I just finished reading my first Stephen King novel and what a great experience it has been. Truthfully I’m a slave to all things beautiful and there are so many exquisite moments captured with language that I remain and will forever be a devotee of the literary novel.
For many years I have scorned (well maybe not quite scorned) but was closed to other kinds of literary experiences (and really what’s that about? I am the person after all, who spent almost all of my teenage years and early twenties ploughing through one Harlequin romance after the other interspersed with whatever naughty book I could get my hands on.
But back to Stephen King – I was lured into reading it because part of the book took place during the late 50’s which was close enough to the 60s ( my favourite decade of all time) to make me take a leap of faith. Plus it has a nifty time travel element that allows the reader (and the writer) to explore the kind of place America would be if America’s favourite president of all time escaped assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald – and was saved by the time travelling protagonist of the book.
I don’t care if there isn’t a pretty sentence in this book (and there isn’t). This is a great read – and according to my Stephen King loving colleague – the book contains all the great elements of great King storytelling – a creepy little town, a teacher hero, two little wiser than their years dancing kids and no doubt countless other similarities.
This book reads like a mountain of candy. I couldn’t put it down. It’s scary, it’s light, there’s a love story, an awesome time travel element, and King creates a great sense of place – particularly when our hero time travels back in time to 1958 to save President Kennedy‘s life.
Condofire 
curious to know if you have read Ron Rash’s Serena? Just read it for a lit course I was taking for non-credit. Takes place here in NC mountains.
Hey Ron,
No I haven’t read that. Did you like it? My next read is going to be 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Have you read that yet?
“This book reads like a mountain of candy.” Oooh! I love that line. I want to steal it. (But I won’t.)
Haha! I’m not possessive:) Steal away!
Tessa, too funny. Ross has been talking to me about Stephen King and how he’s a great writer, and I too have had a bias against him. But, your post here has convinced me I have to let that bias go and try him out. Thanks for posting about this as it is encouragement!
Oh geez, I’ve just noticed a spelling mistake and a BAD sentence. I’m not much of a self-editor I see:)
Tessa, I loved 1Q84! What a weird, giant, sprawling, messy beautiful book.
Alison, thank you! I was actually going to ask you on FB if you had read it. It’s a big commitment! But I read the first paragraph in the bookstore and was sold! Have you read Let The Great World Spin?
loved the book,have not picked up a Steven king for awhile,needed strong arms to read the hard cover= 864 pages , enjoyed the fact and fiction from that time,who knew lee harvey had a brother and mother?
I thought that was really interesting too. Just breathing life (even if it’s fictionalized) into historic figures makes the past seem all that much more real. Haha. Sometimes I forget why I studied history at university but then I realize what a true nerd I really am:)
Pingback: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – Book Review (sort of) | Condofire
Pingback: My 2012 List of Great Things | Condofire