There's a bit of a story here. Browsing through Goodreads, I ran across the page on Richard Laymon and was surprised to see he passed away in 2001.I met him in a science fiction book store autograph party in the 90s. There were only a handful of people there so we had a good hour or two just talking amongst ourselves. Needless to say, Laymon was a very nice enthusiastic man who was in love with books and writing. He autographed a copy of Resurrection Dreams which I remembered reading and liking very much but I have not read any more Laymon since then. So recently I looked for the book in my collection to reread yet I couldn't find it! Instead I stumbled across Funland, a novel that I must have bought at the same time since it is autographed and inscribed, "Marvin, Have fun at the boardwalk...but stay out from under it!". I totally forgot about this book and am sure I never read it. So now's the time to read it!---------------------So I finished it and it is an amusing read firmly in the range of modern 80s horror novels set up by King and McCammon. The amusement park in the lazy California beach town of Boleta Bay (a take off of the non-fictitious Bodega Bay made famous by Hitchcock?)is plagued by trolls, the name the residents give the unsavory homeless element. Teenagers called trollers set themselves up as vigilantes until the harassment turns into murder. From there, Laymon bring in other sub-plots elements including a mysterious funhouse and proprietor to wrap up the last 100 pages of continuous action. It's a good summer read, mildly scary and entertaining despite somewhat one dimensional protagonists.Yet this 1990 novel made me quite uncomfortable. In the 80s, President Reagan virtually eliminated the funding for government institutions for the mentally ill. His intent was to remove the mentally ill from the institutions which he saw as huge financial drains and often ineffective at improving the person and directing them to halfway houses and boarding facilities that would work on integrating the mentally ill into society. Yet there was no real effort or funding to set up these types of facilities and the mentally ill were forgotten, many of them joining the ranks of the homeless. The homeless population soared. The problem continues today with the homeless population being viewed as addicts and "crazies", a different take on this population from the, as Layman described himself, "bums and beggars" of pre-90s America.(From here on, there may be spoilers)Layman appears to be mirroring this change in perception, this paranoia of the homeless. His trolls are definitely mentally ill and always malicious. The townpeople are only protecting their way of life and the trollers are portrayed as heroes until one of their vicious pranks go wrong. The liberal "bleeding heart" woman journalist is written as naive and is punished for it when her naivety ends up in her death. Layman appears torn in his views. It's bad to persecute the unfortunate yet they should stay hidden and away from normal people. In other word, he exhibits the same pull of conscience most people of the 90s did when the abandoned mentally ill showed up on their streets. Layman however doesn't really know where to take this and late in the novel he introduces a funhouse element of horror that exists more to get him out of his corner rather than to enhance the plot. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this novel is that it illustrates how the social problems of the time creates our fears and horrors. This novel, for good or bad, feeds on this fear. Overall, it is just a horror novel, a pretty good one at that, but I wish the author took a stand on his theme and explored it a little better.
Als ein Fan von Richard Laymon fiel mir die Wahl bei meinem letzten Stöbern nach ebooks nicht schwer.Die Story klang vielversprechend - ein typischer Richard Laymon.Der Roman hingegen begann eher enttäuschend.Die Einführung der einzelnen Charaktere erinnerte mehr an einen Strandspaziergang mit wenig Schrecken und Gräuel. Verwunderlich war für mich, dass die Laymon-eigene Art und Weise Gräuel und Schrecken plastisch zu beschreiben, hier weitenteils auf der Strecke blieb. Eingefleischte Laymon-Fans dürften hier weniger auf ihre Kosten kommen. Ausschmückungen wie in "Der Keller" oder "Die Insel" sind in "Die Gang" Fehlanzeige.So richtig Fahrt nimmt für mich der Roman erst auf den letzten circa 120 Seiten auf.Leider. Aus den sich dann entwickelnden Ereignissen hätte man gut und gerne einen ganz eigenen Roman entwickeln können; wenn man allerdings das wiederum an einen romantischen Strandspaziergang á la Hollywood erinnernde Ende des Romans außer Acht lässt.Alles in Allem für mich eher "Laymon light". Ein Laymon für Leseanfänger dieses Genres.
What do You think about Funland (1990)?
To tell you the truth, I really wasn't expecting much from this novel. I am not sure why. I bought it on Amazon because it was cheap and ever since watching Carnival Of Souls, have found fairs and amusement parks (at night) creepy. Still, the first chapter did not grab me, the characters seemed unreal and I prepared myself to give it a few more chapters before giving up.I am glad I did keep with it. The book started to come alive after its slow start. I started to get a real feel for the location of Funland. I could smell the popcorn and feel the ocean breeze and hear the concophany of voices and music. Mr. Laymon did a great job in giving enough description to paint our mental pictures but not to much to stifle our imaginations. That is a hard job for a lot of authors. The characters were drawn as much as needed for this type of genre. I am not putting Laymon down for this. This is a compliment. Sometimes I just need the good guys to be good and the bad guys to be bad without Freudian analysis of unloving mothers. The end, which I would not dare give away, was fast paced and believable in the world that Laymon created. I have the cliche of "I couldn't put this down" reviews, but in this case I Couldn't Put This Down.
—Jake
I think I've read three or four books by Richard Laymon. Probably because I was once a young lad who thought that Stephen King's recommendation meant something. But they've all sucked, and while this wasn't the worst one -- that would be To Wake the Dead, which is also the worst book in the entire history of modern standard English -- it's pretty fargin' bad. I'd argue it's not even listed in the right genre, as anything that might approach the supernatural, the scary, or even the interesting doesn't happen until the last 40 pages or so, by which point you're so tired of poorly-written bildungsroman (that's Latin for "crap") and teen slang too hokey for Leave It to Beaver that you wish you too were lost in the funhouse with the freaks. Funland is to horror what Road House is to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and you should stay far, far, far away.
—Brian
This was the first Richard Laymon novel I'd read after hearing about him for years. I was a little disappointed to be honest, but I also plan to read a few more of his novels to get a better sampling of his work.Funland had an interesting premise, but the plot just seemed to meander. I think this book could have been edited down and been a better novel. The characters were interesting, but honestly didn't seem all that real to me. And the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. I don't like to put spoilers in my reviews, so I'll just say the ending didn't really fit in with what you'd expect. I understood what he was going for, but it just seemed out of place. Actually the entire storyline was disjointed.Overall, it was creepy and it was interesting, but overall it feel a little flat to me. The characters seemed to act out-of-character too often, and they just weren't very believable.I still gave it three stars because even with its flaws, I still enjoyed reading it. If you like quirky horror, give this one a shot. It's different if nothing else.
—Quentin Wallace
