Joyland
Ratings230
Average rating3.9
A nostalgic feeling coming of age drama with hints of suspense. Reading this makes you feel like your own summer is coming to a close as the fair comes to town and your last chance to see some friends and shoot your shot at your crush arrive once more. I respect King for exploring different genres every once in a while, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when I read anything slightly raunchy coming from him—not to say Joyland is filled with it. This will definitely get picked up and adapted into a miniseries or film.
Such an enjoyable coming-of-age and ghostly tale. I really like this book. Read so many times it is like visiting with an old friend.
Pretty forgetable story, shallow characters. I did not felt like I was reading from stephen king at all
I listened to the audiobook - which was the right choice as the narrator felt nearly perfect for the first person telling of the story. He captured well in his voice the subtle, special nuance when a pivotal time in a young man's life is recalled when the same man is old. The story is enchanting as King creates a world of summertime and the fall which inevitably follows. There's a balanced blend of the great elements of story - promise, romance, loss, longing, nostalgia, change, and growth. Since it is a King novel, there's just enough of the supernatural to add a paranormal element. It's introduced early and then not revisited until the final third. And, I like that it's not over explained while still being a key part of the resolution. A highly recommended novel -especially for the time of year which will come as surely as July 4th (tomorrow) will sooner enough lead to Labor Day and beyond.
Really heart touching story but the cover gave a different vibe from the book content. I loved the story.
Really enjoyed this. It was heartwarming, but also heart wrenching. Great character development. Made me laugh and cry.
It was not fast paced or thrilling at many points, but I couldn't stop reading. Very unputdownable.
The ending was very unexpected (at least for me) and captivating.
Definitely recommend!
Let's just get it out there: I feel like SK was given a boatload of money to turn an unfinished story into something that Hard Case could publish. So, what's going on with this book? Readers will be happy to know that they can find that wonderful King prose they've fallen in love with. It's no secret that the guy can tell a story. Often, King struggles with plot. On the back cover, the synopsis claims that this is not only a mystery, but also a horror and coming-of-age story. Now, I'm not sure I completely agree with that assessment, but I will say that the book seems to be none of those simultaneously. Tone shifts drastically from page to page. And unlike most SK works, there are no chapters, only breaks.
As far as mystery goes: yes, technically there's a “mystery.” In all fairness, many King novels have some sort of mystery. The cover and synopsis might lead one to believe that there's some sort of Spade/Marlowe thing going on, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In regards to horror, this is absolutely not a horror book. There is a supernatural element to the story, but nothing outright terrifying like the ghosts that have appeared in previous King works. Now, I can agree this is a nice coming-of-age tale. Young Devin goes from schoolboy to grownup in just under 300 pages and so do new friends and family.
As for the ending, we all know what Stephen can and can't do with these. This one seems rushed and lazy. I don't want to get into spoiler territory, so let's just say it was very bad.
tl;dr version: Great writing, not a mystery novel, great characters, bad ending
Check out the Mr Mercedes trilogy if you'd like to see SK doing crime, especially the first two books
I loved this book! Stephen King really draws you into the story mad into the lives of the characters. What a roller coaster of a story, pun intended. I have really enjoyed all of King's Hard Case Crime novels but this one is definitely my favourite. Highly recommended.
King had no right to make me cry like that. Definitely not what I was expecting but I throughly enjoy it.
Joyland is truly a joy to read or listen to. In this short novel King tells a story filled with mystery, romance, the supernatural, a bit of horror, and a nostalgic look back at what it was to be 21. Dev, a college student at UNH, takes a summer job at Joyland - a North Carolina amusement park filled with the old carnival spirit - where he discovers more than he could have ever bargained for. The first part of the book felt super wholesome and focused on having a summer job, finding one's self, being in love, etc. As the book progressed things started to get a bit more weird and Joyland quickly began to make connections to the lore of other King books. While it might be fair to say that King does little here he hasn't done in some of his previous books, I do think it's noteworthy that he's packed so many themes, tropes, and other elements from his other work into a shorter volume with a New Adult protagonist. Overall I had a great time listening to this book and highly recommend it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Muito bom! Independente de ser um livro de terror não, eu gosto muito de acompanhar personagens que vivem a vida de verdade e que parecem ser reais. A escrita é ótima, como nos outros livros que eu li do autor e as vivências diárias do personagem são muito relacionáveis - da maneira como ele sofre pelo término de um relacionamento e fica se lamentando e voltando àquilo por vários dias aos personagens que Dev vai encontrando ao longo do livro. Gostei demais do clima e do ritmo da história, tem um pouquinho de sobrenatural ali pra não dizer que não tem um pouco da marca do autor, mas não foi o que se destacou pra mim (apesar de ser basicamente o assunto central da história). Muito bom (talvez eu tenha me emocionado um pouco no final)!
Dev needs a summer job and one just happens to fall into his lap. Joyland. Am amusement park in a small town in NC. Once there he falls in love with the atmosphere and the mystery. It's more of an amusement park with a carnival vibe.
During one summer, way before Dev's time, there was a murder and the carny's say you can see Linda Gray's ghost when you ride the Horror House. This has Dev intrigued, so much so that he wants to see her ghost.
Michael is a kid with MD that Dev sees pretty much every morning on his way to Joyland. Soon he becomes friends with him and his mom Annie. Michael has the sight and has eerie messages for Dev but doesn't know what they mean.
And so begins the mystery solving adventure of Linda Gray's ghost and her murder. Who killed her and why is her ghost hanging around? What connection does Michael have to all of this? Will Dev be able to solve the mystery and set Linda free?
What a great story. I love mysteries and I love the supernatural. This is a great read to add to your Spooktober list. It's a little slow in the beginning but that's Stephen King and those who love his writing like I do will understand. The setting of the amusement park is great. There is always a little mystery surrounding those, at least to me, and it fits the haunting story of the Carny Killer.
Al principio es un poco lenta pero luego merece la pena cada detalle que te ha descrito para ese final, amo éste libro.
DNF...I'm sad I had to let myself stop after only 120 pages (roughly 1/3). I usually enjoy King's work and I'm familiar enough with some of his idiosyncracies to put up with a lot. But this was just boring.
This was a fun little coming of age story about ghosts, amusement parks, and an old man looking back on life. It's not “horror” in the sense that many of King's classic works are, but more of a spooky campfire tale, and King is arguably at his best when telling that kind of story.
I almost didn't read this one because of the ridiculous cover with the redhead in the skimpy dress. Wasn't sure what King was doing on this one - figured it was some Sam-Spade-ish crime novel and that wouldn't be my cup of tea. The description of the book didn't really thrill me, either. What got me were the reviews on Audible. So I downloaded it - and listened to it in the car. Loved it. It's a coming of age story where the protagonist works in a theme park - set in the early 70's. There's a mystery, there's a little supernatural (just enough), and some great characters. Glad I finally made the decision to read it.
I really enjoyed this story, it was a short quick read but was a really tight tale.
Excellent characterization and story line with just the right amount of suspense. How do you keep churning out such stellar work, Mr. King?
What can I say, I really enjoy Steven King's writing style, he just pulls me into the book.
Brilliant! Absolutely loved it! If you're a softy, have some tissues ready for the end!