Boy’s Life Book Review: When Childhood Feels Magical

Boy’s Life is a 1991 novel by Robert R. McCammon that has elements of horror, fantasy, and mystery, but is best classified as a coming-of-age drama. It’s a fast-paced, easy read, and while some very intense, often worrying events do occur, it’s a book that evokes a lot less stress than those I typically read. I found it to be a comfortable, enjoyable experience.

The story is set in the mid-1960s in a small Alabama town named Zephyr. Events are told from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy named Cory Mackenson. And everything we’re told is very intentionally told from his point of view, with magical, seemingly impossible happenings throughout the book. Readers are left to determine just how accurately events are being portrayed since it’s a story told through a child’s eyes.

If the concept of nostalgia were a book, it just might be Boy’s Life. Not so much nostalgia for the 1960s as simply nostalgia for what it’s like to be a kid. This is a story about the magic of being a child and experiencing the world with a sense of wonder.

That’s not to say that more serious aspects of the time in which the story is set are avoided. Racism is a major topic covered in Boy’s Life. The town is segregated and there are characters who are revealed to be members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Overall, while there are a bunch of great characters here, like The Lady and Vernon, my favorite relationships to read about were those between Cory and his parents, and Cory and his friends. There’s a genuine feeling in these relationships that helps ground a story that is, most of the time, quite fantastical.

The book covers a year in Cory’s childhood, with this central story being bookended by reflections of the protagonist as an adult. Some chapters feel almost like short, separate adventures for Cory and his friends, though a murder discovered by Cory and his father in the opening chapter serves as a backdrop for the entire novel. Nothing that happens genuinely shocked me, but I don’t know if big surprises are necessary in this sort of story.

Personally, I can’t relate to growing up in the 1960s or a lot of the types of events that are the basis for the tales we’re being told. What I can relate to, though, is the sense of adventure that comes with being a child and how extraordinary (and scary) such a time can be. I can see how readers who feel even more connected to the story could easily love this novel and rank it as one of their favorites. It doesn’t quite reach that level for me, but this is still a really good, worthwhile novel.

Grade: 8/10