worth reading ?

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mstay

Older than most, not as old as some.
Oct 13, 2007
6,022
5,554
Utah
It is not. I loved the story! I know some haven't liked it as much but I thought it was a very heartfelt story. It is a different kind of King story. Not "horror" in the usual sense so maybe that is why some didn't like it.
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
I didn't like Joyland. But I wouldn't say it was cr@p, and I definitely wouldn't tell anyone else not to read it.

In fact, I 'm currently a little more than half way through Revival. And he mentions Joyland in it. Which is making me think, maybe I'm going to have to give it a second try.
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
8,926
56,578
51
Arkansas
I very much enjoyed Joyland. I felt like I was "carny from carny" at the end of the book. The characters in this book are some of Mr. King's best imho. I've read thru this book I think about 5 times and I've enjoyed every reading. It's worth a read.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I think Joyland is one of King's best works in recent years. It's not horror, more of a suspense novel. I will tell you that he made me (and quite a few other SKMB members) cry. It doesn't have his usual 'voice' in it, it's a different feel from his standard one, which put off some readers. It takes alittle getting used to it. I recommend reading it!
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
Worst novel of 2013 - that's just moronic. The only way to find out if a book is worth reading is to just dive in. Personally, it is one of my favourite books. As long as you go into it knowing it's not about monsters/demons/magic, you can't be dissapointed by the lack of the typical King stuff. It's not completely devoid of typical King stuff - it has a little bit of
ESP and a gohst
 

SpazzTheBassPlayer

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2014
296
1,156
58
I thought it was decent and I liked Joyland better than Revival....For one, its a slight departure for SK -- more like a Bachman story, overall....... As mentioned above, the feel is different, but I thought this was a good thing.

Ironically, the part I didnt care for was the supernatural part - there wasnt enough of it there for the reader to "see" and "interact" with. Its almost like it was forced, like the Publisher telling King, "You put a ghost in this here story because thats what your readers want!"

The meat of the story could have easily stood on its own with no ghost, and it would have read like an old dime-store Ellery Queen
 
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blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
This is the article about Joyland I was referring to: ComicAlly: The Worst Novel of 2013: Stephen King's Joyland . It kind of scared me off reading Joyland.
The link leads not to an article (a piece of writing about a particular subject that is included in a magazine, newspaper, etc. - Merriam-Webster Online) but a personal blog post by an untalented person who grew up enjoying listening to pontificators calling themselves critics, and who is attempting to copy them, and is replete with prerequisite misspellings, bad grammar, and worse: the writer never really bothers to describe well what his/her problem with Joyland is, except to complain that sK doesn't write like he used to when s/he was young. The last paragraph in the blog is, "F**k "Joyland" [quotation marks incorrect grammar; the book's title should be in italics] and f**k Stephen King". Trustworthy signs of a real professional's work.

Dear OP, next time choose an actual literary critic and save yourself unwarranted abuse.

As for me, I enjoyed Joyland, thank you very much miserable, immature, untalented loser blogging asshat.
 

Waylander

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2011
234
372
London UK
Well, not a review because he admits to not finishing the book. The whole ramble comes across as just a childish rant. Just because he obviously has the attention span of a three year-old does not make Joyland a bad story. It is a character driven story, a murder mystery with a very slight hint of the supernatural. The novella is packed with emotion and atmosphere, evoking strong memories of summers past and loves lost, of fairground rides and cotton candy, hotdogs and toffee apples. Many of King's best works take the reader through a ride of personal memories or situations. He creates characters who live in the mind of the constant reader, lives and breathes and haunts the mind long after the last page has been turned, and the book placed back upon the shelf.

Joyland succeeds in every way, it's the "reviewer's" personal state of mind that fails.
 

Edp

Member
Jul 13, 2016
5
16
71
I read an article on salon.com saying Joyland is total cr*p. The article ended in an injurious manner, the author swearing at SK.
I would like to know if Joyland is as bad as some people want me to believe.

Not my fav but I did enjoy it. Even if it wasn't what first brought me to Stephen King, he has a way of keeping me involved in a plot until the end.