Boy's Life - Robert McCammon

   1991 (although it was first copyrighted back in 1983); 611 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Horror; Fantasy; Coming-of-Age.  Laurels: World Fantasy Award – Best Novel (winner, 1992); Bram Stoker Award – Best Novel (winner, 1991).  Overall Rating : 10*/10.

 

    Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Life.  Wikipedia notes: “It is considered by readers and critics as his best novel”, and I gotta say there’s sufficient evidence to support that claim.

 

    It won the Bram Stoker Award, which is given by the Horror Writers Association, for Best Novel in 1991.  And yes, there are beasts and ghosts and things that go bump in the night, and some that even go bump in the daytime, in Boy’s Life.  But this is not primarily a horror story.

 

    It won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1992.  And yes, there are some magic moments, some timely spellcasting, and some aerial acrobatics reminiscent of the movie ET.  But this is not primarily a fantasy tale.

 

    Rather, I’d call Boy’s Life a coming-of-age novel.  The main character, Cory Mackenson, is a 12-year-old boy when the book opens, and grows to be a 13-year-old adult by the book's end.  Alas, 600-page coming-of-age books often get tedious along the way.

 

    Which is why the Horror and Fantasy elements make this such a fantastic book.

 

What’s To Like...

    Boy’s Life is set in the fictional small town of Zephyr, Alabama in 1964 and chronicles the strange goings-on there through the first-person POV of our protagonist, 12-year-old Cory, who’s actually writing all this in (his) present-day 1991.  Robert McCammon divides the story into four “seasonal” parts, plus an epilogue:

    a.) The Shades of Spring  (0%-22%)

    b.) A Summer of Devils and Angels  (22%-46%)

    c.) Burning Autumn  (46%-74%)

    d.) Winter’s Cold Truth  (74%-97%)

    e.) Zephyr as It is  (97%-99%)

 

    The primary storyline concerns Cory and his dad witnessing a car plunging into nearby Saxon Lake with a dead man at the wheel.  Cory’s father, Tom, becomes haunted by the brutal image of the corpse, and we tag along with Cory as he tries to solve the macabre mystery murder, all the while experiencing the life of a "tween-ager" hanging out with his friends and enjoying the “magic” that kids can see in life even when adults cannot.

 

    I loved the “feel” of life in America during the early 1960’s.  Cory was born in 1952; I was born two years earlier.  Zephyr is a little bitty place out in the boondocks of Alabama; I spent the first ten years of my life in a zero-traffic-light podunk town in Pennsylvania that had a total population of just over 200.  So, Boy’s Life resonated strongly with me.

 

    It was fun to go sleuthing alongside Cory: we both got fooled by a red herring or two; and when clues did unfold, they were often more mystifying than enlightening and occasionally spawned secondary plotlines.  But it was just as much of a blast to relive the life of a 12-year-old again by activities such as:

    playing sandlot baseball with friends,

    dealing with eccentric family members and boring social occasions,

    meeting a beautiful girl who doesn't flick boogers at you,

    collecting Civil War bubble-gum cards (I had some of those!),

    going to the movie theater to watch The Three Stooges.

 

    The storytelling is superb, and I was in awe of Robert McCammon’s ability to seamlessly blend Fantasy, Horror, Mystery-Solving, and Coming-of-Age genres.  I liked the “worry pebbles”, agreed with Cory’s opinion about wasps, and was saddened by how the evolution of the milk-delivery system impacted his dad.  I enjoyed meeting both “The Lady” and “Lucifer” (who's a monkey, not a demon).  The story of “Carl and Rebel” left a lump in my throat and I could relate to Cory's bicycle dying.

 

    There were also some serious topics touched upon in Boy’s Life.  The preacher’s raving about a demonic Beach Boys’ song (Go ahead, guess which one.  We’ll list it in the comments.) may seem silly at first, but I’ve seen frenzied fundamentalists burning records, and listened to dire warnings of how backward-masking rock-&-roll songs can turn you into a devil-worshipper.  And though the author is born and raised in Alabama, this book makes it clear what he thinks of segregation, the KKK, and burning crosses.

 

    The ending is filled with tension and suitably exciting, even though you know Cory will survive because, well, he’s writing this book.  All the plot threads are tied up, and even the escaped freak-show beast gets its fitting reward.  I guessed the “whydunit” correctly, although I was off as on the “whodunit” angle.  I found that trying to solve the various mysteries before Cory does is an exercise in futility; but keeping your eyes peeled for clues popping up is much more productive.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 1,779 ratings.

    Goodreads: 4.36/5 based on 26,619 ratings and 2,964 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    We all start out knowing magic.  We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us.  We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand.  But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls.  We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out.  We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible.  Told to act our age.  Told to grow up, for God’s sake.  (loc. 59)

 

    I left Rocket to wait there, and I walked up the hill among the moon-splashed tombstones.  (…)  The white dead people lay on one side, the black dead people on the other.  It made sense that people who could not eat in the same café, swim in the same public pool, or shop in the same stores would not be happy being dead and buried within sight of each other.  Which made me want to ask Reverend Lovoy sometime if the Lady and the Moon Man would be going to the same heaven as Davy Ray.  If black people occupied the same heaven as white people, what was the point of eating in different cafes here on earth?  (loc. 7538)

 

Kindle Details…

    At the moment, you can pick up Boy’s Life for $11.99 at Amazon, although the author periodically offers it at a generous discount.  Robert McCammon has several other e-novels available at Amazon, ranging in price from $5.99 to $15.99, plus a couple of short stories for under $2 each.

 

The need to hear stories, or live lives other than our own for even the briefest moment, is the key to the magic that was born in our bones.  (loc. 533)

    It’s difficult to find anything to nitpick about in Boy’s Life.  There’s a fair amount of cussing throughout the book, but that's to be expected for this kind of tale.  There’s a slew of characters to meet and greet.  Some of them are important, others strut briefly across the stage and then are gone, never to return.  It might’ve been nice to have a “Cast of Characters” section at the front for reference, but I keep my own notes anyway, so this didn’t hinder me.  And finally, since Robert McCammon is a recognized top-tier Horror genre author, if you’re wanting the book to scare you poopless or gross you out, you might be disappointed.

 

    But I pick at nits.  For me, Boy’s Life was a fantastic novel, covering multiple genres, without any slow spots (it was an event-filled year for Cory), and with a perfect blend of excitement, drama, eeriness, and mystery-solving.  I’ve yet to any of Robert McCammon’s "genuine" Horror tales, but a couple of them are on my bookshelf, so I have no excuse not to read one of them in the near future.

 

    10 Stars.   A friend recommended Boy’s Life to me, citing it as being Robert McCammon at his best.  I took that as a challenge since I’ve read the first couple books of his Matthew Corbett series and given them all 9*/10 ratings.  It turns out my friend was right.