"High school isn't a very important place."
April 5, 2024 2:29 PM Subscribe
For the 50th anniversary of Stephen King's debut novel Carrie (original review), the New York Times Book Review offers: an appreciation by Margaret Atwood; an essay by Amanda Jayatissa; a collection of reflections from various luminaries; a King reading guide; and a podcast with Grady Hendrix and Damon Lindelof about King's works and influence (NYT gift links throughout).
I'm pretty sure my first book was either The Shining or Rage from The Bachman Books. In both cases they were my stepsister's paperbacks that she left lying around. I read pretty much everything* up until Needful Things. By far my favorite books are Night Shift and Skeleton Crew - I always found his short-form work more compelling.
* Excluding Roadwork, Cycle of the Werewolf or The Talisman.
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:07 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
* Excluding Roadwork, Cycle of the Werewolf or The Talisman.
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:07 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
I learned about menstruation from reading Carrie, which is not a great way to do that, but that's what you get from a fairly repressive upbringing. It's still one of his more unique books, with its epistolary structure, which was probably not only influenced by Dracula, which also influenced King's next book, 'Salem's Lot, but also by the fact that he originally intended it as a short story for the porn magazine Cavalier, but ended up expanding it into a novel. (Still a short one, by his standards, at a mere 199 pages.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:07 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:07 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
...and I really enjoyed ALL the links. I shall explore the podcast more at my leisure, but thank you!
posted by hippybear at 3:15 PM on April 5 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 3:15 PM on April 5 [1 favorite]
I discovered Carrie in a library when I was 14 and it remains special to me for all the obvious reasons. I don't ... love the sequels and remakes we seem doomed to never escape, but I do have an affinity for "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" which was pitched as Jason vs. Carrie and even partially delivers.
ALSO: King's response to Atwood's article about Carrie was just adorable. The mutual respect is palatable and delightful.
posted by seraphine at 3:20 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
ALSO: King's response to Atwood's article about Carrie was just adorable. The mutual respect is palatable and delightful.
posted by seraphine at 3:20 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
If I were to predict which King is still going to be read one hundred years from now, Carrie would be around the top of the list. Atwood is right, I think, that its representation of adolescent rage, repression, and cliquish torment still really resonates.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:33 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
posted by thomas j wise at 3:33 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
Carrie, The Shining, and The Stand will all survive.
I adore The Shining, the novel, so much. I should read it again; it's been quite a while.
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on April 5 [5 favorites]
I adore The Shining, the novel, so much. I should read it again; it's been quite a while.
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on April 5 [5 favorites]
I've long been a fan of the horror genre of Kings...I don't drl e into the fantasy ones as that isn't my cup of tea.I also haven't read the Dark tower books....But my fav is Needful Things...Read it twice a year at least.
posted by Czjewel at 3:42 PM on April 5
posted by Czjewel at 3:42 PM on April 5
Oh, I just found my reading for tonight’s flight, thank you…
I’ve always thought King stood out as a horror writer, and I think part of it is that sure his imagination is twisted and there’s gore and bleakness and some bone chilling evil, but I don’t think anyone makes me ache like he does.
Like…I think about Carrie’s last thoughts running through her head, or Cujo’s confusion, or when Gage dies, or Harold’s curdled loneliness, and I still catch my breath a little, even all these years later.
And then that leads me back to the empathy gap of the modern day conservative and I wonder how they react to those scenes and what the breakdown is of his readership, even before he became such a vocal critic of what’s his face. I know empathy often doesn’t register for them in real life, but does anything resonate w them when he writes about loss and regret?
posted by jacy at 3:54 PM on April 5 [8 favorites]
I’ve always thought King stood out as a horror writer, and I think part of it is that sure his imagination is twisted and there’s gore and bleakness and some bone chilling evil, but I don’t think anyone makes me ache like he does.
Like…I think about Carrie’s last thoughts running through her head, or Cujo’s confusion, or when Gage dies, or Harold’s curdled loneliness, and I still catch my breath a little, even all these years later.
And then that leads me back to the empathy gap of the modern day conservative and I wonder how they react to those scenes and what the breakdown is of his readership, even before he became such a vocal critic of what’s his face. I know empathy often doesn’t register for them in real life, but does anything resonate w them when he writes about loss and regret?
posted by jacy at 3:54 PM on April 5 [8 favorites]
Atwood is right, I think, that its representation of adolescent rage, repression, and cliquish torment still really resonates.
Surely we must add revenge to completely elevate this already admiringly alliterative observation.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 3:55 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
Surely we must add revenge to completely elevate this already admiringly alliterative observation.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 3:55 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
ALSO: King's response to Atwood's article about Carrie was just adorable. The mutual respect is palatable and delightful.
Where can I read this response?
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:02 PM on April 5
Where can I read this response?
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:02 PM on April 5
I learned about menstruation from reading Carrie, …
I haven’t read the book, but a really delightful touch in the movie as Carrie's religious nut case mother is preparing for Carrie’s return home is that the hymn she is humming/singing under her breath is ‘There’s a Power in the Blood'.
posted by jamjam at 4:44 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
I haven’t read the book, but a really delightful touch in the movie as Carrie's religious nut case mother is preparing for Carrie’s return home is that the hymn she is humming/singing under her breath is ‘There’s a Power in the Blood'.
posted by jamjam at 4:44 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
^ on King's Twitter:
"There’s a terrific, very smart piece about CARRIE in today’s NY Times. Written by Margaret Atwood.
She gets it."
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:50 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
"There’s a terrific, very smart piece about CARRIE in today’s NY Times. Written by Margaret Atwood.
She gets it."
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:50 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
I think I got my first King books through the science fiction book club. I believe the order I read them was Dead Zone, Firestarter, Cujo, Christine and then The Stand. Firestarter...ignited...my love of his writing, and Christine cemented it I think similar to grumpybear I like his short form work better, with The Raft and The Long Walk probably being my favorites.
I stopped reading him when I was in college, but still think back fondly of the stuff I read and loved. If I ever start reading again, I should revisit some of it, and try the newer stuff.
posted by Gorgik at 5:00 PM on April 5 [2 favorites]
I stopped reading him when I was in college, but still think back fondly of the stuff I read and loved. If I ever start reading again, I should revisit some of it, and try the newer stuff.
posted by Gorgik at 5:00 PM on April 5 [2 favorites]
I think about Carrie’s last thoughts running through her head, or Cujo’s confusion, or when Gage dies, or Harold’s curdled loneliness, and I still catch my breath a little, even all these years later.
King's deep and sincere sympathy for outsiders of all types extends to some (or at least some pity) for some of the characters who end up as villains.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:26 PM on April 5 [15 favorites]
King's deep and sincere sympathy for outsiders of all types extends to some (or at least some pity) for some of the characters who end up as villains.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:26 PM on April 5 [15 favorites]
My introduction to King was Carrie and the Night Shift story collection, because a guy I used to sometimes sit next to on the bus to middle school (age 11 to 13-ish, for the non-USians, so maybe not so age appropriate) read them and even then I would give just about any book a try.
Just found out he's going to be my friend's daughter's philosophy professor in college. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:41 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
Just found out he's going to be my friend's daughter's philosophy professor in college. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:41 PM on April 5 [3 favorites]
I also think he does a great job with short stories. Mrs Todd’s Shortcut has stuck with me since I read it 30+ years ago.
And then there’s The Dark Tower…
He may be formulaic but in my opinion he’s one of the greats.
posted by ashbury at 7:17 PM on April 5 [5 favorites]
And then there’s The Dark Tower…
He may be formulaic but in my opinion he’s one of the greats.
posted by ashbury at 7:17 PM on April 5 [5 favorites]
I only listened to Carrie as read by Sissy Spacek last year I think. I liked it a lot, and listened to several more King audiobooks which I more or less enjoyed until I got to It, and I can’t really describe how much I hated, hated, hated every character in that book. But that’s okay. I still like King and I still think Carrie is excellent.
posted by dumbland at 8:09 PM on April 5
posted by dumbland at 8:09 PM on April 5
King, at the top of his game, captures everyday settings, characters and dialogue almost without equal, which is a bit remarkable in an author whose work mostly explores extraordinary settings and characters. I think his best stories are as good as they are as the "unreal" is resting on a bedrock of "real" we're all familiar with from our own experiences.
I am in agreement that his shortest works are often his most compelling. He seems like a writer who works best with constraints (maybe word count, maybe deadlines)...and benefits from a good editor--for continuity, if nothing else. (Continuity errors drive me a bit bonkers in his longer stories.)
posted by maxwelton at 8:19 PM on April 5 [4 favorites]
I am in agreement that his shortest works are often his most compelling. He seems like a writer who works best with constraints (maybe word count, maybe deadlines)...and benefits from a good editor--for continuity, if nothing else. (Continuity errors drive me a bit bonkers in his longer stories.)
posted by maxwelton at 8:19 PM on April 5 [4 favorites]
Oh yes, I know people praise the extended version of The Stand, but I find it insufferable, and he's needed a solid editor for a while now. That's sort of why Tommyknockers turned me off of reading his stuff.
His longer stories don't need to be that long in the way today's longer movies generally don't need to be that long, and might be more enjoyable if they were a bit tighter.
posted by hippybear at 8:28 PM on April 5 [2 favorites]
His longer stories don't need to be that long in the way today's longer movies generally don't need to be that long, and might be more enjoyable if they were a bit tighter.
posted by hippybear at 8:28 PM on April 5 [2 favorites]
hippybear: I partly agree, but I think the one chapter in the extended version, about all the people who die from accidents (rattlesnakes, getting trapped in a freezer) after the plague was the best chapter in the book, overall.
That being said, I've found Stephen King to be at his best when he's working in constraints- masterpieces like 'The Jaunt', or 'The Mist', or 'The Body'. He's the tops when there's a page limit/ word count on the assignment, then loses it the more he's allowed to ramble.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 10:15 PM on April 5 [4 favorites]
That being said, I've found Stephen King to be at his best when he's working in constraints- masterpieces like 'The Jaunt', or 'The Mist', or 'The Body'. He's the tops when there's a page limit/ word count on the assignment, then loses it the more he's allowed to ramble.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 10:15 PM on April 5 [4 favorites]
Hmm. I think I mostly disagree about King’s short stories being his best work. A good short story relies on narrative economy and fluidity of prose, both of which I feel that he lacks. His strengths lie in character building, place-setting, and the slow ramping up of tension—all of which require multiple hundreds of pages for him to perform his nasty business. With a few exceptions, his shorter works are forgettable outside of their premise, while his longer ones tend to burrow in and stick to your guts, regardless of the occasional bloat.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:22 AM on April 6
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:22 AM on April 6
I respect King because he tries new things now and then. He's also got a formulaic side-- I think of the gore as "Stephen King by the yard".
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:59 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:59 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Icon.
I wrote an essay about reading King as a kid in the 80s, publishing it in Vol. 2 of Thinking Horror, an occasional journal that might appeal to some here. One of the threads was about how King’s works acted as a feminist tonic to various sexism I bumped into as a kid.
It’s occasionally amusing to see the ire and jealousy that’s still pointed his way by critics and author authors. He’s had the temerity to have a career, keep writing, keep publishing, and sell in large numbers, as opposed to fading off the scene. Many people stopped reading him 10, 20, or 30 years ago, and assume he’s just hanging on. In fact, plenty of people started reading his later work and have never gone back to the “classics.”
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:10 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
I wrote an essay about reading King as a kid in the 80s, publishing it in Vol. 2 of Thinking Horror, an occasional journal that might appeal to some here. One of the threads was about how King’s works acted as a feminist tonic to various sexism I bumped into as a kid.
It’s occasionally amusing to see the ire and jealousy that’s still pointed his way by critics and author authors. He’s had the temerity to have a career, keep writing, keep publishing, and sell in large numbers, as opposed to fading off the scene. Many people stopped reading him 10, 20, or 30 years ago, and assume he’s just hanging on. In fact, plenty of people started reading his later work and have never gone back to the “classics.”
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:10 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
For me, The Dark Tower is King's magnum opus (which may have something to do with my finding it at an impressionable age; I think I was nine, when I read the first book), and I particularly love the weird hallucinatory nature of The Gunslinger.
That said, some of his late work is as good as anything he's written in his career, with 11-22-63 being a particular standout, IMO (that answers the question "is it better to have loved, and lost?" with a resounding "yes").
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 6:14 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
That said, some of his late work is as good as anything he's written in his career, with 11-22-63 being a particular standout, IMO (that answers the question "is it better to have loved, and lost?" with a resounding "yes").
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 6:14 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
King has strengths and weaknesses, and he's so incredibly prolific that those strengths and weaknesses are a thread throughout many or most of his books.
Strengths: King knows how to hook you from the first sentence. He's got a lot of great first sentences. And first paragraphs, first pages, first chapters...he really knows just how to pace the plot and foreshadowing perfectly.
He's also great with sympathetic characters. He easily puts you into the headspace of the main characters and really any character he wants you to know.
Weaknesses: Character dialogue is often just bad. Corny, cringey, with weird slang that I always assume was popular in 1950's Maine when King was a kid. It's the words he probably said in high school, and he just has all his characters repeat them.
Also, his endings suck. Just as his beginnings are usually great, he doesn't usually know how to wrap things up and they are just overly literal and kind of lame.
posted by zardoz at 6:15 AM on April 6 [3 favorites]
Strengths: King knows how to hook you from the first sentence. He's got a lot of great first sentences. And first paragraphs, first pages, first chapters...he really knows just how to pace the plot and foreshadowing perfectly.
He's also great with sympathetic characters. He easily puts you into the headspace of the main characters and really any character he wants you to know.
Weaknesses: Character dialogue is often just bad. Corny, cringey, with weird slang that I always assume was popular in 1950's Maine when King was a kid. It's the words he probably said in high school, and he just has all his characters repeat them.
Also, his endings suck. Just as his beginnings are usually great, he doesn't usually know how to wrap things up and they are just overly literal and kind of lame.
posted by zardoz at 6:15 AM on April 6 [3 favorites]
The only one of his I've read is 11/22/63. It's badly in need of editing down but I like time travel stories and this is a superior example.
It was a while back and I can't remember how it ends which possibly backs up zardoz's comment..
posted by epo at 6:45 AM on April 6
It was a while back and I can't remember how it ends which possibly backs up zardoz's comment..
posted by epo at 6:45 AM on April 6
> Oh yes, I know people praise the extended version of The Stand, but I find it insufferable, and he's needed a solid editor for a while now.
When the extended version of The Stand came out, initially all I knew was that there was a new edition and my reaction was like that Hayden Christensen/Natalie Portman meme; "Oh cool, they tightened it up, right?"
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:59 AM on April 6 [2 favorites]
When the extended version of The Stand came out, initially all I knew was that there was a new edition and my reaction was like that Hayden Christensen/Natalie Portman meme; "Oh cool, they tightened it up, right?"
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:59 AM on April 6 [2 favorites]
If you just can't get enough King, Just King Things is a monthly podcast reviewing King's works in publication order. The March episode was Hearts in Atlantis, so they have a ways to go, but you can always jump around and check out any of the older ones
posted by edward_5000 at 8:17 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
posted by edward_5000 at 8:17 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
"Oh cool, they tightened it up, right?"
As a devoted King reader, I was so stoked for an unexpurgated edition of The Stand. That was my first encounter that I can recall with the “rerelease the old thing in an ostensibly complete or better format, introducing new textual problems in the process” phenomenon, helping prepare me for a lifetime of media franchise shenanigajoys.
The only one of his I've read is 11/22/63.
You are not alone—I’ve talked with a number of people for whom this is the case. Something about that book—topic, marketing strategy, whatever—resonated. I think there’s also something about its speculative element, lightly explained and more considered in terms of its effect, that snagged the readers for whom shit weasels, polymorphic sewer clowns, and multipart genre mashup epics didn’t work.
posted by cupcakeninja at 8:35 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
As a devoted King reader, I was so stoked for an unexpurgated edition of The Stand. That was my first encounter that I can recall with the “rerelease the old thing in an ostensibly complete or better format, introducing new textual problems in the process” phenomenon, helping prepare me for a lifetime of media franchise shenanigajoys.
The only one of his I've read is 11/22/63.
You are not alone—I’ve talked with a number of people for whom this is the case. Something about that book—topic, marketing strategy, whatever—resonated. I think there’s also something about its speculative element, lightly explained and more considered in terms of its effect, that snagged the readers for whom shit weasels, polymorphic sewer clowns, and multipart genre mashup epics didn’t work.
posted by cupcakeninja at 8:35 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Hmm. I think I mostly disagree about King’s short stories being his best work.
Let's split the difference and say he's at his best in the novella format (says the man who's currently halfway through The Body).
I'm a casual fan at best, but I have a lot of personal respect and admiration for King. He just seems like a genuinely decent, down-to-earth guy who's unabashed about his enthusiasms.
And I agree about 'Salem's Lot being his best novel. I don't usually get scared by horror literature, but there were some scenes that really shook me. I also like the original version of The Gunslinger, which somebody on The A.V. Club called "weird, existentialist 70s sci-fi," which is a perfect description.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:50 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Let's split the difference and say he's at his best in the novella format (says the man who's currently halfway through The Body).
I'm a casual fan at best, but I have a lot of personal respect and admiration for King. He just seems like a genuinely decent, down-to-earth guy who's unabashed about his enthusiasms.
And I agree about 'Salem's Lot being his best novel. I don't usually get scared by horror literature, but there were some scenes that really shook me. I also like the original version of The Gunslinger, which somebody on The A.V. Club called "weird, existentialist 70s sci-fi," which is a perfect description.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:50 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
I'd be surprised if there haven't been comparisons to Shakespeare, I haven't googled so I don't know, but there's a way King's work happened in a time and place to capture a presence in popular culture across a few generations, and maybe if there are people looking back from a short distance in the future he'll have some kind of status. This discussion makes me realize how much King I have read over the years, from an age when I was too young to read King, to growing out of King, to finding King again as a mature adult at a time when getting two to three Kings out of the library was a comfort food and it really helped me through some stuff.
It's probably a dumb comparison but I like it.
A very close friend and I argued in an animated way as only close friends argue, about whether the bedside/coffeetable/lake paperback Of All Time was King or Clavell. He could not believe my King stance, and I thought his Clavell was utter nonsense. This guy likes his Clavell but he also read Bolsano and introduced me to "2666" and was generally a contrarian. King for the win, I say.
posted by elkevelvet at 9:45 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
It's probably a dumb comparison but I like it.
A very close friend and I argued in an animated way as only close friends argue, about whether the bedside/coffeetable/lake paperback Of All Time was King or Clavell. He could not believe my King stance, and I thought his Clavell was utter nonsense. This guy likes his Clavell but he also read Bolsano and introduced me to "2666" and was generally a contrarian. King for the win, I say.
posted by elkevelvet at 9:45 AM on April 6 [4 favorites]
Back in college I went to a talk by an alumnus named Bill Thompson, who was King's editor at Doubleday for several of his books, including Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Night Shift, and The Stand.
It's been way too long, and I remember almost nothing of the talk, except that this obnoxious kid who was the college paper's editor (ok, it was me...) asked him, "Umm, these books are like 500 pages long. How much editing do you really do?"
To which he said, basically, "You should see his first drafts."
I didn't really buy it at the time. Three years later, the "unedited" version of The Stand was released, and then I understood!
posted by martin q blank at 9:48 AM on April 6 [11 favorites]
It's been way too long, and I remember almost nothing of the talk, except that this obnoxious kid who was the college paper's editor (ok, it was me...) asked him, "Umm, these books are like 500 pages long. How much editing do you really do?"
To which he said, basically, "You should see his first drafts."
I didn't really buy it at the time. Three years later, the "unedited" version of The Stand was released, and then I understood!
posted by martin q blank at 9:48 AM on April 6 [11 favorites]
oh, wow. I did a little digging and found an interview with Bill Thompson about his work with King. It's terrific, full of insight about the publishing business -- and it describes King's *original* ending of Carrie, and how Thompson responded. And this amazing story of how he broke the news to King about the deal for the British publishing rights.
I won't spoil it here; just click the link.
posted by martin q blank at 10:50 AM on April 6 [7 favorites]
I won't spoil it here; just click the link.
posted by martin q blank at 10:50 AM on April 6 [7 favorites]
f you just can't get enough King, Just King Things is a monthly podcast reviewing King's works in publication order.
They are about to reach On Writing, which seems like a notable moment in the kind story (also it is now at the point where he almost died after getting hit by a van, which changed things up a bunch).
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
They are about to reach On Writing, which seems like a notable moment in the kind story (also it is now at the point where he almost died after getting hit by a van, which changed things up a bunch).
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Also if you like the podcast and have Patreon bucks to spare I highly, highly recommend the Just King Things bonisodes.
posted by Artw at 11:22 AM on April 6 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:22 AM on April 6 [2 favorites]
The first post I ever made on Metafilter was about The Dark Tower, and I think it as kind of a good one.
He really defined my adolescence. Salem's Lot, Insomnia, Rose Madder, The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands, The Stand... so many hours spent just the way I liked 'em when I was 13 or 14 or 15 - by myself, in my room, or in the back seat of the car, with the books propped up on my lap. I love the smell of diesel fuel and it instantly always makes me think of sitting in the back of the school bus reading Salem's Lot on the ride home in 9th grade.
I will always love him. I still read all his new stuff. It doesn't always pack quite the same wallop for me, but that's the nature of life - you can't get the magic back of being a certain age at a time at a place and how the experiences molded you.
posted by kbanas at 3:39 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
He really defined my adolescence. Salem's Lot, Insomnia, Rose Madder, The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands, The Stand... so many hours spent just the way I liked 'em when I was 13 or 14 or 15 - by myself, in my room, or in the back seat of the car, with the books propped up on my lap. I love the smell of diesel fuel and it instantly always makes me think of sitting in the back of the school bus reading Salem's Lot on the ride home in 9th grade.
I will always love him. I still read all his new stuff. It doesn't always pack quite the same wallop for me, but that's the nature of life - you can't get the magic back of being a certain age at a time at a place and how the experiences molded you.
posted by kbanas at 3:39 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
The Raft! So so good. I lurve his short stories.
posted by whatevernot at 3:58 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
posted by whatevernot at 3:58 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
I do think the experience of Gen Xers being too young to read Stephen King is sort of a mutual rite of passage of our generation. Pet Semetary for me was 15? Maybe that wasn't too young... But certainly The Shining which I got to third, I was too young for. But was I?
I'm not entirely sure anyone is ever "too young" to read a book. If the concepts don't make sense in your brain, you either elide them or make something up or stop reading.
On some level me at age 10 reading Where The Red Fern Grows was too young, on another level I was exactly the right age.
posted by hippybear at 4:07 PM on April 6 [3 favorites]
I'm not entirely sure anyone is ever "too young" to read a book. If the concepts don't make sense in your brain, you either elide them or make something up or stop reading.
On some level me at age 10 reading Where The Red Fern Grows was too young, on another level I was exactly the right age.
posted by hippybear at 4:07 PM on April 6 [3 favorites]
The only one of his I've read is 11/22/63.
You are not alone—I’ve talked with a number of people for whom this is the case. Something about that book—topic, marketing strategy, whatever—resonated. I think there’s also something about its speculative element, lightly explained and more considered in terms of its effect, that snagged the readers for whom shit weasels, polymorphic sewer clowns, and multipart genre mashup epics didn’t work.
I am a big fan of Kind but the popularity of 11/22/63 is surprising to me. I found it much too slow. At least the first half or so--I gave up on it after that. I guess it doesn't help that I'm not terribly interested in the JFK assassination as a general topic, but that's what great art should do: make you interested in something you otherwise might not be.
But the Marty Stu main character as a school teacher just didn't make much sense to me, and all the back and forth with those characters and his love interest...it just plods along so very slowly but nothing really happens. I'm sure the assassination attempt as a climax is great, but I just couldn't get there.
posted by zardoz at 10:39 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
You are not alone—I’ve talked with a number of people for whom this is the case. Something about that book—topic, marketing strategy, whatever—resonated. I think there’s also something about its speculative element, lightly explained and more considered in terms of its effect, that snagged the readers for whom shit weasels, polymorphic sewer clowns, and multipart genre mashup epics didn’t work.
I am a big fan of Kind but the popularity of 11/22/63 is surprising to me. I found it much too slow. At least the first half or so--I gave up on it after that. I guess it doesn't help that I'm not terribly interested in the JFK assassination as a general topic, but that's what great art should do: make you interested in something you otherwise might not be.
But the Marty Stu main character as a school teacher just didn't make much sense to me, and all the back and forth with those characters and his love interest...it just plods along so very slowly but nothing really happens. I'm sure the assassination attempt as a climax is great, but I just couldn't get there.
posted by zardoz at 10:39 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
I’m looking forward to experiencing so many future first reads/listens/watches of King’s prolific catalog - hopefully well into my golden years.
The audiobook version of PET SEMATARY narrated by Michael C. Hall is, hands down, the scariest fiction I’ve ever experienced. Period.
MISERY doesn’t get nearly enough love. Enjoyed the feminist review of the film version on the Faculty of Horror Podcast.
And of course, NIGHT SHIFT! One of my favorite eerie book covers, that bandaged palm with a bunch of third (nth?) eyes. “Night Surf” and “Quitters, Inc.” and even the zany “The Lawnmower Man” - man those are some of my best introverted child memories.
posted by edithkeeler at 7:42 AM on April 7
The audiobook version of PET SEMATARY narrated by Michael C. Hall is, hands down, the scariest fiction I’ve ever experienced. Period.
MISERY doesn’t get nearly enough love. Enjoyed the feminist review of the film version on the Faculty of Horror Podcast.
And of course, NIGHT SHIFT! One of my favorite eerie book covers, that bandaged palm with a bunch of third (nth?) eyes. “Night Surf” and “Quitters, Inc.” and even the zany “The Lawnmower Man” - man those are some of my best introverted child memories.
posted by edithkeeler at 7:42 AM on April 7
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If you want to break your mind a little bit you can watch UNDERSTANDING THE "DARK TOWER" UNIVERSE (in seven minutes!) which is sort of an MCU connections chart style analysis of King's entire oeuvre.
posted by hippybear at 2:53 PM on April 5 [4 favorites]