Book Chat: ‘Fairy Tale’ by Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine for good.
Stephen attended grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale (“The Glass Floor”) to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men’s magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
Synopsis:
Fairy Tale is a dark fantasy novel by American author Stephen King, published on September 6, 2022, by Scribner.[1][2] The novel follows Charlie Reade, a 17-year-old who inherits keys to a hidden, otherworldly realm, and finds himself leading the battle between forces of good and evil.[3] - Wikipedia
Fairy Tale is a portal fantasy about 17-year-old Charlie Reade’s journey through the land of Empis, a fairy tale-inspired alternate reality that is under the control of dark forces. Totalling over 600 pages, it is an epic, coming-of-age tale that encompasses themes of the struggle between good and evil, fate vs. free will, and the consequences of moral decisions. Fairy Tale is a story within a story and is King’s testament to the way that reading and writing shape our humanity.
Characters
Charlie Reade is the novel’s protagonist. A 17-year-old high school student, Charlie lives alone with his father after his mother’s tragic death. Charlie learns how to take care of others early on due to his father’s alcohol addiction. After his wish for his father’s recovery is granted, he feels obligated to care for Mr. Bowditch and Radar, but soon grows to organically love both of them.
Charlie struggles with the knowledge that he spent several years after his mother’s death acting out and bullying others. He feels ashamed of his past, and whenever he has an unkind impulse he is reminded of this shame. He also harbours repressed grief about his mother’s death and resentment about his father’s years dealing with addiction.
Mr. Bowditch: Charlie’s elderly neighbour, is the person who introduces him to Radar and the well of the worlds. Mr. Bowditch takes Empis’s resources for his own benefit, utilizing Lilimar’s life-giving sundial and stealing gold pellets from the palace. His exploits enable him to live a long and wealthy life but at the cost of his personal relationships.
On his deathbed, Mr. Bowditch rues his choices. Early on, he tells a confused Charlie that “a brave man helps,” while “cowards just bring presents. When Charlie journeys to Empis, he understands the meaning of this sentence. Mr. Bowditch befriended the Empirians and brought gifts that improved their standard of living but did not intervene when their world fell under attack. He was not brave enough to risk his own safety, and his regret over this follows him to his final breath.
After his death, Mr. Bowditch bequeaths Charlie the “burden” of knowledge about the well of the worlds. Charlie is able to finish what Mr. Bowditch couldn’t and saves the Empirians before walling off the well. He comes away from his adventure with a new perspective on his late friend. Mr. Bowditch’s character embodies the complexity of good and evil deeds in Fairy Tale.
Radar: Mr. Bowditch’s elderly German shepherd. After Mr. Bowditch’s death, Charlie takes over her care. Radar and Charlie form a close bond. Their relationship drives Charlie to go through the well of the world to restore her youth. After he places her on the sundial, Radar becomes a young, spry dog again, and she participates in Charlie’s rescue later in the book. By the time Charlie narrates Fairy Tale, Radar is once again approaching old age, but he notes that she already lived a supernaturally long life for a dog.
Christopher Polley is one of Fairy Tale’s secondary antagonists. A short man who speaks with an oddly cartoonish affect, Polley robs 1 Sycamore after Mr. Bowditch’s death and threatens Charlie’s life to get his hands on Mr. Bowditch’s gold pellets. In the narrative’s fairy tale parallel, he represents Rumpelstiltskin, a shrewd and greedy person who takes advantage of others for personal gain. He also represents the mundane evil of humanity.
QUOTES *SPOILERS BELOW*
“A brave man helps. A coward just gives presents.”
Mr. Bowditch speaks this phrase several times. Its meaning remains opaque until Charlie visits Empis and learns that Mr. Bowditch formed relationships with the Empirians before abandoning them after Flight Killer rose to power. Even though he brought them many useful gifts from his reality, Mr. Bowditch feels remorse about choosing safety and comfort over helping his friends.
“There's always someone at fault, which is not the same as blame.”
“There was nothing, but I still stood there with the flashlight in my hand, paralyzed with fear. Of what? The unknown, which is the scariest thing there is.”
“You can't take credit for sobering him up, because he did that. And if he starts drinking again, you can't take the blame, because he'd do that, too.”
“There’s a dark well in everyone, I think, and it never goes dry. But you drink from it at your peril. That water is poison.”
“There is pain in every almost.”
“Here is something I learned in Empis: good people shine brighter in dark times.”
“STRAIN YOUR POOPER!”
“but shame is like laughter. And inspiration. It doesn’t knock.”
“but you know what they say about hope: it’s the thing with feathers. It can fly even for those who are imprisoned. Maybe especially for them.”
THEMES
Guilt / Shame / Regret
Charlie’s shame at his behaviour with Birdie Bird. Charlie is a model student/athlete, but internally his guilt and shame gnaw at him.Bowditch may feel guilty/regretful about not doing more for his friends in Empis
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
Bowditch says it plainly, Radar is a good judge of someone’s internal beauty (goodness?) and this is exemplified with Dora, who looks horribly disfigured and maybe offputting (due to the gray) but is demonstrated to be full of love and kindness and generosity
Motivation
Regarding Eldin, reminded of this African Proverb:
"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth."
Parallel Worlds
FAiry Tale book Chat Part 1
Fairy Tale Book Chat Part 2
Talking Points
Part 1: The Set Up
A Look at Grief, and Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism
Charlie’s mum died, a truck hit her ‘on the bridge’
“I don’t think a 10-year-old could be tired like that, but I was”
What it means when the child has to be the parent
Guilt/grief has turned into shame (lost job, vomiting)
AA: a recovering alcoholic helped Charlie’s dad become his sponsor and took him to meetings
The rock bottom moment
Fear of religion/prayer and an agreement made
Who is the author talking to?
Me Boditch’s house / haunted and dilapidated
Part 2: Mr Bowditch & Radar
Broken leg, hospital. He’s so so grouchy
Going to look after Radar the German shepherd
Is it the smartest thing ever to make the purpose of the book to help the dog?
Finds solace in attending to Howard
Caretakers mentality
Howard doesn’t know his age -foreshadowing?
AB - Adrien is the owner
Does he have money?
Sure does, gold ‘bullets’
What’s the deal with the TV?
Primary care earlier than one should
Oxy pain med - heavily addicting
Part 3: Down the Stairs
The dark path with large bats
We meet ‘DORA’
We learn about the curse
It’s clear that Adrian has made a huge impact on everyone down here, but has said knowing this is a burden for Charlie
The Gray curse
The Royal Family: Leah (goose girl), Woody (Leah’s uncle) and Claudia (Woody’s cousin)
Leah: Charlie learns that she was once a princess who lived in the palace near the magic sundial. She had six older siblings, all of whom were killed when her family was ousted from the throne. Leah’s missing mouth is the result of a curse whose origin is not revealed.
Through Falada, Leah explains that she befriended Mr. Bowditch and Radar when Mr. Bowditch was still young. She advises Charlie never to go to the city at night to avoid the “night soldiers.” She also cautions him against uttering the name “Gogmagog,” because saying the monster’s name may awaken it from its sleep below the city.
Woody: tells Charlie more of the family’s history: They are called the Galliens, and they were once royals but were toppled from the throne and driven out of the city of Lilimar by someone named “Flight Killer.” As they fled the city, they were chased by a giant named Hana who killed Leah’s siblings including her favorite brother, Elden. The Galliens who were not killed are immune to the graying curse due to their royal blood, but a different curse was cast upon them: Each family member lost one of their senses (speech for Leah, sight for Woody).
Claudia. Badass frontier woman. No nonsense, tough as nails. Sue from Life Below Zero!
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