REVIEW

The Colorado Kid

Posted: September 13, 2005
Category: Books
The story of The Colorado Kid isn’t a story at all. A story has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The Colorado Kid has no ending…and that’s the point made out through the entire book, not all stories have an ending. In The Colorado Kid, King tells the story of two old newspapermen, Vince Teague and David Bowie (yes, you read that last name right), who tell Stephanie McCann, an intern at the newspaper, the story of the Colorado Kid.

It all begins with a visit from a reporter from a big newspaper that’s going around collecting stories of the unexplained. When he leaves, without a story, Vince and David tell Stephanie the story they didn’t tell the newspaperman, the story of the Colorado Kid.

Because it doesn’t have an ending or all the answers, they know the big papers won’t be interested or would only be interested in an altered version. That’s why they didn’t tell him about it. It was their story, and now Stephanie’s.

As with the big papers I think that the readers of this book will either love it or hate it. I don’t think there will be many in betweeners for this one.

Personally I love it. The tone King uses in the book is so fresh and entertaining to read! This book is in some cases very different from King’s usual books but at the same time it’s so King. It’s a wonderful book. I bet Frank Darabont or Rob Reiner will turn this one into a blockbuster before long…it’s that kind of book.

It’s also a rather short book. It's only 184 pages but King knows exactly where to end the story. If the book had been longer (or shorter for that matter) it wouldn’t have worked.

Lilja's final words about The Colorado Kid:

OK, I have been ranting on about this book for quite a while now but isn’t there anything not so good about The Colorado Kid? Well, no, actually there isn’t. I can honestly say that this is one of the best books King has written and I believe most of you will agree with me on that…or are you one of those that don’t like a story that isn’t a story?

If you want to comment or discuss this review, please mail me.