Fairy Tale by Stephen King

[Virginia]

I just bought the book over the summer and was waiting for fall to arrive (I'm strange, I only like to read books like this around fall, winter, and Halloween). Looks like a great book to get lost in on cold and blustery days.

 

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).

“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate

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[France]

I'll be really interested to know what your views are when you've finished. I like the look of this a lot but I find King is wearingly wordy these days - his books are sooo long and would benefit from a good prune. I picked it up in a bookshop recently and the sheer weight (and the miniscule type size too) made me think 'No'.

[Hayley]

I just bought this, so hoping you’re not about to tell us it’s awful 😅.

 

19 minutes ago, France said:

his books are sooo long and would benefit from a good prune.

I felt like this about one I DNF’d years ago but I don’t think Fairy Tale is particularly long. King said in an interview that he wanted to do something different with this one so - fingers crossed! 

[Virginia]

20 hours ago, Hayley said:

I just bought this, so hoping you’re not about to tell us it’s awful 😅.

 

I felt like this about one I DNF’d years ago but I don’t think Fairy Tale is particularly long. King said in an interview that he wanted to do something different with this one so - fingers crossed! 

This will actually be my first King book. I've always wanted to read his works but never got around, so I'm trying it now. So far so good. 

[Hayley]

On 10/9/2023 at 3:37 PM, Virginia said:

This will actually be my first King book. I've always wanted to read his works but never got around, so I'm trying it now. So far so good. 

I hope you’re still enjoying this Virginia! My copy arrived since my last post and I realised it’s longer than I thought it was! 

[Virginia]

15 hours ago, Hayley said:

I hope you’re still enjoying this Virginia! My copy arrived since my last post and I realised it’s longer than I thought it was! 

I am enjoying it, wish I could sit, UNBOTHERED,, for longer than a few minutes to get lost in it. I love a good 600 page book!

[Hayley]

3 hours ago, Virginia said:

I am enjoying it, wish I could sit, UNBOTHERED,, for longer than a few minutes to get lost in it.

Relatable 😂. I hope you manage to get some quiet time soon! 

[muggle not]

• I posted this in January but I will repeat that I really enjoyed this book. 🙂
• Posted January 29

4. Fairy Tale - Stephen King - 4/5 - I enjoyed this book. It was a little different from King's other books and I would really classify it as a true Fairy Tale. I believe that Stephen King enjoyed writing this book. If I were to describe the book it would probably take away from your actual reading of the book. I will say though that approx. the first 100 pages is about a young 12 yr old boy growing to 17 yrs old and the growing pains it brings as he loses his mother. The whole time you are reading the first 100 pages though you know and keep anticipating for the proverbial "stuff to hit the fan"., and it does. Again, I enjoyed the story and Stephen King's writing. Recommend the book.

Edited October 27, 2023 by muggle not

[niko]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:10 PM, Hayley said:

I hope you’re still enjoying this Virginia! My copy arrived since my last post and I realised it’s longer than I thought it was! 

Stephen King isn't just a writer, he's a legend in the world of horror literature. You definitely won't stop at just one book.

[Hayley]

19 hours ago, niko said:

Stephen King isn't just a writer, he's a legend in the world of horror literature. You definitely won't stop at just one book.

It won’t be my first Stephen King book . I don’t read a lot of horror, so he’s not an author I come across a lot, but I have read The Green Mile, Cell and the short story collection Everything’s Eventual. 

[niko]

1 hour ago, Hayley said:

It won’t be my first Stephen King book . I don’t read a lot of horror, so he’s not an author I come across a lot, but I have read The Green Mile, Cell and the short story collection Everything’s Eventual. 

And what do you think about The Green Mile?

[Hayley]

4 hours ago, niko said:

And what do you think about The Green Mile?

I loved it! It made me cry, but I loved it. That was actually the first Stephen King book I read - the one that made me want to try more! 

[niko]

18 hours ago, Hayley said:

I loved it! It made me cry, but I loved it. That was actually the first Stephen King book I read - the one that made me want to try more! 

Yeah, I cried too when I read this amazing book

[Hayley]

I need to ask a favour of those who’ve read Fairy Tale already… 

 

I am about 100 pages in at the moment and I am going to need a single spoiler (otherwise I am afraid I might cry in public 😅).

 

Does the dog die? (Please put the answer in a spoiler box, in case others don’t want to know!). 

 

[France]

As I'm useless at working out how to do spoilers I sent you a message!

 

[KEV67]

The dog

Spoiler

dies

in a road traffic accident.

 

Edit: just testing. I have not read the book. Just highlight the bit of text you want to hide, then press the icon shaped like an eye.

Edited October 16, 2024 by KEV67