This was a short book that possibly was written with a younger audience in mind, but was perfectly entertaining for adults as well.
It is always great to settle into a Stephen King book – there is something comfortable for me about his writing style. I quickly started to empathize with the protagonist of this one, and the story was quickly paced with a satisfying payoff at the end.
One surprising thing for me was how many cultural references were included as the boy in this story grew up. Using these to provide some background helped make it clear that this story was happening in our world. I’m wondering if these references will still be as effective after 20 years or so. But maybe that’s not a big concern of Stephen King.
This was a quick read – I could read stuff like this all day every day and not complain. Hopefully there are more books like this in the pipeline!
After this book I tried to delve into Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. It is a monster book – and I found that I just couldn’t get into the story after reading through about 150 pages out of the 760 pages in the book. I gave up on the book for now, but maybe I can take it to a deserted island and try again someday. Instead, the book I’m reading next is Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
