Book Review: The Body by Stephen King

Book on CD: 6 Discs

I'm a King fan so let me get that out first.  Most of what he has written and writes is what I like to read.

The movie Stand By Me was based on this story and I'll have to say that both are great, but this adds to the pleasure of just hearing it with great description and the narrator Frank Muller has the perfect voice for a Stephen King novel.

This is a great story so if you haven't seen the movie go ahead and try the book or the book on CD first and you'll really appreciate the movie filling in the visual details.  It has been long enough for me that I can only vaguely remember the differences between the movie and this book so I'll have to say do both.

King gives you some great personal stories woven into a larger storyline.  It resembles what many of us growing up in the 50's and 60's can remember in terms of freedom to roam and the wild nature of life back then.  But of course the difference between then and now is that where the police would have been involved throughout the story today, back then they came into play only after the fact.  I remember having the same type of multi-day adventures without my parents even being aware that we were gone.  The storyline was the same in that we all agreed to be sleeping out in a friend's yard so our parent's were none the wiser.  From there the story takes on a life of open adventure without worry of parents searching for you.

Facing off against older boys seems to be a rite of passage and I think at one time or another we all faced that as well.  How you handled it often showed how you would handle life later when facing the bullies you meet as an adult.

I like that King interwove his own personal story into the character known as Gordon.  I have read King's book On Writing that contains a lot of biographical information about him so I could tell he placed himself in the story as Gordon.  It was a nice touch and I could see him as Gordon in many ways.  Chris was his friend and as you get to the end of the story you'll see why they titled the movie Stand by Me since that title works well for a story less about the body than about how friends and kids decide their fate, future, and friendships.

I feel like I'm back in the 60's when listening to this book.

I loved it and think you will too.

***** 5 stars - Highly Recommend both the Movie and the book on CD.