| Boy�s Life
By Robert McCammon I�d be hard pressed to classify Boy�s Life as a horror story in the strictest sense, and Robert McCammon sure doesn�t seem to like the idea of being pigeonholed into the genre. So why would I review this book on a site dedicated to the bloodiest and sleaziest things that I love? Well, first and foremost, it�s a favorite of mine. This is an obviously a deeply personal book for the author, and it came across to me as a deeply personal experience as a reader. Second, it does center on a murder mystery. There is so much going on throughout, it might be easy to forget that this is the focal point, but it is continually lingering on the horizon. Last but not least, many longtime horror fans that I both admire and respect hold this as one of their favorites. I find myself naturally drawn to coming of age stories for reasons that I�m not completely sure of. I suppose it has to do with the fact that most of my interests are heavily influenced by nostalgia. Anything that makes me feel like a kid again makes me feel good. From my literary experiences, Boy�s Life is the quintessential story of this kind. It�s a sprawling and epic story that is perfectly suited to McCammon�s tangent laden style. The narrative is as episodic as childhood is. Taking place over the course of a year the story runs the gamut of emotions. Every day seems monumental in importance. All the staple scenes that we�ve come to expect on a journey through adolescence are here, but thankfully avoid coming off as clich�d as they often do in the movies. My favorite passages follow each other sequentially. In one scene the kids go camping and stumble upon some danger. Directly after, our lead feels the first pangs of a teenage crush. Maybe I enjoy them so much because I never really grew up much past those points in my life. It�s books like this that keep those memories fresh, and for that reason alone they are treasures. McCammon is skillful not to loose readers in day-to-day humdrum though. Always present in the air is the lingering threat of a murderer in the small town. The story concerns Cory Mackenson, a young with a fantastic imagination who�s about to turn 12. As if things weren�t complicated enough on the cusp of young adulthood, Cory and his father witness a car plunging into the bottom of Saxon Lake in the wee hours of the morning. When Cory�s father dives in the lake to help the man behind the wheel, he finds that he was tortured and murdered. Cory and his father were out delivering milk to the small town of Zephyr, Alabama in 1964. The town has no capability of retrieving the car from the murky depths and since no one in Zephyr or neighboring towns are missing, the case is pretty much forgotten. Forgotten by everyone except Cory and his father. The former thinks he saw a figure watching them and also found a peculiar green feather, the latter is tormented by terrible nightmares surrounding the situation. This is the incident that drives that story. On its own it is an interesting murder mystery with a slightly anticlimactic ending. What elevates Boy�s Life though, is the rich texture that McCammon laces throughout. Not only are all the episodes in Cory�s life engaging on their own, they all serve the character and the story well. McCammon never falls into the trap of seeming to make it up as he goes along. The story has remarkable focus considering how many different stories there are to tell. McCammon�s final thought touches on a prevailing optimism in human nature. While it may not be spelled out as clearly as in his epic Swan Song, care is taken to consistently apply it to every character. In a passage toward the end, Cory accuses himself of being na�ve for believing that no soul is completely void of compassion. It may seem a little corny, but this is one of the main reasons I find myself continually drawn to McCammon. Maybe I�m a bit na�ve too, but I find that to be a comforting thought that makes the world a bit of a nicer place to be. review by Dr. Spector 11.19.2005 |
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