Boy's Life
| Written by: | Robert R. McCammon |
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| Central Theme: | |
| Synopsis: | |
| First published: | 1991 |
Cory Mackenson, age 12, lives in Zephyr, Alabama, a quiet town that has an odd air of magic to it. One day, while Cory is out with his father delivering milk, the two witness the aftermath of a horrific murder, the victim disappearing in a lake. Tom Mackenson is deeply haunted by this, and Cory attempts to find clues to the identity of the murderer.
...and yet, despite the above event, this book is truly about the life of a boy. The murder provides a story arc. a conflict and a climax, but Boy's Life is, at its core, a Slice of Life novel, alternating between heartwarming and heartwrenching events in one year of Cory's life.
One of Robert R. McCammon's best known books, Boy's Life is something along the lines of "To Kill a Mockingbird, but with a 12-year-old boy in the 1960s", and really Needs More Love.
- Animal Motifs: It's subtle, but there are recurring themes of birds and flight. Yes, they are extremely relevant.
- Cool Old Guy: Mr. Lightfoot
- Crowning Moment of Awesome: Cory jamming a broomstick down Old Mose's throat, for one.
- The calm and slow Mr. Lightfoot disabling a goddamn bomb while Mr. Moulry complains and insults him all the way, and then scaring the daylights out of him by imitating an explosion. That second part doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
- Pretty much the entirety of "High Noon in Zephyr".
- For most of the book Cory and his friends are picked on by a couple of bullies. Then they go too far and get both their asses handed to them for it by one of Cory's friends.
- Crowning Moment of Funny: "Thanks Mr. Baylock, we sure do appreciate the..." "SPIDERS!!!!!"
- Darkest Hour: The better part of "Winter's Cold Truth", but especially "Faith".
- Everything's Better with Monkeys: NO...well, maybe for the readers, but the people of Zephyr definitely don't appreciate the aptly named Lucifer.
- Fridge Horror: The quirks of a couple of certain characters become much, much Harsher in Hindsight when the identity of the killer is revealed. Specifically, Dr. Lezander's habit of giving people temporary nicknames. He did the same thing for Jews on the way to the gas chambers. And remember his wife's cute little ceramic birds? Made with human bones.
- Hurl It Into the Sun: At the end of the second part, Nemo, enraged by the fact he has to move yet again literally hurls a baseball at the sun and stalks off. The ball never comes down.
- Kill the Cutie: Davy Ray.
- Magical Negro: The Lady, quite literally.
- Magical Realism: This book pushes the Willing Suspension of Disbelief quite far with the amount of ridiculously prevalent supernatural happenings, including but not limited to: ghosts, a magical woman who can turn bullets into snakes, a dog being brought back to life through prayer, a baseball apparently thrown INTO THE SUN, and a magical biting bike.
- Most Writers Are Writers
- Mr. Fixit: Mr. Lightfoot can fix anything. He even disarms an atomic bomb.
- Snow Means Death
- Strange Girl: The Demon. Also something of a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. Seriously, squirrel heads?!
- Subliminal Seduction: According to Reverend Blesset, the Beach Boys do it. ("The Devil Is My Strawberry!")
- Tear Jerker: You won't get through this book without shedding at least a few tears...
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Who is finally able to put an end to the hellish spider monkey Lucifer? Why, a man named Gabriel, of course.
- Unexplained Recovery: Rebel. This is not a good thing.
- The Woobie: Tom Mackenson becomes one over the course of the story, being horribly scarred by the murder and experiencing horrifying nightmares about the victim sinking and calling him. To add insult to injury, Tom loses his job as a milkman due to the construction of a supermarket and is forced to become a dishwasher.
- Cory's friend Ben could count, too, what with being a prevailing dork even by his friends' standards and having to deal with his alcoholic dad.