Kings Row

I had heard of KINGS ROW since the movie made from this 1940's bestseller featured Ronald Reagan as Drake in what Reagan considered his best role and the famous "where's the rest of me?" scene has been shown on television many times. I found an old paperback of the novel at a used book sale and was not expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised. The book is the story of two young men coming of age in small town Missouri in the years between 1890 and about 1910. There is enough scandal and "the sap of life" (as a New York Times review says on my old copy of the book) to satisfy the modern reader and Bellamann brings the entire town to vivid life as he peoples Kings Row with believable townspeople of all ages and walks of life. The author was sixty when the book was published in 1940 so he was a contemporary of his characters and the book is believed to have many autobiographical elements. At times the book is a bit slow paced and ponderous but Bellamann draws his characters so well and sympathetically that the reader is compelled to keep reading and there are some truly memorable and dramatic events in the story. I couldn't help but think how little has changed in the over one hundred years since the setting of the book and that perhaps the good old days and the people that lived them were not so good after all.

I read Kings Row about 12 years ago and became a huge fan of Henry Bellaman. Kings Row is the kind of book that lives long in your mind and heart. He breathes life into the characters and you feel as though you know them each personally and would recognize them on the street. He knows the pulse of human emotion and the author is a psychologist, a man of spiritual depth and insight, and his words sing. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what it means to be human and how we fare in terms with the world around us and the inhabitants we come in contact with. I will never forget this marvelous book and have recommended it to many. Beautiful!

Kings Row is one of my 2 favorite books (the other is "A Tree Grows is Brooklyn"). I read it a few months ago, shortly before I turned 15. Henry Bellamann shocked me with his good characteriation of all the characters, major and minor. Everything in the book was intwined with everything else. So many things happened in this town, which is based on Fulton, MO, that I wonder what sort of things are happening in MY town. Read it. The last 10 pages are sad and suprizing. I cried at a few parts. The movie is good too, but the ending is somewhat different. Anyway, read Kings Row.

One of the few positive things I got out of Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis" was a mention of this book. King had grouped it with the likes of Grace Metalious's "Peyton Place". Indeed it is very similar and like a modern soap opera.King's Row is a fictional, small town in the rural south. The story starts in the 1890's with the main characters Parris Mitchell and Drake McHugh in early high school. They are best buddies. Drake is a happy go-lucky boy who chases women and loves to party. Parris is more reticent and sober.The long novel (almost 700 pages) follows their lives until their early 30's. They go through various romances (with very unexpected consequences), business operations and changes in their lifestyles. Drake starts off wealthy and the scourge of the town, however, he is bilked of his money and must start over. Parris studies to become a doctor and is well regarded throughout his career. Many of King's Row citizens have a quirk about them. Some are honest and upstanding, but there are others who have neuroses about them (including a doctor who likes to inflict pain on the sick rather than heal).This book appears to have caused quite a stir when it first came out. Parris and Drake have sexual escapes that rival the "bad boys" of the fifties. Instead of the hot rods they cruise around in "rubber wheel buggies". Quite a change indeed from the proper southern women portrayed by the likes of Glasgow and Margaret Mitchell. There is also mention of homosexuality and incest. Like Peyton Place, there are sobering moments that the characters go through. Parris is very moralistic and easy to look up to and there are lessons to be learned about character in the book.This was a breath of fresh air. Fun to read, and yes long. At times the action was a little light, but near the end I couldn't put it down. A movie was made based off the book (starring Ronald Reagan no less) and a sequel was written.

I read this book when I was 15 or so and was entirely captivated by it. It has often been compared to Peyton Place, because both stories are long narratives set in small town America that convey a soap opera-type story. I feel that Kings Row is superior to Peyton Place and has been overlooked. Admittedly this is not great literature and cannot compare to Dickens or Thackeray. Nevertheless it is an intrigruing story of young people coming to age, attempting to understand the adult world, and is packed with great characterizations. There is a certain mystery and power to this novel that will capture the hearts of certain young readers, those who are dedicated readers and love long involved stories of infatuation, loyal friendship, teenage confusion, scandal, forbidden love, cruelty, and tragedy.