I started reading this last night and I stayed up too late reading it and then as soon as I woke up I started reading again. Can’t remember the last time a story made me do that. It’s a real page-turner.
But yes I did note some consistency errors.
Now that I’m about 70% through it, I have lots to talk about and I hope we revive this thread. In the meantime, I’ve been meaning to mention to anyone here who also watches the show ‘Evil’ that I picture Jalbert( Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream) to look like Leland. Also, I started a new job right about the time I was reading it, and my new co-worker’s name is Yvonne. It’s all I can do not to call her ’ Miss Yvonne’.
Agreed. I don’t know whether it’s a sin or a virtue that I managed to get nearly halfway through it before I gave up, but give up I did. That’s probably the worst novel to ever have King’s name on it.
I think Rattlesnakes and Tommy Coughlin’s Bad Dream are top-shelf King. I liked Bad Dream’s revisiting of the “police procedural, but the obviously guilty guy was actually framed by supernatural means” theme from The Outsider.
I thought Sleeping Beauties was below average for him, but it wasn’t terrible. The thought of not finishing it certainly never occurred to me.
I didn’t feel Holly was overly political, in the sense that I didn’t feel I was being preached at. I thought it was a hoot that the villains who did horrible things to people with their own hands had impeccably liberal opinions about things they couldn’t personally affect. In general, his characters have always been average Americans, and the fact that his recent protagonists have tended to have stronger political opinions than his older ones is an accurate reflection of changes in American society.
The little-known novel Blaze was his only book published under the Bachman pseudonym after the cover was blown, and I consider it possibly his darkest and most depressing novel. The protagonist of that is a huge, intimidating-looking man who is actually very gentle and mentally impaired, who forms a partnership with a physically unimposing but street-smart con man in order to survive in a rough and uncaring world. Their names are George and Lenny.
I feel like Comic Book Guy saying this, but I think if I could own every King book but one, I’d do without Duma Key. But I finished it, and I hurried. Actually, I think my least favorite King book might just be Carrie. Editing yet again, Fairy Tale was honestly pretty lame.
I’m halfway through the audio book.
Thus far, the only story I’ve really loved is Tommy Coughlin’s Bad Dream. The others are okay, but not great. On Slide Inn Road is probably second on my list right now.
Interesting! I love that show so much, and it seems like hardly anyone is watching it. I can see Leland as Jalbert— such an innocuous looking man, but so horrible under the surface.
Those two stood out. I also like The Turbulence Expert.
The themes of lonely, old and and often bereaved men throughout this book really had me wondering if the Kings had gotten seperated.
I listened to that one this morning, thinking I had heard it before.
As it turned out, I had. It was included in King’s 2018 anthology of flying-related stories called Flight or Fright, which I, for the most part, enjoyed.
And then I listened to Laurie. I liked that story as well. The story was about one of the
I have to thank the OP for mentioning this book. Stephen King is so prolific that new books end up on the market before I even know they exist! I’ve long been a big fan of King, though my enthusiasm has cooled a bit with recent disappointments like Fairy Tale and worse, Sleeping Beauties.
Anyway, I’ve especially enjoyed his short story collections and though King has written some terrific novels, I’ve long felt that the short story format was ideally suited to his primary genre of horror.
I’ve just started reading this and so far have read "Two Talented Bastids* and "Five Steps*, the first being among the longest of the stories and the second probably one of the shortest. “Five Steps” was a tiny soupçon of vintage King. “Bastids” I have mixed feelings about, which changed as I read through it. Possible spoilers here:
When I got the end of the “story within a story” explaining the origin of the two protagonists’ talents, I was disappointed. The lengthy narrative leading up to it, whose sole purpose was really just to set the scene, in retrospect seemed overly long, and the climactic explanation predictable and frankly a little silly. What saved the story was the narrative that followed, a melancholy reflection on life and the nature of creative talent.
As an aside, I couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t at least in part King’s reflections on his own sons, particularly Owen. Joe Hill has seen success not just as a writer but a television producer, though nowhere remotely close to that of King himself, but although Owen has also seen some success, his first major novel received criticism and of course he was the co-author with his father of the awful Sleeping Beauties.
I’ve read five stories so far, but when I got to “Tommy Coughlin’s Bad Dream” I started skipping around at random and left that one to last because it looks to be by far the longest, practically a novella. I just finished “The Answer Man”, and yes, it definitely has a Twilight Zone feel to it, and is certainly the most powerful of the five stories I’ve read so far, a melancholy tale of a young man’s life from college graduation to his final days and the tragedies that befall him, and the phantasmal Answer Man who knows all.
I finished listening to the book this morning. Like most anthologies, some of the stories are great; others, I would rate as good. Overall, I would certainly recommend the book.
Favorites: Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream, Laurie, The Answer Man, The Fifth Step, On Slide Inn Road.
Not so favorite: Rattlesnakes, The Dreamers.
My personal opinion of King as an author: I think he’s best at ‘real world’ writing; that is, stories that might actually (but probably wouldn’t) happen. I’m thinking of The Body, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and Cujo, to name a few. Laurie and The Fifth Step from this book would also qualify.
King is also very good at ‘almost real’ writing; stories that have a touch (or two) of the magic or supernatural in them. The Stand, The Dead Zone, and The Green Mile would be examples of this. From this book, examples would be Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream and The Answer Man.
Don’t get me wrong, I like most of King’s works, even those with a lot of unreality. Salem’s 'Lot is one of my favorites. But I guess that overall I prefer his stuff that isn’t horror.