Expectations are killer. 
 I don't know if that's a quote, but it probably should be. If you went into theaters expecting The Dark Knight Rises to be as great as, or even greater, than The Dark Knight... you were probably a tad upset. And maybe that affected the way you rated the movie? 
 Don't go into this book thinking it's the next It, or The Stand, because it's just not. What it is, though, is classic Stephen King. If you really need a book to compare it to... I'd suggest Bag of Bones, or possibly even 11/22/63. Even more than those though, the supernatural takes a backseat in Joyland. 
 This is a coming-of-age book filled with broken hearts, hard labor, and a little bit of mystery. That enigma though, along with the faint hint of a ghostly apparition, is mildly interwoven throughout the nearly 300 pages (a small King novel, to be sure!) of Devin Jones' recounting of the year he lost his first love, the year he lost himself in the joys and hardships of a North Carolina Amusement Park. 
 If you've ever been to an amusement park, and I'm not talking those large Six Flags, Disney-World joints, but something smaller, local, then you'll love this book. If you've been to a place like Kennywood, in Pittsburgh, and if you've ever thought of what it would be like working there for a summer to build up some spending money for college... you'll love this book. If you're a King fan, you'll love this book, but who am I kidding? You already knew that. 
 Stephen King is the master of horror, sure, but he's also, more importantly (in my opinion), the master of emotions. The characters feel real, their actions feel real, and when something happens them, you feel it too. 
 Don't go into this book expecting to have your hair standing on end -- this is not Pet Semetary. But if you want to have your emotions tugged this way and that, and if you want to read a well-written, quick-read page turner, then this is the book for you. 
 Update: I read another review that likened this book to a Ray Bradbury homage. Spot on. Not quite as good as Something Wicked This Way Comes, but up there.