Boy's Life
by Robert R. McCammon
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In Zephyr, Alabama, a bizarre murder is only the beginning Small town boys see weird sights, and Zephyr has provided Cory Jay Mackenson with his fair share of oddities. He knows the bootleggers who lurk in the dark places outside of town. On moonless nights, he's heard spirits congregate in the churchyard to reminisce about the good old days. He's seen rain that flooded Main Street and left it crawling with snakes. Cory knows magic, and relishes it as only a young boy can. One frosty winter show more morning, he and his father watch a car jump the curb and sail into the fathomless town lake. His father dives into the icy water to rescue the driver, and finds a naked corpse handcuffed to the wheel. This chilling sight is only the start of the strangest period of Cory's life, when the magic of his town will transform him into a man. show lessTags
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Attention pépite.
Sud des Etats-Unis. Alabama. Années 60. Ici, les supermarchés n’ont pas encore pris leur place, le lait est encore dans des bouteilles en verre et le racisme est enraciné comme une mauvaise herbe.
On suit Cory, 12 ans, à travers les saisons, dans la résolution d’un meurtre insolite, celui d’un homme précipité dans le lac à bord de sa voiture, étranglé par une corde de piano. Bam bam bam.
Ce livre est un coup de coeur. Du genre de ceux que vous posez en vous disant que vous n’avez rien à redire, qu’il résonnera encore longtemps en vous et dont vous n’avez qu’une hâte, le relire dans quelques temps juste pour retrouver encore toutes ces sensations qu’il vous a fait vivre.
Parfait croisement show more entre Blackwater pour l’ambiance parfois un peu horrifique, Stranger Things pour ce retour à l’enfance, cette imagination débordante ces moments tranches de vie ponctuées de fantastique.
L’énorme point fort de ce livre repose sur sa palette de personnages tous plus atypiques les uns que les autres. Son personnage central reste Cory qui nous embarque dans ses aventures ponctuées de fantastique et rythmées par son imagination débordante. Toutes ses réflexions sonnent juste pour son âge et on le suit dans ces moments qui vont le construire en tant qu’adulte, qui vont le faire grandir.
Un coup de coeur qui m'a procuré un torrent d'émotions pendant toute ma lecture. Je n'avais aucune envie de quitter Zephyr, de quitter Cory, de quitter ces petites tranches de vie teintées de fantastique qui m'ont tantôt transportée, émue aux larmes, fait rire. Tout est écrit avec justesse, poésie, malice et nous fait voir la vie à travers les yeux pleins d'imagination de ce petit garçon qui sera écrivain ou laitier ou vétérinaire. Pépite.
En bref, si vous voulez un roman tranche de vie avec des moments Stranger Things, une ambiance du sud qui peut faire parfois penser à Blackwater et des personnages inoubliables alors n’hésitez plus !
Je n’ai qu’une hâte découvrir Swan Song en mai 2023 ! show less
Sud des Etats-Unis. Alabama. Années 60. Ici, les supermarchés n’ont pas encore pris leur place, le lait est encore dans des bouteilles en verre et le racisme est enraciné comme une mauvaise herbe.
On suit Cory, 12 ans, à travers les saisons, dans la résolution d’un meurtre insolite, celui d’un homme précipité dans le lac à bord de sa voiture, étranglé par une corde de piano. Bam bam bam.
Ce livre est un coup de coeur. Du genre de ceux que vous posez en vous disant que vous n’avez rien à redire, qu’il résonnera encore longtemps en vous et dont vous n’avez qu’une hâte, le relire dans quelques temps juste pour retrouver encore toutes ces sensations qu’il vous a fait vivre.
Parfait croisement show more entre Blackwater pour l’ambiance parfois un peu horrifique, Stranger Things pour ce retour à l’enfance, cette imagination débordante ces moments tranches de vie ponctuées de fantastique.
L’énorme point fort de ce livre repose sur sa palette de personnages tous plus atypiques les uns que les autres. Son personnage central reste Cory qui nous embarque dans ses aventures ponctuées de fantastique et rythmées par son imagination débordante. Toutes ses réflexions sonnent juste pour son âge et on le suit dans ces moments qui vont le construire en tant qu’adulte, qui vont le faire grandir.
Un coup de coeur qui m'a procuré un torrent d'émotions pendant toute ma lecture. Je n'avais aucune envie de quitter Zephyr, de quitter Cory, de quitter ces petites tranches de vie teintées de fantastique qui m'ont tantôt transportée, émue aux larmes, fait rire. Tout est écrit avec justesse, poésie, malice et nous fait voir la vie à travers les yeux pleins d'imagination de ce petit garçon qui sera écrivain ou laitier ou vétérinaire. Pépite.
En bref, si vous voulez un roman tranche de vie avec des moments Stranger Things, une ambiance du sud qui peut faire parfois penser à Blackwater et des personnages inoubliables alors n’hésitez plus !
Je n’ai qu’une hâte découvrir Swan Song en mai 2023 ! show less
First book this year to make my "all time favorites" list. For a lot of us, books like this are why we became life-long readers. I only wish that there were more of them. Boy's Life not only entertained me but reminded me of why I love reading (and movies). McCammon's masterpiece deserves to sit on the shelf with other classic "coming of age" novels like Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dandelion Wine, and IT. It taps right into that magical stage in life when we are about 12 and we learn about the fallibility of adults, mortality (even our own), that evil exists in many forms and that the monsters in this world are not vampires or werewolves but are quite real and sometimes mean to hurt us, and that time is passing---even for us. We show more learn of the persistence of evil and of good, and that sometimes magic can change the rules. You may find yourself stopping, setting the book down for a minute, and smiling at a particularly beautiful passage or a great scene, or remembering your own youth--maybe even shedding a tear or two and when you leave these wonderful characters behind at the end of the story you will remember them. Because they are us. show less
Years ago, the name Robert McCammon was well known to us horror fans, and his books, THEY THIRST and STINGER, were among my favorites. The man had a knack for writing vampire holocausts and alien invasions, but BOY’S LIFE, the first book of his I’ve read in far too many years, is a change of pace in that it is a coming of age story set in a small Alabama town in the year of 1964. This book has been out since the early 90’s and has developed a real fan following, and after reading it, I can understand why as it touches on so many things common to kids, especially boys, who grew up in the 60’s. There are a lot of novels set in little small Southern towns where everyone is a real character, but this is one of the better ones in show more that genre.
The plot centers on eleven year old Corey Mackenson, living what seems like an idyllic life in the town of Zephyr; he accompanies his father in his milk truck on an early spring morning run, when both of them witness the aftermath of a murder as a car plunges into a deep lake and Corey’s father is unable to save the unconscious man tied to the steering wheel. The body can’t be recovered and no one is reported missing, but the dead man haunts Corey’s father’s dreams and the boy becomes determined to solve the mystery, starting with the only clue available, a green parrot’s feather he finds at the scene of the crime. This is the framing story, as over the next year a series of adventures and incidents bring Corey, and his father, closer to the truth, and the identity of both the victim and his murderer.
Along the way, Corey encounters: vicious teenage bullies; an Old West gunslinger who still has one fight left in him; a failed author who walks around in the nude; a elderly black woman who was born a slave and who has the gift to see beyond this world; a fire and brimstone Baptist minister who really doesn’t like The Beach Boys; a murderous family of backwoods bootleggers; a small bespectacled kid who is hiding a secret talent thwarted by his parents; an older girl who gives Corey the first hint of the joys of the flesh that await him in the not too distant future; and a slow talking fix it man who really can fix anything when chips are down. Then there is Old Moses, the monster that lives in the river; Lucifer, the wild monkey on the loose; a ghost car named Midnight Mona; and the Creature That Time Forgot. There is always a hint of the supernatural that lies in the shadows, waiting to be seen by those who believe. There are also the joys of friendship and childhood, like a pickup baseball game, a camping trip in the woods, and the arrival of a new bicycle; and the sudden inevitable tragedies, like the death of a beloved dog or a hunting accident that cuts short a young life filled with promise. Along the way, Corey learns some hard truths, especially that adults are often not who they appear to be, and while life may seem to be simple on the surface, it is anything but once you take a deeper look. The big issues of the 1960’s – Vietnam and the Civil Rights struggle – are just out of sight, but an ominous future can be glimpsed in the way a new super market threatens Corey’s father’s job at the dairy with its milk for sale in plastic jugs and cartons; the rise of corporations and mass marketing is already reaching into the most remote corners of America and threatening life as it has been lived for generations.
There are some wise observations, as when one character tells Corey, “We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they'd allowed to wither in themselves.”
It has been more than 25 years since BOY’S LIFE was first published and one wonders how it would be received today in a time of intense and divisive personal politics in America, and when hostility toward the white Southern culture depicted between it pages is commonplace in the public square. Would it be accused of fostering “white supremacy” or guilty of “cultural appropriation” in its portrayal of Black Americans?
Many have unfavorably compared McCammon to Stephen King, who has written a number of Baby Boomer coming of age tales, most notably IT and THE BODY (adapted to the screen as STAND BY ME); I will be the first to admit that McCammon often lacks the subtly of King, or Peter Straub and Dan Simmons (who wrote the excellent SUMMER OF NIGHT) for that matter, nor possess anything approaching their style. McCammon is unabashedly sentimental, often uses on-the-nose dialog, and crams in too much wordy exposition, but those other guys have been guilty of those same literary crimes more than once. If King, Straub, and Simmons are HBO and Showtime, then Robert McCammon is most certainly, AMC or FX. In fact, BOY’S LIFE reads like a good TV mini-series, with each chapter an episode building to the complete whole. But what no one can take away is that Robert McCammon is a true story teller; that he has mastered the knack of creating compelling characters along with the ability to keep the reader guessing and turning the pages to see what happens next. There are more than a few autobiographical touches, such as Corey’s enthusiasm for horror films of the period, especially those starring Vincent Price and in his budding desire to be a writer, inspired in part after compilation of Ray Bradbury stories, proving that people living far from the cultural centers of America could live rich and creative lives.
Sadly, for those of us who are McCammon fans, he has written little since this book came out, a victim of changes in the publishing industry, according to his Wikepedia page, which caused him to take a long hiatus from writing.
I bet Robert McCammon still has that magic and I hope we hear from him again soon. show less
The plot centers on eleven year old Corey Mackenson, living what seems like an idyllic life in the town of Zephyr; he accompanies his father in his milk truck on an early spring morning run, when both of them witness the aftermath of a murder as a car plunges into a deep lake and Corey’s father is unable to save the unconscious man tied to the steering wheel. The body can’t be recovered and no one is reported missing, but the dead man haunts Corey’s father’s dreams and the boy becomes determined to solve the mystery, starting with the only clue available, a green parrot’s feather he finds at the scene of the crime. This is the framing story, as over the next year a series of adventures and incidents bring Corey, and his father, closer to the truth, and the identity of both the victim and his murderer.
Along the way, Corey encounters: vicious teenage bullies; an Old West gunslinger who still has one fight left in him; a failed author who walks around in the nude; a elderly black woman who was born a slave and who has the gift to see beyond this world; a fire and brimstone Baptist minister who really doesn’t like The Beach Boys; a murderous family of backwoods bootleggers; a small bespectacled kid who is hiding a secret talent thwarted by his parents; an older girl who gives Corey the first hint of the joys of the flesh that await him in the not too distant future; and a slow talking fix it man who really can fix anything when chips are down. Then there is Old Moses, the monster that lives in the river; Lucifer, the wild monkey on the loose; a ghost car named Midnight Mona; and the Creature That Time Forgot. There is always a hint of the supernatural that lies in the shadows, waiting to be seen by those who believe. There are also the joys of friendship and childhood, like a pickup baseball game, a camping trip in the woods, and the arrival of a new bicycle; and the sudden inevitable tragedies, like the death of a beloved dog or a hunting accident that cuts short a young life filled with promise. Along the way, Corey learns some hard truths, especially that adults are often not who they appear to be, and while life may seem to be simple on the surface, it is anything but once you take a deeper look. The big issues of the 1960’s – Vietnam and the Civil Rights struggle – are just out of sight, but an ominous future can be glimpsed in the way a new super market threatens Corey’s father’s job at the dairy with its milk for sale in plastic jugs and cartons; the rise of corporations and mass marketing is already reaching into the most remote corners of America and threatening life as it has been lived for generations.
There are some wise observations, as when one character tells Corey, “We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they'd allowed to wither in themselves.”
It has been more than 25 years since BOY’S LIFE was first published and one wonders how it would be received today in a time of intense and divisive personal politics in America, and when hostility toward the white Southern culture depicted between it pages is commonplace in the public square. Would it be accused of fostering “white supremacy” or guilty of “cultural appropriation” in its portrayal of Black Americans?
Many have unfavorably compared McCammon to Stephen King, who has written a number of Baby Boomer coming of age tales, most notably IT and THE BODY (adapted to the screen as STAND BY ME); I will be the first to admit that McCammon often lacks the subtly of King, or Peter Straub and Dan Simmons (who wrote the excellent SUMMER OF NIGHT) for that matter, nor possess anything approaching their style. McCammon is unabashedly sentimental, often uses on-the-nose dialog, and crams in too much wordy exposition, but those other guys have been guilty of those same literary crimes more than once. If King, Straub, and Simmons are HBO and Showtime, then Robert McCammon is most certainly, AMC or FX. In fact, BOY’S LIFE reads like a good TV mini-series, with each chapter an episode building to the complete whole. But what no one can take away is that Robert McCammon is a true story teller; that he has mastered the knack of creating compelling characters along with the ability to keep the reader guessing and turning the pages to see what happens next. There are more than a few autobiographical touches, such as Corey’s enthusiasm for horror films of the period, especially those starring Vincent Price and in his budding desire to be a writer, inspired in part after compilation of Ray Bradbury stories, proving that people living far from the cultural centers of America could live rich and creative lives.
Sadly, for those of us who are McCammon fans, he has written little since this book came out, a victim of changes in the publishing industry, according to his Wikepedia page, which caused him to take a long hiatus from writing.
I bet Robert McCammon still has that magic and I hope we hear from him again soon. show less
Robert McCammon’s Epic coming of age Novel… Boy’s Life is surrounded with heaps of hype and rave reviews. A writer recounts his Southern Alabama childhood in the Mid 1960s in a most vivid manner. As a child Cory Mackenson and his father witness a car with a man handcuffed to the wheel careen into a quarry. After a failed attempt from Cory’s father to rescue the man, a small town is thrown into a hive of imaginary and not so imaginary activity. What ensues is a year of events that could be real….or might not be. The story is told from the child’s perspective by his adult self.
McCammon has crafted a humdinger of a story. Part Stand by Me and part Big Fish with some Sand Lot tossed in…but All McCammon. McCammon breaches some show more emotions in this story that none of the aforementioned titles seem to grasp. Personally, I have a vivid recollection of my childhood, and this book allowed me to connect and add some further introspection to those years. The Mind of a child particularly a boy (But McCammon does not leave out the girls as there are some interesting ones in Cory’s sphere of influence) is encapsulated with so many ideas, wishes, desires and fantasies that at times they intertwine with reality. However, not all of it comes out in the wash at the end. That is for the reader to decide. Parts of this book will make the reader whoop with joy while others will crush your heart. The gray place in a child’s mind when a childhood friend is lost, the leaving of a four-legged companion, the way boys view girls before puberty and of course the observation of the adults in your life as those larger-than-life people go through the all too human falls and stumbles. This book is an all-around winner. show less
McCammon has crafted a humdinger of a story. Part Stand by Me and part Big Fish with some Sand Lot tossed in…but All McCammon. McCammon breaches some show more emotions in this story that none of the aforementioned titles seem to grasp. Personally, I have a vivid recollection of my childhood, and this book allowed me to connect and add some further introspection to those years. The Mind of a child particularly a boy (But McCammon does not leave out the girls as there are some interesting ones in Cory’s sphere of influence) is encapsulated with so many ideas, wishes, desires and fantasies that at times they intertwine with reality. However, not all of it comes out in the wash at the end. That is for the reader to decide. Parts of this book will make the reader whoop with joy while others will crush your heart. The gray place in a child’s mind when a childhood friend is lost, the leaving of a four-legged companion, the way boys view girls before puberty and of course the observation of the adults in your life as those larger-than-life people go through the all too human falls and stumbles. This book is an all-around winner. show less
This wonderful nostalgic novel, with its frank homage to Ray Bradbury, explores the twelfth year in the life of its protagonist, Cory Mackenson. With 1960s Zephyr, Alabama standing in for 1920s Green Town, Illinois, Cory and his buddies traverse a season of devils and angels, monsters and miracles as they travel from childhood to the fringes of that unexplored territory called Grown-Up.
This is a time when the monsters that roamed the Saturday matinee movie screen began to seep into real life, sometimes into real people the boys had always known, a time when a bicycle was as good as a magic carpet, and a time when – amazingly, terrifyingly, those omnipotent gods-on-earth called parents, began to be revealed as Just People after all, show more with fears and concerns of their own which sometimes spilled over into a boy’s life.
There’s a rambling understory here that begins with a terrifying crime and ends with its resolution, but mostly the journey is told in episodic chapters, many of which could stand alone as first-class short stories, though most of them move the plot along in tiny increments. It’s peopled with characters real, almost-real, maybe-real, and … well, where does magical realism become fantasy? And does it matter whether a boy fights off a river monster with a twig broom in the real world or in an altered state that allows him to survive raging floodwaters?
This is a wonderful read for any fan of Bradbury’s, for anyone who ever sat mesmerized through an episode of The Twilight Zone, and for anyone who remembers that childhood journey through fields that now exist in memory alone. show less
This is a time when the monsters that roamed the Saturday matinee movie screen began to seep into real life, sometimes into real people the boys had always known, a time when a bicycle was as good as a magic carpet, and a time when – amazingly, terrifyingly, those omnipotent gods-on-earth called parents, began to be revealed as Just People after all, show more with fears and concerns of their own which sometimes spilled over into a boy’s life.
There’s a rambling understory here that begins with a terrifying crime and ends with its resolution, but mostly the journey is told in episodic chapters, many of which could stand alone as first-class short stories, though most of them move the plot along in tiny increments. It’s peopled with characters real, almost-real, maybe-real, and … well, where does magical realism become fantasy? And does it matter whether a boy fights off a river monster with a twig broom in the real world or in an altered state that allows him to survive raging floodwaters?
This is a wonderful read for any fan of Bradbury’s, for anyone who ever sat mesmerized through an episode of The Twilight Zone, and for anyone who remembers that childhood journey through fields that now exist in memory alone. show less
This novel actually left me mesmerized, and reaching for whatever is left from my magical innocent youthful moments. (Although somewhat miniscule)
I felt myself reflect to the 80s when I was just a crumb snatching electric youth, wearing oversized lee jeans, dirty white keds, running through the corn field while chewing bubbletape gum. To say that I loved this novel is an understatement. I did more then love it, I Lived it. I stepped inside the mind of this boy, and then I felt all his pain, happiness, torment, innocence. This author really knows how to pull you in and never let you venture too far away. Then as it leaves you, it forces you to recollect your own memories from the past, what was real, what was more imagination? The show more scents from my youth include citronella, roses, grass. I feel images swirl around me, when I smell these things.
But when I stepped inside the mind of this boy, I smelled wet dog, forest, dirt, sweat, fear, it combines with all the beautiful images the author portrayed for us readers.
Well, I feel as though I received a blessing, when I read this book. I feel the author shared a blessing with us all, that alone should make you put down whatever you are tinkering with, and pick this up now!
My favorite part, which brought tears to my eyes, was
about the prehistoric beast, his living situation which lead up to his release and what happened shortly thereafter.
And then Rebel! and his new owner! ugh! *tears* were streaming!
My heart swelled and burst into a thousand pieces. I am presently still recuperating! show less
I felt myself reflect to the 80s when I was just a crumb snatching electric youth, wearing oversized lee jeans, dirty white keds, running through the corn field while chewing bubbletape gum. To say that I loved this novel is an understatement. I did more then love it, I Lived it. I stepped inside the mind of this boy, and then I felt all his pain, happiness, torment, innocence. This author really knows how to pull you in and never let you venture too far away. Then as it leaves you, it forces you to recollect your own memories from the past, what was real, what was more imagination? The show more scents from my youth include citronella, roses, grass. I feel images swirl around me, when I smell these things.
But when I stepped inside the mind of this boy, I smelled wet dog, forest, dirt, sweat, fear, it combines with all the beautiful images the author portrayed for us readers.
Well, I feel as though I received a blessing, when I read this book. I feel the author shared a blessing with us all, that alone should make you put down whatever you are tinkering with, and pick this up now!
My favorite part, which brought tears to my eyes, was
about the prehistoric beast, his living situation which lead up to his release and what happened shortly thereafter.
And then Rebel! and his new owner! ugh! *tears* were streaming!
My heart swelled and burst into a thousand pieces. I am presently still recuperating! show less
Absolutely fabulous! It's a coming of age tale set in 1964 in Alabama told from the point of view of 11 year old Cory Mackenson. Cory is a budding writer - and knows how to spin a story - and as he's 11, there's still a fair bit of magic in the world. The story is a series of vignettes that are strung together with a mystery that Cory and his father need to get to the bottom of. The vignettes expand on all the unique characters in this little Alabama town - from the milk man, gas station owner, piano teacher, the local vet, the local witch, the girls at the house of ill repute, a former gunslinger, and the eccentric son of the wealthy owner of most of the town (who has issues with his wardrobe) - and thus build this world well. If you show more liked the style of "To Kill a Mockingbird" you will enjoy this one as well. I listened to this one from Audible - and it's very well done. I will surely pick it up and re-read (or re-listen to) it again in the future. show less
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In 1964, 12-year-old Cory Mackenson lives with his parents in Zephyr, Alabama. It is a sleepy, comfortable town. Cory is helping with his father's milk route one morning when a car plunges into the lake before their eyes. His father dives in after the car and finds a dead man handcuffed to the steering wheel. Their world no longer seems so innocent: a vicious killer hides show more among apparently friendly neighbors. Other, equally unsettling transmogrifications occur: a friend's father becomes a shambling bully under the influence of moonshine, decent men metamorphose into Klan bigots, "responsible" adults flee when faced with danger for the first time. With the aid of unexpected allies, Cory faces hair-raising dangers as he seeks to find the secret of the dead man in the lake. McCammon writes an exciting adventure story. He also gives us an affecting tale of a young man growing out of childhood in a troubled place and time. Recommended. show less
In 1964, 12-year-old Cory Mackenson lives with his parents in Zephyr, Alabama. It is a sleepy, comfortable town. Cory is helping with his father's milk route one morning when a car plunges into the lake before their eyes. His father dives in after the car and finds a dead man handcuffed to the steering wheel. Their world no longer seems so innocent: a vicious killer hides show more among apparently friendly neighbors. Other, equally unsettling transmogrifications occur: a friend's father becomes a shambling bully under the influence of moonshine, decent men metamorphose into Klan bigots, "responsible" adults flee when faced with danger for the first time. With the aid of unexpected allies, Cory faces hair-raising dangers as he seeks to find the secret of the dead man in the lake. McCammon writes an exciting adventure story. He also gives us an affecting tale of a young man growing out of childhood in a troubled place and time. Recommended. show less
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Author Information
105+ Works 20,862 Members
Robert R. McCammon is a popular horror fiction writer. He was born in 1952 in Birmingham, Alabama and attended the University of Alabama. After college he spent a number of years working in advertising for bookstores in Birmingham, where he still lives. McCammon's first novel, "Baal," was published in 1978. He quickly joined the group of horror show more writers that includes Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, and Anne Rice, who write suspenseful stories with modern-day settings. He has published over two dozen books to date. With the publication of "Boy's Life" in 1991, McCammon left behind the horror genre, noting that he finds real life horrifying enough these days. While there are some aspects of the supernatural in "Boy's Life," it is more a story of growing up in a small Southern town. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Il ventre del lago
- Original title
- Boy's Life
- Original publication date
- 1991
- People/Characters
- Cory Mackenson; Tom Mackerson; Davy Ray Callan; Ben Sears; Johnny Wilson; Gunther Dahninaderke (Dr. Lezander) (show all 9); Vernon Thaxter; The Lady; Dick Moultry
- Important places
- Zephyr, Alabama, USA
- Epigraph
- We ran like young wild furies,
where angels feared to tread.
The woods were dark and deep.
Before us demons fled.
We checked Coke bottle bottoms
to see how far was far.
Our worlds of magic wonder
were nev... (show all)er reached by car.
We loved our dogs like brothers,
our bikes like rocket ships.
We were going to the stars,
to Mars we'd make round trips.
We swung on vines like Tarzan,
and flashed Zorro's keen blade.
We were James Bond in his Aston,
we were Hercules unchained.
We looked upon the future
and we saw a distant land,
where our folks were always ageless,
and time was shifting sand.
We filled up life with living,
with grins, scabbed knees, and noise.
In glass I see an older man,
but this book's for the boys. - First words
- I want to tell you some important things before we start our journey.
- Quotations
- To my mother, the world was a vast quilt whose stitches were always coming undone. Her worrying somehow worked like a needle, tightening those dangerous seams.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They will always be there, as long as magic lives. And magic has a strong, strong heart.
- Blurbers
- Straub, Peter
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- (4.31)
- Languages
- 14 — Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 48
- ASINs
- 14