Joyland

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Michael Kelly

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

"Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book.... Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved."
—Charles Ardai, Edgar- and Shamus Award-winning editor of Hard Case Crime.

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. Joyland is a brand-new novel and has never previously been published.

©2013 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fun at the carny

Really enjoyed this overall! Coming from the carnival life I appreciated the details and hearing the talk. The narrator is awesome and brings life to each character. Highly recommend a fun read with a great twist!

Realistic scary is better than blood & guts scary!

For those of you, like my wife, who think that Stephen King is "just a gross horror writer," I ask you to read this book. I tell my wife, at least once a year, Mr. King is so much more than what you accuse him of being. She points to old movies and say's there's no character development and only blood and scary stuff. To my wife and to everyone else that consider his books no more, I offer you "Joyland" as proof that your wrong.
Joyland is a well written story about a young man's life in the 1970's. He is losing his first true love to another man, so he tries to lose himself in work at an amusment park. Helping him stay there are good friends, life lessons, and the promise from a palm reader that he will save a life or two if he stays longer. While there he finds an unsolved murder mystery that he tries to solve. It is a "who done it", wraped in a "realistic scary story" that's rolled up with "great characters." It is shorter than most of his past works, so it shouldn't scare off too many readers that fear long books. At around 8 hours I got a great read. One last thing, for me, keeping a horror story realistic, keeping me entwined in solid characters, is better and much more scary than making it based on a bunch of blood and guts.
Thank you Stephen King!!!

Best Audio book of 2013!

Where does Joyland rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The very few people who actually read my audio books reviews recognize that I am an unapologetic Stephen King fan. Many Stephen King fans enjoy being sacred or are followers of the American of horror genre. I am not one those readers. Instead, I admire Stephen King (SK) due to the rich storylines, engaging plots, and interplay between characters. Joyland has all of these elements in abundance.

Joyland is ultimately a nostalgic novel that brings your back to in time and age. SK seems to have a perfect recollection of what was like to be a heart broken college student unencumbered by social obligations. Devin Jones (main character) is free to explore life, take risks, and discover himself. Along the way Devin develops lasting friendships and learns the value of helping others. Joyland's characters are memorable, fun, and full of energy. Like all SK novels, Joyland allows the reader to enter into situations one rarely gets to see in real life. Devon's journey to self actualization is exciting, touching, and never (ever) boring. Many readers/listeners may assume that Joyland is scary or full of crime because it was written by SK. Although the plot revolves around an unsolved murder, Joyland is a vehicle for SK to write about pinnacle life events that serve to shape one's life.

Stephen King's Joyland is a perfect audio book. The number of characters, settings, and situations are easily manageable without referring to written materials. I hope you give Joyland a try.

Loved It!!!

I just finished Steven King's Joyland, and truly loved it! I am really a King newbie, having read only a few of his books previously, but with this one, I see what a great writer he is. Everything about this novel--the language, descriptions, nuances, etc.are perfect for the 1973 small-town setting (yes, I am old enough to remember 1973 very well!).

I loved the story from the opening "pages"--very real-world, very 1970s innocence, very different from anything I have read in a long time! I was totally transported to the "carny" world of Joyland for 7+ hours, and will feel pretty empty as I leave it behind. Also, the narrator was excellent--what a perfect match for this story!

Bravo--and enjoy!!

Wow

This is really was a surprise normally I like to read books filled with action. However, this book was so charming that I couldn't help but really get drawn into it. Everything about this has been extremely well done I loved this book.

The meddling kids with the dog solve it.

King's storytelling is so approachable and infectious that one easily can overlook the minor play kinks. I wish there had a little more spine chilling ghost action, but overall, I really enjoyed this piece.

Short King

Any additional comments?

A Stephen King book that comes in under 8 hours. Who would have thought. The relative brevity of this book makes it more like classic King than anything he's written in year. Highly recommend.

Great little time filler

Nice story. Quick but felt immersed and entertained. I could have listened way longer. if you got some time to spare and just need something not too involvef but will hold your attention. give it a listen you wont be disappointed.

Read and injjoy

Very good. Great in joy
great story. Love Steven king
Most of his books are great

Enter if you dare...

Ok, so maybe it's not actually scary, but this is a typical Stephen King non-horror story. With a touch of the supernatural, a murder mystery, and a young boy with strange powers, it has the Master's signature all over it.
The story is fairly short (by King standards), but what it lacks in volume, it exceeds in heart. The life of a carny is an interesting one, thanks to Mr. King, and I enjoyed the education immensely!
My first impression of Michael Kelly's narration was, "this guy is drunk", but before long his voice grew on me. He excelled quite nicely at all the character's dialects and accents. Bravo!
Fans of Stephen King, I say go for the ride!