I enjoyed this novel immensely, and I regret that the author seems to be in seclusion, but after re-reading Boy’s Life recently, I had a sense of deja vu in that I thought to myself, “Hey this is reminiscent of…”
By way of explanation I will offer two examples: King’s Christine and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Can you name some others, or do you compeletely disagree with me?
In addition, McCammon’s Swan Song definitely reminds me of King’s The Stand.
I would be interested in reading your takes on this.
I have enjoyed the McCammon books that I’ve read, but haven’t read “Boy’s Life” yet. I can agree that “Swan Song” and “The Stand” had a similar topic, but for me, the similarities end at that point. McCammon’s “Stinger” was quite scary, I thought. Since you have refreshed my memory about this author, I’ll order “Boy’s Life” and see if I’m attacked by deja vu demons.
I love this book! Whimsical, offbeat, unique, just pure magic.
GOING SOUTH is also very fine.
McCammon is a second tier writer with definite first tier talent. I wonder why none of his books have been filmed…especially THEY THIRST or whatever the vampire book was called.
A Boy’s Life (the movie) was based on the book This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. It’s an excellent read. I also recommend his short stories, if you’re into that. He had a read when I was in college, and was incredibly interesting.
Ohhhh… talk about deja vu! I posted a review of Swan Song on amazon.com and got swamped by email. I hated the blamed thing. I couldn’t stand Boy’s Life either!
I’m not immune to the appeal of these books, but I get bugged by picky little details and it usually ruins the whole book for me. I enumerate many such details at the amazon site. The only one I can think of from Boy’s Life is there is a crucial scene at the mayors office in the courthouse. Earlier in the book it is established the county seat was elsewhere. So, no bloody courthouse! Also, mayors don’t have their offices there! It’s a county building, not a city building. Arg. I told you I was having deja vu.
I’ll see if I can’t scare up a link to what I said on Amazon. But mainly, I saw Swan Song as not merely reminescent of The Stand, but a terrible, mind-numbing ripoff.
How very coincidental, I just picked up this book last weekend, having never heard of McCammon before.
I enjoyed the book, but in my mind, I kept comparing it to Stephen King, particularly books about boys growing up, such as Stand by Me and IT. Like King as well, it also featured the “we’re so impressed by the wise, kindly black people, while most everyone else in the town is prejudiced against them” theme that I always find so odd.
Now I realize I am easily confused, but I found myself wondering what things were real, what things where strange but actually happening, and what things were strange and only happening in Cory’s imagination. I suspect the author did this on purpose to show the readers that the things that happen in a little boy’s imagination are often just as real, in a sense, as the things that happen in the real world, but I think he took this concept a little too far.
Overall, I would give it a B, maybe a B-. It was a very sweet story, and I liked the vivid description of the various characters in that small town. I think I would have liked it more if it were just vignettes about life in that place and time, and without the weird Nazi goings-on.
Hey Quasimodem, aren’t ya comin’ back? I was looking forward to a debate on McCammon, since people seem to love him so much, while I detest him. Possibly my biggest problem is that he’s so derivative; he’s a good writer who can’t back up his talent with original ideas.
However, I was told by my detractors that I should stick to non-fiction, since I clearly couldn’t understand fiction (the quibbling about details, you see). Doesn’t that bug you? Did you read what I wrote about Swan Song?
Anyway, I’m in the same boat this week, having written a scathing review for the local newspaper here of a first novel by a local writer. It was paired with a positively glowing review. The contrast makes me wonder if I look like an idiot, a clearer thinker, or just another example of why opinions are like assholes. (But in this instance I got paid for having one, hurray!)
… it’s hard to debate with someone you mostly agree with, but yes I did read your reviews, and I can see why you don’t like Swan Song. “Wax fruit” indeed!
About the only thing I can say that while I did enjoy Boy’s Life, I came away with the idea that “Hey, no wonder he isn’t writing anymore. He isn’t very original and maybe he realizes it.” He had a good premise in Boy’s Life, he just couldn’t follow through without dragging in references to other works. This to me is a kind of “legal plagiarism”.
I’m a dyed in the wool King fan, Ellen, and all I can say about McCammon is that he was around when I couldn’t get my
“King-fix”.
