Level 5: The Body

Das Buch war zwar ok, aber ein bisschen eintönig im allgemeinen. An einigen Stellen war es spannender und dann wieder nicht. Hab es nur gelesen, da ich es von der Schule aus lesen musste, würde es mir privat aber nicht nochmal holen/lesen.

Ich wollte schon länger mal was von King lesen, aber die langen Wälzer haben mich immer etwas abgeschreckt. Hier hab ich nun in einer Box seiner gesammelten Short-fiction die perferkte Heranführung gefunden. Der Plot ist sehr simpel. Vier Jungen um die 12 Jahre, bekommen mit, dass eine anderer Junge verschwunden ist. Zufällig hören sie wie andere darüber reden ihn gefunden zu haben, es aber nicht melden wollten. Da beschliessen die vier selbst dorthin zu gehen, und begeben sich auf eine Reise entlang einer Frachtbahnstrecke. An die Sprache musste ich mich zunächst gewöhnen. Small-town USA 1960 - da gibts viel Slang, wirkt aber nicht überladen und man versteht durchaus was gemeint ist. Die Charaktere und deren trotz nur knapp 180 Seiten Tiefgang haben mich sehr überzeugt. Die Beschreibung der Atmosphäre, die Figuren, die Entwicklung und auch die heftigen unangenehmen Themen haben die Geschichte äusserst glaubwürdig erscheinen lassen. Bin schwer beeindruckt! Wird sicherlich nicht das letzte sein, das ich von ihm gelesen habe.

This was a really emotional read for me. Maybe that was because the story itself is so nostalgic that it actually felt like I was part of it, experiencing the summer of 1960 among Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern and finishing it on the last day of summer break, which is also when the boys return to Castle Rock from their character-shaping journey. It might have been because it felt so painfully real that it actually took me back to those easy childhood days when everything was peaceful and I didn’t have a single care in the world other than what I was going to have for lunch. Maybe it made me cry because of the fact that the character of Chris Chambers is tailored so accurately onto actor River Phoenix - who played him in the book’s 1986 adaptation "Stand by Me" three years later - that they are even united by a tragic and unfair death at the age of 23. Or, perhaps, it affected me so much because this coming-of-age story reminded me of my own mortality, showing me (a person who has difficulty adapting to changes) that this very change is natural and that everything: every phase, every friendship, every life is going to end someday, some sooner, some later. But I think the reason why "The Body" touched me as much as it did (including spilling thick drops of tears on the pages of my copy) is because everything in this story is so tragically relatable. However you might think that four friends walking for miles in the woods of Maine and getting themselves in great danger to find a corpse of a boy their age sounds absurd, it is not. It’s a story of self-discovery, trauma and coping, but most of all it is a story of friendship. A friendship that -maybe- you would wish a happy ending for but that you secretly know will never last. Kings storytelling is immersive and simply amazing, as always, the way he puts so much depth into every single character in very few pages is impressive, and I am certain that some day in the future, when I’m older, I will return to this story and be grateful to have read it when I was young, when it had the power to educate and shape me the way perhaps no other book has ever had or ever will. I will, without a doubt, repeat to cry my eyes out reading dialogue between Gordie and Chris, but in the end it will all be worth it to be taken back to that summer of 1960 in Castle Rock. 🛤️💌