Boy's Life

Rating:
Summary: Great, Even from a teenagers point of view.
Review: I found this book to be wonderful. It made me keep turning the pages. I guess that would make it a "page-turner". This book keep me up many a nights. Not a very good sleeping pill, like many books I have read in the past. I would highly recommend it. This was required for school, and I had no problem reading it.

Rating:
Summary: The Best book I've ever read
Review: This book is great. I've read it twice. Once when I was eight and another time when I was ten. Both times, I loved it! After the final page, I waited for more. I didn't want it to end. I've tried to get my friends to read it, but the length is intimidating. I think everyone needs to read it. My sister, uncle, and dad all loved it, too. We have passed this book around all over our family.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read.
Review: When I read the book first I was impressed with the presentation of the American way of life in a southern town. It is genuine. I - myself - am a teacher of English in Germany and - I hope - an objective observerof the American life in small towns, which I have enjoyed so often. I decided to read this book with my 13th grade and we have just finished it. My students are enthusiastic about it. Being closer to the age of Cory than I am, they found nuances I did not realize myself and I, being about as old as Cory would be now, could give them information about that time. We were nonsurplussed by the rich and creative imagery Robert McCammon uses in this novel. We were also surprised at the important and imaginative steps of initiation Cory can enjoy and has to endure. The novel has become a "cult book" in my 13th grade. This is all the more surprising as English is a foreign language to them. Thank you Robert MacCammon. When do we hear from you again?

Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: This book was really good. McCammon wrote this well. It really kept me reading. It was a little long, though. The plot was suspenseful, but it was a little bit confusing to a 12 year old. Over- all I give this book two thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: The only book you ever need to read.
Review: I gave my boyfriend Boy's Life for Christmas last year. I thought to myself if he didn't love it - he was out. This book does more that touch your soul. It changes you. Boys and girls, readers of every age need to experience, along with Cory, what it means to be human. The rich details take you into town, the woods, the lake, the baseball field. Since reading Boy's life, no one I know has been able to look at an arrowhead, a monster comic, a bicycle or a milk bottle the same way. I read this novel once a year as a gift to myself.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read!
Review: A truly entertaining book where you become entwined in the lives of the characters and swept up in the magnificent plot. There are so many connecting themes and plot lines that everything that you read will keep popping up later for an encore performance. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to see life from an opulent and open-minded point of view. This should be made mandatory reading for students.... it is entertaining and educational

Rating:
Summary: I grin every time I think of this book......Wonderful work!
Review: This novel will touch forever the hearts of all who read it. Filled cover to cover with a sense of wonder, "Boys Life" captures the mind and imagination of all "Southern" boys. The presence of easily a dozen story lines, tied masterfully together, provides something for everyone. You will NEVER forget this novel or what takes place within

Rating:
Summary: Robert McCammon has a keen eye for life's magic
Review: Boy's Life grabbed me early on: from the Preface, to be exact. I use an excerpt from the Preface as a monologue (with credit duely given), have read parts of the book to Middle School students, and even used the "Magic" monologue to inspire actors prior to a performance (with excellent results). McCammon is a very visual writer, and although I'd love to own the movie rights to this one, I wonder if the images he paints could be brought to life on film

Rating:
Summary: Cory wrote the story that Vernon couldn't write
Review: This book has replaced To Kill A Mockingbird in our curriculum since I discovered it four years ago. And how did I discover it? A young lady brought it to me with the plea, "you gotta read this book; it's the best." I did; it is. From the mystery story that Cory is able to construct without dusturbing a beautiful tale of growing up in the sixties in the south with all the beautiful nuanced social difficulties of the time to the Introduction and Afterward that so vibrantly capture the magic of childhood, this book, unlike McCammon's previous books, cleverly captures how a young boy becomes an author. And if you're a teacher of books, you'll love the insights and discussions it stimulates among adolescents who are just old enough to look back on Cory's experiences with nostalgia and insight. You heard it here, like Lord of the Flies, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye and Catch 22, this is one of those books that kids discovered and gave to the classrooms of the future by making their teachers read it and talk about it. I hope you book people know what you have here. It will be a classic twenty years from now. And if you believe, you can fly. Was that James Barrie or Rick McCammon?

Rating:
Summary: Formulaic and disappointing
Review: "Boy's Life" is a pleasant but rather disappointing book. I enjoyed hearing the familiar voices of small-town life as I read but was unimpressed beyond that. The story was too formulaic -- about midway through it strips itself naked: you begin to see a wonderful story about a boy and his town that has been sold out to a bloodthirsty public who needs "a mystery." Even the mystery is diluted and predictable. Additionally, I found the prose rather sophomoric and lacking much of the "poetry" one might find in Pat Conroy or Larry McMurtry. I can't totally tear it down, though. The characters (or caricatures) are stunningly real to anyone who grew up in Zephyr, Alabama or (as the case may be) Luling, Texas. McCammon does a fine job painting a picture of the characters, setting, and dialogue one would expect in Zephyr. The prose is also imbued with the native humor of the South some find so irresistable. The chapter "Wasps at Easter" is humor of Twain proportion. While it's an undemanding read, it's rather mediocre in its presentation. It's neither outstanding as a coming of age story nor particularly clever as a mystery. It's no "The Body" by Stephen King