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ZoDiAC_ posted:What shall I re-read next for good old scary 70s/80s King? Just done with the Shining IT is his best "scary" book, in my opinion. I like the finale as well - I thought it was fitting and paced well. Just look out for one weird part of it.
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Sep 15, 2011 14:34
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IT is a bit heavy for a re-read, I tried a few months ago and just got tired of it. Ditto The Stand, really, those two are just timesinks. I think Salem's Lot is next, I've not read that in years. I read The Boogeyman last night, I found a neat part is the main character muses that maybe the Boogeyman only exists because he started to believe in it. There's even a line "maybe when kids go missing, it's because they imagined a Frankenstein's monster or wolfman made real" or something. Made me think of IT a little.
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Sep 15, 2011 17:40
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I've read most of the way through the Long Walk in the last couple days. Holy hell, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book so much that at the same time I am desperate to finish. It's so loving grueling, I just want it to be resolved so those poor kids can rest one way or another  It's like a whole book of the chapter where Sam and Frodo are walking through Mordor, or where Roland and Susannah are walking through the wasteland. Good stuff. I've not read any other Bachman books (besides Regulators which was unbelievably bad), where should I head next? I've heard Rage and Thinner are especially good?
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Sep 15, 2011 21:01
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The Walrus posted:I've heard Rage and Thinner are especially good? It really depends on Rage. The narrator is a bit of a whiny angsty pissant teen and there are the typical weird to creepy King stories that are interludes and are background to the narrator's social development. I personally like it, but it's not one I suggest going to next. Personally, Thinner wasn't one of my favorites, but it's more friendly. It didn't take long to discover he was Bachman after this was published and you can see why in the writing. You might want to check out The Running Man.
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Sep 15, 2011 21:16
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RC and Moon Pie posted:
Yeah, I'm not sure how he could have ever been at all suprised that people figured it out, based on the Long Walk. The fact it's set in Maine for no apparent reason is pretty much a dead giveaway, and if that wasn't enough the dialogue is just so obviously King. Same deal with the descriptions of gunshots, the themes of dealing with imminent death, side stories about strange or specialized professions, it really goes on.
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Sep 15, 2011 21:23
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The Walrus posted:Yeah, I'm not sure how he could have ever been at all suprised that people figured it out, based on the Long Walk. The fact it's set in Maine for no apparent reason is pretty much a dead giveaway, and if that wasn't enough the dialogue is just so obviously King. Same deal with the descriptions of gunshots, the themes of dealing with imminent death, side stories about strange or specialized professions, it really goes on. The runners are in alphabetical order with their assigned numbers. It's a bit strange to be midway through your numbers when you get to Garraty, but it's another little clue. Garraty's 47. King was born in 1947. I still love it more than any other King book. Thinner has a bit where he wrote something "was like a Stephen King novel."
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Sep 16, 2011 00:05
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The Running Man is still my favorite of the Bachman Books. By a long shot. I like the campy Arnold movie, too, even though it's about as different as different can be.
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Sep 16, 2011 01:29
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ConfusedUs posted:The Running Man is still my favorite of the Bachman Books. By a long shot. The Running Man starts good, then turns  right quick. It's more short-burst intensity compared to the Long Walk's slow burn, but I like them both equally. I love how they both drop hints of how hosed up and different the world is, without spilling too much. It's like a non-supernatural Gunslinger like that.
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Sep 16, 2011 03:06
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Darko posted:IT is his best "scary" book, in my opinion. I like the finale as well - I thought it was fitting and paced well. Just look out for one weird part of it. What on earth could be weird about a few boys taking turns to have sex with the girl in their group? At least I think that's what happened. The whole thing is a bit hazy for me. Octy fucked around with this message at 10:46 on Sep 16, 2011 |
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Sep 16, 2011 10:41
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That comes up every few pages, there is some flimsy metaphor behind it I guess They're kids making the transition into adulthood and sex is another big bad "it" to be scared of that defines the difference between childhood and adulthood, so they confront "it" as a group I think though it's very very heavy handed a method to convey that. It's not necessarily worse to me than Patrick jerking Henry off and offering to suck him too while Beverly secretly watches as you can't really attach any kind of meaning to that. (Unless you want to argue that homosexuality is another "it" to be afraid of in the book and it sure as hell scares Henry, who likes to call Eddie a fag and the like but no thanks)
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Sep 16, 2011 11:49
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ZoDiAC_ posted:It's not necessarily worse to me than Patrick jerking Henry off and offering to suck him too while Beverly secretly watches as you can't really attach any kind of meaning to that. Haha, I don't remember that part. I wish you hadn't reminded me.
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Sep 16, 2011 13:32
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ZoDiAC_ posted:
I didn't mind that - as it's something RELATIVELY common among kids (ie. every child group hears/knows about some kid that tried something like that from someone else) and didn't feel out of place, including Henry's overall reaction. Patrick was just weird anyway, so it worked. The other thing is not common at all, and is just more of a WTF moment.
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Sep 16, 2011 14:56
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Yeah, that was earlier in the book and less crazy. (Not "not crazy" though.") IT is peppered with weird sex stuff though. Sex, like with everything else, seems to ramp up the weirdness factor the deeper you get. I worry about Stephen King, I worry a lot.
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Sep 16, 2011 19:20
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It's horror. You're kind of not supposed to feel comfortable.
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Sep 16, 2011 20:43
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trandorian posted:It's horror. You're kind of not supposed to feel comfortable. It's horror, I expected to be frightened: "Oh, poo poo! Devil car!" "Can't sleep, clown will eat my soul!" "gently caress, it's that drooling hell hound!" Not: "Aww, a bunch of preteen boys loving a preteen girl before battling a giant spider in a sewer."
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Sep 16, 2011 22:52
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trandorian posted:It's horror. You're kind of not supposed to feel comfortable. Stephen King plainly didn't write most of those parts to make the readers feel freaked out. I think it's a case where authorial intent is pretty important.
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Sep 16, 2011 23:31
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So I finished Rose Madder earlier, it was pretty decent until the first time she goes inside that painting. After that it was mostly poo poo. I also noticed that Cynthia from Desperation and Regulators was in Rose Madder a bit.
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Sep 17, 2011 00:21
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Mister Kingdom posted:It's horror, I expected to be frightened: After  ... 
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Sep 17, 2011 09:24
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Mister Kingdom posted:It's horror, I expected to be frightened: Well I for one didn't feel like "aww that's so heartwarming" but more "ew that's hosed up, like the town". And also that it tied to how none of them had kids and half were in hateful broken marriages at the start of the book.
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Sep 17, 2011 15:32
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trandorian posted:Well I for one didn't feel like "aww that's so heartwarming" but more "ew that's hosed up, like the town". And also that it tied to how none of them had kids and half were in hateful broken marriages at the start of the book. It was disturbing, not frightening or even horrifying. If they were raping her, then it would have been horrifying.
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Sep 17, 2011 16:04
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Mister Kingdom posted:It was disturbing, not frightening or even horrifying. If they were raping her, then it would have been horrifying. Disturbing you is one of the primary goals of horror.
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Sep 17, 2011 16:26
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trandorian posted:Disturbing you is one of the primary goals of horror. I'd even go so far as to say that eliciting a disturbing reaction or one of dislocation should be the primary goal of a horror author. It's not as visceral a reaction as, say, the response to reading about skull fragments hitting as wall, but it is a deeper, more fundamental and profound response.
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Sep 17, 2011 17:54
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trandorian posted:Disturbing you is one of the primary goals of horror. Two Girls One Cup disturbs me, I'm looking for something better out of a horror novel.
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Sep 18, 2011 02:29
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OctaviusBeaver posted:Two Girls One Cup disturbs me, I'm looking for something better out of a horror novel. So you don't find child sex disturbing. That's certainly... weird.
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Sep 18, 2011 03:02
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I still maintain that one part of IT was Stephen King being one big weirdo who was on drugs at the time, rather than intentionally disturbing his audience as the main goal.
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Sep 18, 2011 05:03
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Locus posted:I still maintain that one part of IT was Stephen King being one big weirdo who was on drugs at the time, rather than intentionally disturbing his audience as the main goal. Based on his own testimonial in "On Writing" this is probably close to the truth.
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Sep 18, 2011 05:06
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1,142 pages in IT and all you guys talk about is the 2 pages with the child gang bang
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Sep 18, 2011 12:10
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ZoDiAC_ posted:1,142 pages in IT and all you guys talk about is the 2 pages with the child gang bang Well this is the WORST Stephen King novel thread not the BEST Stephen King novel. Is there any sort of list out there that lays out what he wrote while trippin balls or whatever and what he wrote when he wasn't? Because I'm wondering if he wrote anything good that wasn't done while high.
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Sep 18, 2011 13:10
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juliuspringle posted:Well this is the WORST Stephen King novel thread not the BEST Stephen King novel. Is there any sort of list out there that lays out what he wrote while trippin balls or whatever and what he wrote when he wasn't? Because I'm wondering if he wrote anything good that wasn't done while high. IIRC Tommyknockers was the last thing he wrote while completely hosed up.
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Sep 18, 2011 15:22
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Sometime after Tommyknockers ('87?) his family did an intervention that led to him eventually quitting pretty much everything. I think Blood and Smoke, him reading 3 short stories that dealt with smoking as audiobooks, was him quitting smoking, too? And I think the sewer scene in IT isn't the worst thing ever written, rather it's indicative of him sneaking an uncomfortable sex scene of some sort into lots of different stories. Hell, the scene in The Stand where guy sticks a revolver up other guys rear end and whispers "make me cum or die" did not need to be there either. Actually I think that's one of the extra scenes in the revised version. Or the entire plot of Gerald's Game. Or the furries in The Shining. Come on y'all, help me out, I know there are more "King has sex issues" scenes.
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Sep 18, 2011 15:23
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Quad posted:Sometime after Tommyknockers ('87?) his family did an intervention that led to him eventually quitting pretty much everything. I think Blood and Smoke, him reading 3 short stories that dealt with smoking as audiobooks, was him quitting smoking, too?
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Sep 18, 2011 16:54
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Knight of the
Sir Prancelot posted:Loofah handjob in Pet Sematary. It wasn't exactly disturbing, but it came right the gently caress out of left field. What? I don't remember that at all.
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Sep 18, 2011 16:58
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JammyLammy posted:What? I don't remember that at all.  ) but I swear to God it's there. I remember being so thoroughly skeeved out at thirteen that I just had to put the book away for a little while.
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Sep 18, 2011 17:01
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Sir Prancelot posted:I don't have my copy to reference it (gave all my King books away It exists, right before everything goes to hell.
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Sep 18, 2011 17:19
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Sir Prancelot posted:Loofah handjob in Pet Sematary. It wasn't exactly disturbing, but it came right the gently caress out of left field. God, that was dreadful; thanks ever so for reminding me. Basically, Louis goes home after Pascow gets killed, and takes a hot bath. His wife comes in, washes him all over and jerks him off in the tub.King went into exhaustive detail about the handjob. The part I remember vividly is the line, "He came so hard he felt his eardrums bulge." Gah. That whole scene was so out of place in the book, it was ridiculous.
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Sep 18, 2011 17:19
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Edwardian posted:God, that was dreadful; thanks ever so for reminding me. Oh god, is that where she says she learned it in the girl scouts/at summer camp, or am I thinking of something else?
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Sep 18, 2011 17:23
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Edwardian posted:God, that was dreadful; thanks ever so for reminding me.
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Sep 18, 2011 17:58
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trandorian posted:So you don't find child sex disturbing. That's certainly... weird. I am genuinely confused as to how you got this out of what I posted. There is a difference between weird/disgusting and actual good horror. Yeah the child sex scene was gross, awkward and totally killed any drama by sheer WTF, but it didn't scare me. I don't think it was even intended to by disturbing, King seemed to think it was positive or uplifting or something. Honestly I wasn't a huge fan of it in the first place. Constantly switching back and forth between five (was it five?) different protagonists in two different time periods just killed any momentum he tried to build up.
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Sep 18, 2011 19:59
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The time structure of It was one of the reasons I liked it so much in the first place. The back and forth seeing what led to certain actions and finding where It really was made it exciting. If the book had a straight timeline like the movie version, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.
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Sep 18, 2011 20:32
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Sir Prancelot posted:Loofah handjob in Pet Sematary. It wasn't exactly disturbing, but it came right the gently caress out of left field. So THAT'S where that's from. I could have sworn it was from A John Irving novel.
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Sep 18, 2011 22:19
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