Does Stephen King Still Have "It"?

Cafe Society
1

:wink: No pun intended, of course.

I was going to hijack another thread for this then realized maybe it deserves its own.

I used to be a diehard Stephen King fan - I first “discovered” him when I went to a tag sale and stumbled across “Christine” and “Pet Sematary” for 25 cents each - hardcover! I think I was about 14 at the time. Read each in a ridiculously short amount of time, and was hooked.

I read every book of his in the library, everything friends owned, picked up more books at yard sales, even managed to buy a few books at the bookstore. Where Stephen King was concerned, my appetite was limitless. By the time I read the Stand, I was absolutely addicted.

And so it’s gone over the years, and I’ve made my way through most of his library. There are still a few that I haven’t read, but I’d say I’ve read 99% of his pre-2000 work, and a fair share of the work after.

I last read Dreamcatchers.

I thought it was horrible.

Anyone else feel that way? I just couldn’t get “into” the book, and this comes from someone who got so into “Bag of Bones” that she read it in less than 24 hours. (No lie, that book grabbed me something fierce). I read through Dreamcatcher, but dutifully… I wanted to believe it was going to improve, make more sense… But I was deeply disappointed. I found the writing disjointed, which works for me in a lot of his work, but here it didn’t seem like the typical “disjointed device”, just that it was sloppily written. I did enjoy the character development - he has never lacked any brilliance in that regard. Overall I didn’t “get” the book - and even after rereading, was still a little baffled. I watched the movie - which, as miserable as it was, at least answered a few questions for me.

Hearts in Atlantis - first half of the book was beautiful, brilliant, superb… Last half of the book, totally out there. I couldn’t believe the same man had written both - in the same book no less.

And one thing that I’ve never really been able to appreciate is King’s dialogue. Half the time it’s passable, the other half I’m thinking… “People don’t talk like this - ever!” And if he makes up a swear (doodlyf*ck!) ONE MORE TIME I swear I’m going to scream. The “bad words” in Dreamacatcher - both book and movie - were just mindjarring everytime I read/heard them. He did the same thing in Misery - and several other books, but those are the shining examples. And every time I come across them, it literally yanks me out of the book. Drives me nuts.

Loved the Stand. Parts of it were so boring I could have cried. But absolutely loved that book.

Anyone else “get” where I’m coming from?

Now before anyone comes swooping down on me with the “Save Saint Stephen” swor

2

Stephen King for me is hit or miss these days. I used to be one of those people who read every single book he wrote as it came out… until Insomnia. See, I hadn’t read The Dark Tower books yet, so Insomnia made no sense to me. This made me angry, that I had slogged through a 700 page book only to have the punchline fly over my head. Didn’t read any King for several years after that. By that point, I’d already mostly forgiven him for such stinkers as The Tommyknockers and The Dark Hal, but my patience was at an end.

However, the force of nature that is The Dark Tower series has now sucked me in completely, so I’ve read all those plus The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, and Everything’s Eventual, all of which I really liked. When I have time (read: summer), I will tackle *The Regulators, Bag of Bones, Desperation * and From a Buick 8. Will no doubt be posting about them when I’m through.

With the amount he cranks out, I still think King has a high hit to miss ratio. Yes, I’d say he still has it, but I’m a lifelong fan and it seems I always will be.

3

Just realized the end of my post went poof… And can’t remember what I was going to say. :confused:

:shrug: Oh well

4

I may be one of the few people in the world who apparently didn’t think *The Tommyknockers * was all that bad. I thought it was a creepy little science fiction novel, really.

I liked Insomnia.

I thought *The Dark Half * was kind of self-indulgent.

I thought Dreamcatcher was awful.

I’ve liked some of the *Dark Tower * books more than others.

And I agree that it seems like back in the eighties in particular, the man simply could not miss. Nowadays… well…

Y’know, Mark Twain had the same problem. Wrote some brilliant stuff in the first part of his career, and then for the rest of his life, couldn’t seem to tell the difference between “excellence” and “crap.”

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Dreamcatcher was indeed a terrible book… possibly King’s worst book, but every author has a dud, especially if they were as prolific as King.

Based on Everything’s Eventual, From a Buick 8 (which I really liked, though I know others did not), and especially Wolves of the Calla, I’d say King still has “It” when he tries. He still knows how to write a good character, and he still knows how to keep us going with a solid yarn. If anything, I’d say he’s matured as a writer.

And I can’t wait to see how the Dark Tower series ends.

6

Eh, I haven’t noticed that his later books contain any more stinkers than his early works. King’s never been good at the blood and guts genre of horror; when he tries that he fails miserably, but when he sticks to the psychological horror he’s unbelievable. His strength has never been his plots, it’s always been his people. Carrie is fabulous novel not because of the teen-slasher movie plot, but because the people are so real. Delores Claiborn had really a pretty boring plot, but it’s a gripping book because of the clarity and presence of the title character. I could hear that old broad’s voice in my head the whole time I was reading it.

His dialogue is a lot of what makes his characters so strong, imo. A lot of his characters are small-town folks, and a lot of small-town folks talk exactly like his characters. Strange little regional sayings, bizarre made-up swear words and all. It might not be how you talk, but there are indeed plenty of people in the sorts of places he’s depicting who do talk like that. Depicting someone from backwoods Maine speaking like someone from the big city makes the character flat and unreal. It’s like hearing Butterfly McQueen say, “My goodness, I don’t know anything about delivering babies.” That might be closer to how you talk, but it’s not at all how people in that time and place and situation talk so it sucks the depth and richness out of the character.

Books where he relies on the plot to carry weak characters are his weaker efforts. 'Salem’s Lot was a horribly disappointing read. The plot was okay, I guess, if you like slasher horror. But I very nearly didn’t bother finishing it because I realized suddenly that characters were dying like flies, and I just didn’t give a damn. Same for Cujo. Dreamcatcher was dreadful, because the characters and the plot were both incredibly boring. And don’t even get me started on the waste of perfectly nice trees that is The Tommyknockers. I didn’t even bother to finish that one.

Those four are the only ones I found to be substandard, really. (I confess, I haven’t read his nonfiction works, The Talisman and the related books, The Dead Zone, or Pet Semetary.) And three of them were his earlier stuff. So, yeah, I’d say he’s still got it.

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I find it hard to tell. I can’t quite keep up with his marketing department. I like the books, but the semi-pseudonymous 6 part web published only serial mini-series scripts with the secret decoder ring and companion multimedia poetry collection on DVD stuff got real old real fast.

8

A-fucking-men!

If I had to hear Jason Lee muse on the difference between a fuckarow and a fuckaree one more time I was going to shoot myself.

No one knows what those words mean and they never explain it, I can’t think of any quicker way to piss off your audience.

9

You mean worse than Gerald’s Game? Dreamcatcher was too unbelievable to scare me much, but GG made my skin crawl. It, for me was way out of the range I can enjoy.
I agree that his writing has matured. It has more texture. I just finished On Writing He indicates that even he recognizes the changes in his prose. I think I enjoyed reading that as much as his fiction.

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Out of curiosity, do you get all pissed off when people in the Pit call someone a cuntnugget, a twathammer, or any of the other inventive invectives commonly used there? Do you insist on someone defining twathammer for you, or can you survive on context clues? If it’s not jarring and confusing in real life, what’s the big deal about it in a novel?

11

I’m another lifelong fan. I’ll read everything that is published from now til the end of time that has his name on it…but I can’t say I don’t dread the prospect at times. Sometimes he still reads like the guy who wrote The Shining, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and Misery, but those times seem to be getting fewer and farther between. (In fact, I think the crap outweighs the good stuff by now. An odd opinion to have about one of your favorite authors.)

Rubystreak, you’ve got precious little to look forward to there. Some people enjoyed Bag of Bones and From a Buick 8, but I think The Regulators and Desperation vy for the title of worst ever.

12

I don’t know how it is in the novel, because I was referring specifically to the movie, and in the movie we are never told the difference between a fuckarow and a fuckaree. So with Jason Lee going on for like ten minutes about thnigs that are one but not the other and not telling us what either one means gets on my nerves.

Besides that, cuntnugget, twathammer, assgoblin, etc, etc are pretty self explanatory. If you can tell me the difference between a fuckarow and a fuckaree I’d love to hear it.

13

I never see ‘It’ mentioned when they talk about favorite King books. It was one of my favorites.

King isn’t an automatic buy for me anymore like he used to be. “Dreamcatcher” knocked off any lingering residue of new book/automatic buy that I used to have for him.

14

I shouldn’t leave it off negative like that :wink:

King is/was one of my favorite authors also. I agree with the poster who said the not-so-good stuff has outnumbered the good stuff ‘lately’ as well.

However, I enjoyed ‘From a Buick8’ and ‘Hearts of Atlantis’.

15

Exactly. Before, I just bought, and was rarely disappointed. Now, I read the jacket, read excerpts… Go home, read reviews (not by critics, critics suck), think about it, and finally give in and buy. I guess, ultimately, I always end up buying in the long run.

Just not used to the feeling of “I wish I hadn’t” when it comes to King.

That’s ok though - there’s always the old stuff to reread. :slight_smile: