Stephen King - Joyland

[Wingwright]

Hello fellow TPR readers! I decided to make a thread about Joyland, the new Stephen King novel that released today.

 

From the Amazon summary:

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.

 

I've been looking forward to reading this for a long time, since I love Stephen King (and obviously the setting).

I've read about 25 pages or so, and I like it so far.

 

I created this thread in case anybody else here is interested in the book and would like to discuss it.

And as a courtesy, PLEASE MARK ALL SPOILERS BEFORE POSTING THEM!!!

 

[Erik Johnson]

I heard him interviewed in a NPR show last week. He said he modeled the park after Canobie Lake Park. He then threw a bunch of extra carnies into the mix as well.

[ultradude306]

It's always interesting to see how accurate the GP are when portraying rides in things like art/video games/tv. It'll be interesting to see how much research King's done into the rides in the novel....I'm guessing it'll be at least somewhat accurate, as although I've never read any of his books before, I've heard countless good things about their work.

[805Andrew]

I may have to check this out. Hopefully this book becomes successful enough where they can make a Summer TV series out of it like Under The Dome.

[Wingwright]

^ Having just finished the book, I doubt it. Joyland isn't really plot heavy and the "mystery" is only a minor part of the story. Actually, it's a coming-of-age story that happens to be set in an amusement park.

 

I enjoyed the book a lot, because I loved the setting and the attention to detail. As a theme park fan, I loved reading about the day-to-day life of an amusement park worker, but I could understand if that didn't hold most people's interest. Especially if they see the name Stephen King and expect a thriller/horror series.