September 27, 2013 / Leslie

Review – Audiobook: Joyland by Stephen King

Joyland
by Stephen King
Narrated by Michael Kelly

Genre: Crime
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publish Date: June 4, 2013
Format: Audio, 7 hours | 33 minutes
Audio Listening Level: Easy – Intermediate
Rating: 4 of 5

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

My Thoughts:

Joyland is a coming of age tale with a decades old crime, a mystery, a little romance and a ghost. The one thing it doesn’t have is grisly horror. No worrying about the fate of the family pet or who will be the next to get chopped to bits in this novel. I’ll read almost anything Stephen King writes, but I especially enjoy his more subtle tales, like this one, that are creepy but not horrific.

It is 1973. Devin and his girlfriend have broken up and he has taken a summer job at a local amusement park. We can feel the old carny atmosphere, the rides, the games and the families out for a day at the park. The story is told in the first person by Devin. This was a nostalgic summer for him, a turning point in his life. Reading about this time period was nostalgic for me too. No, I never worked at a carny, but it did bring back memories of the many amusement parks I visited back then. Joyland could have been any one of them.

A murder is at the heart of the story, but it is a decades old murder so this is not a thriller or a suspense novel until the very end when Devin realizes who the real killer was. Most of the novel is about the people and Devin’s relationships with them: His school friends, other workers at the carny and especially Mike, a young boy in a wheelchair and Annie, his protective mother, who Devin develops a crush on. King has created a great cast of everyday folks, people we feel like we already know or would want to know.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Michael Kelly, a new narrator for me. I was pleased with his voice. The accents were good, I could tell the characters apart and, most importantly, his voice for Devin sounded right, like the insecure young man he was supposed to be. Other than keeping track of all the characters, this was an easy listen and at only 7½ hours, a short book.

Like 11/22/63, this is a Stephen King book for the non-horror fan. And a good story too.

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Linked to the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril, VIII event.
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