Joyland

Underrated Stephen King Classic

Joyland is a feel good crime and romance story with some supernatural elements and comfortably finds a space in King's universe . It is neither an outright horror like It/ Pet cemetery nor a coming of age novella like the Body . The plot unfolds gradually and then develops suitably to hold the reader's attention but there are no major surprises or twists .The carnival/ amusement park characters are credible, likable and not made deliberately weird or freakish . However while Joyland is good ,it falls short of being a King classic because the necessary elements / ingredients are missing (strong negative characters,ancient evil, nightmarish places or situations, high tension, etc) but this also may be its strong point

King of horrors is back with a bang and great book.I am still in middle of the book, so Cant give honest review.

To be honest, Stephen King's stories are either a hit or a miss with me. I either enjoy them immeasurably or cannot get into them at all. I am really happy then that Joyland falls into the former category.Let's state the obvious right out front—No one can tell a tale like King can. This is a very simple plot—a 21-year-old guy gets temporary employment at a park named Joyland where he is assigned to be Howie the Hound in a stuffed suit among other things, and here he learns that the park's Horror House is indeed haunted by the spirit of a girl who was brutally murdered in it by a drifter. How Devin Jones (the guy) gets imbroiled in the entire situation with the ghost haunting is what the plot is about.King makes your jaw drop with a premise that's even as simple as this. To start with, there are the characters. King has always shone with his characters, and Joyland is no exception. You have a fortune teller, a tough guy working the Ferris wheel, the goody park manager, the benevolent but sly nonagenarian park owner; and as you go ahead in the story, a crippled kid and his "foxy" mother. You don't know when and how King populates this simple story with so many characters, whom you begin to love or detest (just as King manipulates you to) and then comes the point when you cannot stop reading. I have always believed that King's real magic is in characters rather than plot, and this extends to dialogue. Not many writers can make the story move forward with dialogue as effectively as King can.What really made this book stand out for me—and zoom from the pile of mundane King books to something spectacular—are the small nuggets of life's philosophies that are adeptly woven into the tale. Mike's character (the crippled kid) is wonderfully drawn out. A boy on the verge of death who is full of optimism even in the days that he has left, and even goes that extra step to save someone's life. This touched me. Only a person who is looking down the tunnel knows the true value of someone else's life. Then there is Devin Jones himself, growing with each of his actions, sowing enough seeds of great karma along the way even in this short job, which pay rich dividends in the end. There's much more of this, and it comes from the most unexpected places.Unlike most King's books, Joyland ends on a good note (albeit a sad one for an inevitable reason). And it goes much beyond horror. In fact, it would be a grand fallacy to peg Joyland as horror. This is a wonderful work of literature that needs to be enjoyed by many.

Joyland the titular place in this new King's novel is known for selling fun & King does the same in this book. This book which is marketed as a crime thriller is anything but a crime book.Its more like King wanted to write about Carnivals in general & in the end decided to shoehorn the plot of a serial killer, a ghost haunting the ride & a crippled kid acting as a medium, all of King's signature style is here. For a crime book it features a lot of fantasy elements of having the sight, ghost sighting, premonitions that instead off adding to the plot rather looks well out of place & I felt it was bit too overused to forward the plot which doesn't work here. Knowing its a crime thriller by King I was more expecting a Bag of bones type book where it all fitted in brilliantly but here it fails to add into its parts. However King succeeds in what he does best, memorable well fleshed out characters that you care about & Joyland, you can actually feel you being there all the parts of Joyland feels real, the carnies working there, the visiting folks, kids having fun, daily chores of setting up a show, all feels real, along with the main character you can feel being there working alongside him trying to sell fun & enjoying a bit of fun yourself while doing so. I fell in love with the bits about Joyland, the place & its people, only the way King can do, which is the only positive thing I can say about this book.If you enjoy King, you can give this a read, its rather fun & a quick read but if you go in with any expectations to read a mysterious novel with twists & turns that forces you to turn the pages then you will be disappointed. Overall it has a good vibe going for it, makes you feel like Joyland is a real place that you just visited while going through the book, but plotwise it gives you nothing more than a Kid working in a Carnival & having a best time of his life & you can be a part of it too if you are willing to give this one a try.

None

I had expected a new book and the book received is very old and in not good shape. The pages are yellow and smells bad as well

Enjoyed the book

Excelente livro, edição primorosa!

Really loved this illustrated edition as it's got full page drawings every 15-20 pages and really draws you a picture of some characters and plot points

Helt fantastisk bok. Man vill inte att den ska ta slut.

I can't say anything about the book as I haven't read it. I can say something about how I received the book. How on earth did this go through quality controls? Each page is literally at a different lenght. The pictures attached will tell you enough. Ridiciulous.

This is a stand alone mystery that still has a touch of the "spooky business" we all love about Stephen King books.The book runs along nicely lulling tye reader into a false sense of security before revealing the big surprise at the end. I recommend you have a glass of wine, and a tissue by your side, curl up in a comfy chair and away you go into the story. I loved it👍