June Sleeping Beauties
A spectacular father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?
Sleeping Beauties originated as an idea that Owen, Stephen King’s younger son, mentioned to his dad in a casual conversation. Stephen King loved it, and they embarked on a collaboration. King Sr. has noted in an interview that he adored working with Owen, and not only was it an enriching creative process for him, but it was also a wonderful bonding period for the two.
Owen’s hand in this 700-pager makes it quite a different read to the vintage Stephen. Yet you feel King Sr. in this rather smart and character loaded read that straddles the line between fantasy and reality, and in places it reminds you of Under the Dome, The Stand, and even The Green Mile. What Owen brings to this father-son collaboration is a layer of complexity that you wouldn’t necessarily find in a Stephen King novel.
By that I mean that is that this is not just fantasy with supernatural elements seamlessly woven into a typical small-town American story that you would expect from King Sr. Owen weaves into it socio-political and gender themes in a very clever way, and the book talks to current issues we face in America and globally, and makes you think about what kind of future we may be heading towards.
I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to readers who like to be challenged a little bit and have the time to invest in quite a door stopper.
