# Stephen King's "Cell" \[Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569 "2006-01-25T17:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/21 "2006-01-30T14:55:16Z")
I started it last night, but I had to put it down because I was alone in the house and kept thinking about how I’d barricade and how long I’d last by myself, etc, etc, etc. It’s really silly, but King has a talent at getting under my skin, even with his _really_ sucky books. ( **Tommyknockers** , I’m looking at you.) I’ll probably finish at least most of it after work today. I just can’t believe how _fast_ it all happened - by, like, page three! I also very much liked what he did with the hotel clerk. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/22 "2006-01-30T14:56:24Z")
(Also, I should mention I’ve been playing Urban Dead obsessively lately, which with a healthy dose of imagination puts you in the right frame of mind.) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/23 "2006-01-31T01:32:18Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > I stayed up half the night, but I finished it! I think it has a very unfinished feel to it; definitely not one of his better efforts, but I enjoyed it just the same. Tom was the best part of the book for me. > > I don’t see the point of Alice’s death either. There were some new characters introduced after that, but they were just names to me. > I also couldn’t help thinking of The Stand the whole time; how much more meaningful and believable it was. Hell, why not just expand The Mist? > The most disturbing part for me was Clay not knowing what had happened to his son for almost the whole book. It made me want to go wake up my son and hold him. > If I were editing this book, I think I’d have told Mr. King to have the Pulse kill people outright and ditch the zombie subplot. “Let’s just have these characters traveling from one place to another in the aftermath. Yeah, that’ll be a good book.” I spent my day off finishing it and I wound up liking it better than I thought I would. Still, I couldn’t help comparing it to “The Stand,” either. Lessee: [ul] [li]there’s a major catastrophe[/li][li]society is quickly pared down to survival basics[/li][li]refugees travel by foot[/li][li]flawed, but generally good guys fight bad guys[/li][li]major characters are sacrificed[/li][li]our heros are to be judged [executed] on platforms in a coliseum atmosphere[/li][li]everything goes boom[/li][/ul] I wanted to know who engineered the Pulse, how they did it, what they meant to ultimately accomplish and, assuming they protected themselves from it, what happened to them. I don’t think I need a spoiler box to say I laughed out loud at the Altoids. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/24 "2006-01-31T03:12:59Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I don’t think I need a spoiler box to say I laughed out loud at the Altoids. I did, too. Another one I liked was Clay’s line: “Thus spake fuckin’ Zarathustra.” I’m considering making it my sig line. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/25 "2006-02-02T18:15:49Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > I read the first chapter in the print version of EW and I am hooked. Ya know, I read it there, too, and I came away disappointed. It just felt like recycled \*28 Days Later \* or something. (I’ll assume, from most of the positive responses, that it does indeed get better?) As much as I still love the guy, I just feel that his writing’s tics have begun to outnumber its charms. He can be so damn \*corny \* anymore! P.S. The most recent thing of his to blow me out of the water was the story “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French” from _Everything’s Eventual._ (Sorry, I know this is a _Cell_ thread!) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/26 "2006-02-02T21:32:11Z")
I couldn’t finish the first story in _Everything’s Eventual_ after three tries and threw the whole damn book out. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/27 "2006-02-02T23:01:00Z")
I bought it the morning it was released and finished it that night. I liked it, but it wasn’t one of his best. I didn’t think Alice had to die, and I thought the leaving of the cat was heartwrenching ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/28 "2006-02-04T04:41:07Z")
Did anyone else feel a speck of sympathy for the Phonies, toward the end? I did, but I can’t imagine trying to live alongside them either. I’m conflicted about this. Never thought I’d say this about a King book, but it could have been longer. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/29 "2006-02-04T08:19:40Z")
Odd book. Everything seemed recycled, except for the cellphone mechanism… We had the Crazy Christian Lady spouting Wormwood stories, who got hit and dressed-down by a main character (courtesy of The Mist). We had the End of Things as We Knew Them (c.f. The Mist, The Stand). We had shared dreams, telepathy … (Tommyknockers, The Stand) We had mass burnings of the zombies cum vampires cum phonies (Salem’s Lot) We had the Small Chosen Party in Distress (The Stand). We had the main character offing his evil girlfriend/wife (Salem’s Lot, Tommyknockers). I still liked it though, though the Cat, Alice and the Ending sorta pissed me off. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/30 "2006-02-04T08:20:54Z")
Errmmm, sorry … do the things above need spoiler boxes? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569/31 "2006-02-04T18:20:22Z")
> [@cerberus](#): > > Errmmm, sorry … do the things above need spoiler boxes? I don’t think so. Most of what you wrote is on the dust jacket or talked about in reviews and such. Wouldn’t have spoiled the book for me anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-cell-spoilers/341569.md?page=1)