Story for the Week
I have always been a pretty quick reader, so I’ve never hesitated to pick up a long book. The longest stand-alone book I’ve ever read? Stephen King‘s uncut version of The Stand. I don’t know how long it took me. I had read the original, which was 300+ pages shorter, sometime in high school. Those were the years I became totally hooked on anything Stephen King.
When I read the uncut version, I knew the story, so it wasn’t an “OMG, I need to keep reading to find out what happens” kind of experience. I read it because it was Stephen King. Those were the days that I read everything he wrote as soon as it was released. But I didn’t pay attention to how long it took me.
The one I vividly remember? It…released in 1986 at the start of my junior year in college. At the time, it was his longest, coming in at 1,138 pages and a whopping 3.5 pounds in hardcover. College was a busy time, but I worked campus security. When I wasn’t assigned as a rover, I sat at a desk, with nothing to do but check people in, do homework, and read. If I was working 2-6 a.m., I didn’t even have to check people in. Since shifts were only four hours, I finished It in nine days. I really didn’t want to put it down. (We won’t talk about the fact that some of my friends thought I was insane to read horror in the middle of the night. 😏)
King has 35 books that top 500 pages. Some are collections. Most are stand-alone. I have read 24 of the 500+ and 43 of his books in total. I recently finished buying all of King’s books—the short ones, the long ones, and everything in between. I don’t read a lot of horror anymore, but I have always wanted to own his complete collection.
I just recently received my delivery of Holly, his newest release. It’s on my TBR list and scheduled for a review in January. It is one of the 35 that tops 500 pages. I just recently finished the book below, which came in at 607 pages. Between you, me, and the Internet, it probably could have been shorter.
I won’t give up reading him though. Despite how awful (really, really awful) I thought The Dark Tower series ended, Stephen King will always have a place on my shelf.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐
3 Stars for Fairy Tale by Stephen King
607 pages
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: September 6, 2022
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
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.
************
Main Characters:
- Charlie Reade – 17-year-old high school senior; lives with his dad, who is a recovering alcoholic; years before, Charlie begged God to help his father stop drinking after his mother’s death and felt that he owed God
- Howard Bowditch – a recluse who lives with his dog Radar, up the hill from Charlie and his dad
- A myriad of fantasy characters in an alternate reality
When I read the description of this book, I expected to love it. King’s alternate realities have always been some of my favorites. This one started strong in our current reality, but it dragged a lot once he moved into the alternate. And I felt like it took a lot away from what could have been a great story.
Charlie’s mom was tragically killed walking across a bridge when Charlie was young. His father turned to alcohol, and Charlie ended up taking care of himself a lot. He begged God to help his dad and, as a result, always felt like he owed God some sort of grand gesture. He gets his chance when Mr. Bowditch falls off his ladder while cleaning out his gutters and ends up in the hospital with serious injuries. Charlie agrees to help Mr. Bowditch take care of some things around his house and look after his dog Radar.
When Mr. Bowditch needs money to pay his hospital bill, he has to confide in Charlie about some unusual things in his life—including a bucket full of gold pellets he keeps in a safe and trades for cash. When Mr. Bowditch is released from the hospital, he still needs a lot of care at home, and Charlie willingly takes on the responsibility. He has developed a fondness for Mr. Bowditch and especially for Radar.
But Radar is an old dog. Her hips are beginning to give out. She struggles to go up and down the stairs to go outside. Charlie is convinced that Radar will die long before Mr. Bowditch, but Mr. Bowditch hasn’t told Charlie everything about his health. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves everything he owns to Charlie, including a cassette tape with an unbelievable story about a place where he can take Radar to restore her youth using a magical sundial. What a great story about a boy who loves a dog, right?
The other place is full of characters and situations that remind Charlie of fairy tales, but not the happy fairy tales he knows…more from the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales. Charlie has to make his way through this place to the sundial, and nearly 400 of the 600 pages tell this piece of the story.
The world is filled with exiled royalty, over-sized animals, a legitimate giant, a battle of good and evil, all sorts of things Charlie remembers from the fairy tales his mother used to tell him. There was so much potential, but…I really feel like it took way too long to get there. Way way waaaaay too long.
There are constant references by Charlie to the fact that the words he is saying and hearing aren’t really what is said, but he and the other people just understand one another. I only needed that once to get it. After a while, it was really annoying.
There is also, I believe, the implication that other people have been to this other world before and that’s where the ideas for some books came from, but I was so unfamiliar with a lot of them, that they just made it more confusing. There seems to be the assumption on King’s part that all of his readers are also voracious readers of H.P. Lovecraft, and it’s the wrong assumption in my case.
This is definitely more fantasy than the actual skewed reality I have always loved about King. I did enjoy where Charlie ends up in the Epilogue. It is a nice conclusion of his story. I just don’t think we need 600+ pages to get there.
If you enjoyed this post, please comment below. Subscribe for regular updates, and share it with your friends. If you’re interested in starting a conversation, send an email to booksundertheblanket@gmail.com.
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using the links on my site.
