The Colorado Kid (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Author:
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Audio CD
Author:
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Audio CD
A traditional story has 4 parts, although some sources say 5; a web search will provide various definitions. For the purposes of this review, let's go with "Exposition (Introduction)", "Conflict", "Climax", and "Resolution". If you try doing the same search regarding "life", you'll see it's not so easily broken down into such defined components. Life is not as structured as a story.
This is the basic theme of Stephen King's "The Colorado Kid". Straddling the border between a novella and a short novel, "The Colorado Kid" describes the mystery - no, make that mysteries - surrounding a body found on a Maine beach. It tells how some aspects of the situation are discovered over time, and others are assumed with a well-educated guess or two that are founded in the facts. It also sets out to show that some aspects may not be readily apparant, may be open to interpretation, or simply may never be discovered.
It is a story within a story; the situation that Mr. King sets up is that two old small-town newspapermen are describing their town's biggest mystery to their relatively new colleague, a recent college graduate from "the big city". Further, the story within the story within the story is to provide a lesson in storytelling - what makes a good story, what is necessary to tell a good story, and what unknowns can kill a story.
The published opinions on "The Colorado Kid" are mixed. It appears that the biggest haters detest the thing that actually drew me into the story - its uncertainty! Mr. King makes no secret of the fact that the mystery being described is unsolved; folks who expected a miraculous change to that circumstance by the last page will be disappointed to learn that things aren't revealed and resolved. It is my opinion that a miracle ending would have been a cheat, and would have invalidated the storytelling lessons being revealed by our narrators.
Further, anyone looking for resolution on THEIR story will also be disappointed! With limited exception, glimpses into the future are not given to mortal man, and the same is true for the characters in "The Colorado Kid". However, anyone looking for lessons on how to tell a traditional story can certainly learn something from this book, not just from what the characters reveal (a glimpse into the mind of the famed author, I must assume), but by what they describe as NOT present.
I am rating this story at 5 stars. I liked it, regardless of the opinion of other readers / reviewers, and most importantly, it is one of those rare books that stayed with me after I moved on to the next item in my To Be Read pile.
This is the basic theme of Stephen King's "The Colorado Kid". Straddling the border between a novella and a short novel, "The Colorado Kid" describes the mystery - no, make that mysteries - surrounding a body found on a Maine beach. It tells how some aspects of the situation are discovered over time, and others are assumed with a well-educated guess or two that are founded in the facts. It also sets out to show that some aspects may not be readily apparant, may be open to interpretation, or simply may never be discovered.
It is a story within a story; the situation that Mr. King sets up is that two old small-town newspapermen are describing their town's biggest mystery to their relatively new colleague, a recent college graduate from "the big city". Further, the story within the story within the story is to provide a lesson in storytelling - what makes a good story, what is necessary to tell a good story, and what unknowns can kill a story.
The published opinions on "The Colorado Kid" are mixed. It appears that the biggest haters detest the thing that actually drew me into the story - its uncertainty! Mr. King makes no secret of the fact that the mystery being described is unsolved; folks who expected a miraculous change to that circumstance by the last page will be disappointed to learn that things aren't revealed and resolved. It is my opinion that a miracle ending would have been a cheat, and would have invalidated the storytelling lessons being revealed by our narrators.
Further, anyone looking for resolution on THEIR story will also be disappointed! With limited exception, glimpses into the future are not given to mortal man, and the same is true for the characters in "The Colorado Kid". However, anyone looking for lessons on how to tell a traditional story can certainly learn something from this book, not just from what the characters reveal (a glimpse into the mind of the famed author, I must assume), but by what they describe as NOT present.
I am rating this story at 5 stars. I liked it, regardless of the opinion of other readers / reviewers, and most importantly, it is one of those rare books that stayed with me after I moved on to the next item in my To Be Read pile.
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