard to see that they are written schematically and without ideas. These are supposed to add flavor to the story rather gravitate, the solution itself is bland, if not completely disappointing. King once again proves that he creates a good mood, writes cool characters but ultimately scares much worse than many weaker authors. Especially that you can clearly see that this is one of those books where the author has an idea for a starting point for the story but all the rest is added from a jar "ideas for the end of the book." This time, King drew two previous fates and probably did not try too hard to hide that he is not selling anything new.
So what, read or not to read? It seems to me that it is better, to take from the shelf any of the older King books, where, he had a little more space to build an interesting world presented, which was curious enough not to worry about a completely pointless or professionally ending. Especially that the attractive element of "Joyland" is to be, among other things, the specific language used by the amusement park employees. In any case, I had the impression that all this circus / amusement park talks sounds artificial. Maybe it's the fault of the translation. Well, this is the minus of reading in the other languages than the author. Although we must admit that King does not work here as well as he could. Because you have to admit that a funfair, whether active during the summer or closed in autumn, is the perfect place to tell a horror story. Meanwhile, King does not feel threatening at all. Maybe the author ran out of time to suggest the place so suggestively that each roller coaster seemed to us a demonic trap. Or maybe, all the time I felt, he ran out of space. King, as you know, writes a lot and is constantly busy, but this book gives the impression of being unfinished. At King, there is usually such a thick narrative full of details, and in "Joyland" we have like one of the traditional ten threads.
To be completely clear and honest. The book is really good to read. Overall, I've noticed that most King books are nice to read. I usually abandon King's books after three-quarters when all the paranormal activities starts and then I remembers only the excellent books with well-defined supporting characters. It is perhaps an eccentric approach to the books of the king of horror (someone seriously hurt him with this title), but some of them gain a lot from it (eg ”Christine”). At the same time, it must be admitted that this also results from the rather unpleasant convolution of the circumstance that I really like the style of King but I don't like to be scared. What, as you understand, can create some difficulties.
All the pictures you can find here: http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-illegal-tour-of-abandoned-six-flags-new-orleans-75-pics/