The Body
By: Stephen King
Overall Rating: ★★★★
It’s the summer of 1960 in Castle Rock, Maine. Gordie Lachance and his 3 friends set out to find a dead body. On the way, they run into sadistic bullies, grumpy old men, and a few other unexpected things.
No, there aren’t any ghosts, evil cars, rabid dogs or killers but that didn’t make this novella any less enjoyable. The references to other King stories–Cujo, Salem’s Lot, Shawshank Redemption, and more I probably missed–made the story that much better (at least for me). King’s world-building is amazing and the fact that he thinks so far ahead (or behind) to have characters, events, and locations intertwine leaves me in awe. Let’s not forget Gordie, Verne, Teddy, and Chris are the most messed up kids ever, yet you still want to see them overcome their circumstances. It also helped that I saw the movie before reading this story. It is one of the rare occasions the movie actually did the story justice!
The Verdict
Even though I don’t consider this a classic horror story, it was SO GOOD. Who knew you could feel so much love for a 12 year-old slum named Chris Chambers. Gordie and Chris’s friendship is everything you’d want as a kid and I teared up finding out what happens to each of them. If you’re looking for a slightly twisted coming-of-age story, read this! And then go watch Stand By Me because River Phoenix as Chris is everything you’d want in life.
Theme Song
I’m not going to pretend there is any other song for this story. It’s a classic.
Talk To Me
Any Stephen King fans out there? Have you read this? What did you think?
Read By Dev 