Joyland by Stephen King (2013)

Joyland by Stephen King (2013)

A horror/suspense novel with a dose of heart and nostalgia.

Laura’s Rating: 4/5 Stars

Plot: In 1973, college student Devin takes a summer job at Joyland, an aging amusement park. Hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart, he stumbles into new friendships and becomes fascinated by a decades old unsolved murder. 

Analysis: Joyland takes some of Stephen King’s best strengths and pulls them together into one story: layered characters, low key horror, and coming of age lessons.The story is quite genre bending, but all of the elements worked together in harmony. 

Like some of King’s other novels, if you look past the light sexism of the male narration, there’s a lot of good substance. Devin’s friendships with his fellow college students feel honest and genuine and the carny lingo (referred to as “The Talk”) added authentic feeling details and helped to flesh out the amusement park workers as a sub-culture within the book. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this carnival themed story that had humor, heart, and suspense.