Fairy Tale by Stephen King

 

I am not a fan of horror.  How do I know? I read Pet Sematary back in high school and I am still scarred. (Shiver)

I am, however, a big fan of fantasy.  And great dogs. :-)

Stephen King is inarguably one of America's best and greatest writers.  I was so excited that he wrote a non-horror story during the pandemic.  Santa brought me this tome (598 pages) for Christmas and I saved it for my Spring Break Vacation.  I love having a special book for a special occasion!

This was a good read.  It was not a GREAT read, so I was a tiny bit disappointed.  Maybe my hopes and expectations were too high because of the author.  I absolutely loved his novel 11 22 63 (again, not horror, more time travel and butterfly effect, but with those details and word choices and sentences that are pure King).  So I just knew I would totally love this one too.  I felt like the premise for Fairy Tale was not really very original, even if the characters, their backstory and current predicaments definitely were.  Charlie is a teenager who lost his mom which drove his dad to drink, and yet Charlie plays the hero for his dad's health as well as that of the scary and mysterious neighbor Bowditch, whose own health crisis, alerted to Charlie by his trusty dog, Radar, is the catalyst for an adventure down a rabbit hole to another world.  A world in trouble and just waiting for a Savior.  The characters he meets and befriends (and...loves??) in this other world are quirky and tragic and hilarious and weird.  I expect that from King.  Gross Giants and rude leprechauns and an evil force and a sad princess?  Oh yeah, baby, now we are talking.  It felt a little like an expanded YA fantasy novel, which I don't mind, but have read before.  

Here's what I liked:  I liked Bowditch.  What a great name for the crazy man who lives in the creepy house with his Cujo dog (yes, King references Cujo.  HAHAHAHA!)   I bow to King for this; he can write and flesh out a character with words like no other.  Bowditch might have been my favorite character.  Such a curmudgeon, I could just SEE his facial expressions!

I liked all the literary references.  I won't list them here (ok, just one - LOVECRAFT.  #iykyk), they are fun to discover as you read.  But King definitely has a sense of humor, warped though it may be, and I loved it.

I loved that in this fantasy story of other worlds and impossible tortures, King also weaves in the devastation of loss, of alcoholism, and the difficulties during and support necessary for coming out of addiction.  I loved that the relationship between man and dog was so vital to this story.  It made these characters real.  Even if they are moving in and out of a magical land.

I loved that even at almost 600 pages, this story never felt too long.  I was invested.  It kept me interested even though you know it will have some sort of happy ending for our hero.  The ending was good and necessary, but wasn't necessarily done with a big red bow, if you know what I mean.  Satisfying.  Charlie is believable, he has faults, but such a big heart.  King asked himself "what could I write that would make me happy?"  And his answer was a devastated Kingdom with smashed statues and a palace with tall glass towers....and so it began. 

Please, Mr. King, please do give us another non-horror based book, if not next, then soon!