My Long Walk Through Stephen King's Lot

The new "Pet Sematary" film will soon be hitting theaters, and I'm feeling pretty excited.  I actually just finished another read-through of the novel, in part to prepare for the movie's release, but also because I hadn't read the book in years and felt I was due to revisit it.  I liked it as much as I always have, but I think my admiration for it has grown.  Folks, this novel is an absolute must-read.  It is one of King's finest, a definite masterpiece, and perhaps as close as he's come to writing a flawless book. It is well known that King has often referred to this book as the one that caused him to feel he'd finally gone too far.  Apparently, upon first writing it, he ended up locking it away in a drawer, expecting never to publish it.  My understanding is that he submitted it, at his wife's urging, to Doubleday in order to satisfy a multi-book contract.  I am immensely grateful that he did.  I shudder to think that this...

Stephen King released a new book the day before Halloween, and guess what?  It's not a bit scary.  I find that kind of amusing. It's also billed as a "novel," but it's just a slim little thing, clocking in at a mere 144 pages.  I don't know if that's amusing, but it is certainly peculiar. What King delivers here is a book that defies expectations.  Elevation is a light book, both in weight and message.  This is a story about love, tolerance, community, and hope.  It is a book that ponders the value of empathizing with, and helping, those unlike ourselves, and why the challenge is worth embracing.  This is, if you get right down to it, a book with--if not a liberal agenda per se--certainly a liberal perspective.  It is not overly political, but yes, it has its biases.  King himself is outspoken enough that the ideas and opinions inherent in the story should not be surprising.  I have on real objection to the underlying message, w...

Of all of Stephen King's "classic" books, 'Salem's Lot is the one I've historically been least enamored with.   I know it's a favorite of many fans.   But me?   I was always underwhelmed by it.   But leading into Halloween, I decided to give it another read, given that it's been years since I first read it (probably fifteen or so), and since I always like to observe the spooky season by reading something of King's in the "horror" realm. Folks, let me tell you: I was dead wrong about this book.   This is a great novel.   I'm a much bigger, and more knowledgeable, King fan than I was when I first encountered the book.   So I now realize that 'Salem's Lot was only King's second published novel.   Of course I also know King had been writing for a while before publishing Carrie (and that some of the books released later were actually written prior to 'Salem's Lot ), but regardless, Lot is still an ear...

      Since this book is still fairly new, I’ll do my best to share my thoughts without divulging too much about the story, especially the ending.           My initial feeling upon finishing it is that it’s a perfectly decent novel, but nothing special.  It is crisply written and a fast, easy read, but ultimately this is a fairly thin story that lacks a solid payoff.  I hate to describe it that way, but given its intriguing premise and set-up, it’s hard to see it any other way. The Outsider is not a scary novel.  It's dark and grim, like much of King's work.  It's disturbing, for sure, but not frightening.  I didn't care that it didn't creep me out; that is a quality I always view as a bonus in King's writing, but hardly ever the primary thing I seek.  The trouble for me is that the novel is also neither terribly thrilling nor emotional.  This fact is a bit peculiar, esp...

  The book I’ve primarily been focused on reading over the last few weeks is Stephen King’s newest, The Outsider .   More to come on that soon!   But while doing that, a funny thing happened: I also ended up completing a rather quick re-read of Misery .   When I go to the gym (which is basically now just on weekends), I like to take a paperback with me, for those long slogs on the exercise bike or treadmill.   Sometimes I try to read my psych books to enhance my studies, but isn’t it much more rewarding to read something fun?     At any rate, Misery was the latest book I brought with me, and I burned through it in no time.   I’ve read it once before, as a teenager.   It was a book I’d always intended to revisit at some point, given that it shone in my memory as one of King’s finest novels.   Boy, is it ever!   Misery is compulsively readable, the true definition of a page-turner.   It moves with impressive mom...

  Before I started this blog, I imagined I would only write about Stephen King’s books.   But King’s work is frequently adapted to the screen—for better or worse—and occasionally the movies are worth examining. Not many of them, mind you, but some; particularly those which are ambitious attempts to tackle some of King’s most well-established and highly revered works.   Something, say, like the recent big-screen adaptation of IT .   I didn’t go see the movie when it was in theaters, which speaks to a curious fact about me at this stage of life.   If I were 15 years younger, I’d have been there in a heartbeat.   But life changes, and the things I like doing often get lost in the shuffle of managing everything I feel I need to do.     This weekend, however, I had a few hours to spare, and I allowed myself to factor in something I’d like to do, and that was most definitely to sit and experience “IT.”   I’ve mentioned the book in p...

It took me longer to get through the second half of Rose Madder than I anticipated.   This is not so much a criticism of the book as it is a reflection of my busy life at the current time.   Lately, I’ve had to put reading on the back burner more than I like to.   My hope is that once my internship is finished in May, I’ll be able to dive back into reading to the extent that I really enjoy.     That said, while my schedule was the primary hindrance, I confess that I did lose a bit of interest in the book as it progressed.   The funny thing is, at least in its broad strokes, the story actually evolved the way I hoped it would.   The supernatural elements of the novel don’t play (quite) as big a part as I suspected they might, and the suspense/thriller aspects essentially drive most of the latter part of the book.   I very much liked the grounded nature of the early sections of the novel, and I was pleased that a lot of that is r...