I am a wierd Stephen King reader. I haven’t read many of the most iconic classics: not The Shining, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, or It. I know. To quote the great draconic poet Mushu, “Dishonor on my family. Dishonor on my cow.” I have read Cell (because it was the new Stephen King when I was in high school), Lisey’s Story, and, right before I started this blog, The Dark Tower series. That last one took me three years. Realizing just how slowly I read seven books was partly the push which got me reading again more regularly. But, enough about me. On to the book:
The Basics:
Title: Fairy Tale
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Portal Fantasy, Suspense
Published: Scribner, 2022
Spoiler-Free Summary:
Charlie Reade has a rough childhood. He experiences deep loss and a rough family dynamic. He doesn’t handle it perfectly, but it ultimately forges him into an emotionally and physically strong young adult once his life shifts back into balance. His life takes a sharp turn when he rescues an elderly shut-in from a dramatic accident, and the two form an unlikely friendship which changes both of their lives.
When Mr. Bowditch passes on, he bequeaths Charlie something that is both a terrible inheritance and an awesome responsibility: his home, and, with it, the portal to another world. In this world, there is a magic sun dial which reverses aging. When Mr. Bowditch’s dog, Radar, shows starts entering her final days, Charlie descends into the other world to give her another well-deserved chance at life.
Charlie embarks a sweeping, epic quest in a land plagued by a magic curse, home to many Grimms fairy-tale analogues. His journey has several distinct phases – meeting the cursed refugees, questing for the ruined city of the Time-Turning Sun Dial, and surviving the horrifying magical dangers therein. As Charlie is transformed by his experiences, he finds he cannot abandon the people of this melancholy, beautiful, cursed world to their fate. To save them, he must delve deeper and deeper into a world the darkest stories ever told around a campfire in the dead of winter.
Why This Book Is For You:
King does something interesting structurally with this extremely classic fantasy adventure (Coming-of-age? Check. Hero’s Journey? Check). The real-world story – the first fourth and last tenth of the book – begins dark and tragic before gradually growing into an idyllic fairy tale. It’s a story dedicated to taking its time to lay a solid foundation before things get strange (and trust me, they do). Then, when we enter the portal-fantasy section, the Other World begins as an almost-pastoral fairy tale, picking up the tone from the real-world. Although nobody is whole, everybody is helpful. There are hints at trouble to come, but there is still beauty in the world. As Charlie explores more of this storybook world, however, things grow darker. Horror, brutality, and tragedy wane until they overwhelm the poppy-field beauty of its first introduction.
In this way, Fairy Tale feels like a response to both the classic morality-tale-with-a-side-of-cruelty of the Brother’s Grimm’s source material, and the modern sanitized feel-good Disney version. Real life is neither that horrible, nor that wholesome, King seems to say, as Charlie experiences both joy and terror in both worlds.
It’s a sprawling epic focused on deep character development and emotional gut-punches written in King’s signature style (if you’ve read him, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, you’ll know halfway through the first book). I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I expect many of you will as well.
Where Can You Learn More?
Where can I point you to read about one of the most famous novelists of the 20th and 21st century? Why not read this thorough and excellent profile from Esquire magazine, written around the time Fairy Tale was released.
Happy reading, folks.
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