After a discussion about King's use of nostalgia and childhood recollections with my office partner at work, this book appeared on my desk. Office partner invited me to read at my leisure and then release.

I really enjoyed this for many reasons. The characters are full and people we care about. The stories of the charaters are ones to which we can relate. The voices are clear.

Here we are introduced to the childhood of Bobby Garfield. he is coping with his controling mother, but he has good friends he relies on for help. It begins in the summer of 1960 and the country of Viet Nam means nothing to these people. This summer, Bobby and his friends have their last year of childhood, and to launch this is the mysterious stranger, who befriends young Bobby and introduces him to litereature. The stranger appears to be hiding from sometihng, someone, perhaps the law. But this is Stven King, so we know that the stranger must be hiding from something less mundane than that. This is the launcing point for a story that follows the lives of each of the main characters and touchs strongly on the effects of the Viet Nam war.

RELEASE NOTES:

released.