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Darko posted:I feel like such a fanboy, but, 20% or so through, I have to admit that I smiled when we returned to some of the IT kids. I got happy as soon as I found out 50s Derry was a big part of the story, and am glad I wasn't spoiled. Same here, and I was pretty impressed that it felt natural and not shoehorned in like the self insertion in Dark Tower, given that I figured he was going to do something of the sort and was mentally cringing a bit as soon as I realized the time frame that he was visiting Derry in. Count me as another one that was a bit unsure about the premise of the book and am now hooked.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 06:12 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 04:19 |
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spixxor posted:Same here, and I was pretty impressed that it felt natural and not shoehorned in like the self insertion in Dark Tower, given that I figured he was going to do something of the sort and was mentally cringing a bit as soon as I realized the time frame that he was visiting Derry in. It just somehow made perfect sense. It fit with the timeline, and fit with the characters, and his goal fit. It was dark. He was literally trying to figure out the best way to murder someone. By asking children. But, if you've read It, you knew who the kids were. If you didn't, it worked. They'd know who the victims were, with a reason, and a reason for Jake to stop. gently caress the loop dark tower stuff. When it comes to journey over destination, 11/22/63 was way better.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 07:34 |
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Rita represented another type of character King mentions early on. The people who could not live with being survivors. Just because Rita was unique enough to survive the virus did not mean she automatically deserved to be a survivor like the rest. I can understand leaving her out of the movie but her character was thought out and not just some random old lady.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 14:43 |
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She's also pretty important for the Nadine and Larry possibility. Nadine was willing to give herself to Larry when she learned that Flaggs hold on her was getting stronger and Larry, knowing that after all the poo poo he went through, realising that if he had sex with Nadine and turned his back on whoever he was with at the time would be the end of him as a "good guy" set her and Harold in motion. Larry had to walk a fine line, if I recall correctly he felt the draw to Vegas instead of Boulder, and his misplaced guilt over what happened to Rita basically doomed a lot of characters in the explosion. Nadine even says something along the lines of, "I waited too long," when she tries to seduce him and Larry agreed. Earlier he wasn't with anyone and his conscience would have been clear and Flagg wouldn't have got what he wanted but when Nadine came to him out of desperation because she knew what was in store for her and he was her only hope of staying in Boulder and not following the path set out for her from the ouija session in college he turned her aside because of his insecurities about himself. For Larry it was a tough call to make, either way he was going to have something to doubt himself over but all weird sexual stuff with Rita aside I think she was important because her death, while not his fault, started him down the path of needing to redeem himself which, well as I said, we all know how that turned out. Frannie and Larry even see the cut up wires in Harolds house and don't think anything of it. Until later of course when Larry has something else to blame himself for.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 16:36 |
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Minor non-spoilery 11/22/63 gripe. What is it with non-southerners using "y'all" incorrectly? I mean I know it's a terrible made up contraction anyway, but still. Y'all is used when referring to more than one person, i.e "you all". You do not go up to a single person and, for instance, ask "Can I get y'all anything?" It doesn't make any sense. As a born and raised Texan I've never heard anyone use it in that fashion. It makes it even dumber than it already is. Also "Don't Mess With Texas" did not come into being until 1986 and was certainly not around in the 50's. Dammit King, you Yankee. Ok I'm done. Book is still awesome so far, just happened to hit my sperge button.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 19:14 |
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spixxor posted:Minor non-spoilery 11/22/63 gripe. What is it with non-southerners using "y'all" incorrectly? Sperg only has one e. On a different note, you all have convinced me to give 11/23/63 and shot and not just write it off as clean King so it's poo poo.
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# ? Nov 13, 2011 20:59 |
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I was thinking, 11/22/63 has a lot of stuff that was in the Dark Tower series, but more subtle. Wicked crazy DT/11/22/63 spoilers ahead: The insanity by the card men reminds me a lot of what happened to Roland when he had conflicting timelines in his head, and those were created/remedied by, as in the new book, doors to a different time period. The loop stuff was there, too. Jake does resets to get things right a few times. And how does it end? He goes through the door one last time and does what Roland didn't do- lets go, and it's like the rest of the book didn't happen. I wonder if King was thinking about the DT series when he wrote it. Maybe, what with the It kids, but it's the same themes better realized, in my opinion. Really liked it.
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# ? Nov 17, 2011 06:33 |
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Holy crap. Picked this up as an impulse buy last night because I wanted something to read over dinner out and ended up coming straight back in and idly flipped it open around 9pm and was riveted until 330am. This is the best thing I've read from him in a long, LONG time. Simply amazing so far (I'm almost 3/4 of the way through). I'm already planning on blowing a lot of today off and finishing it up. I can't wait to see how this ends up.
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# ? Nov 17, 2011 14:24 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I was thinking, 11/22/63 has a lot of stuff that was in the Dark Tower series, but more subtle. Wicked crazy DT/11/22/63 spoilers ahead: I definitely agree. The only place the book started to drag for me though was during the part where Jake and Sadie are sneaking around together, before her ex comes and wrecks her poo poo. It gave me a real "Wizard and Glass" vibe, and I'm afraid if I ever go back to re-read it that's where I'll get stuck. All in all though it is a pretty amazing book.
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# ? Nov 17, 2011 15:20 |
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I also just finished 11/22/63 and enjoyed the hell out of it. Like some people in this thread I was skeptical about it's quality before I started it, but I couldn't put it down once I got about 50 pages in. One of the best things about this King book for me was that the ending action climax part of it didn't get dragged out too long and didn't get bogged down with too much poo poo going on all at once like a lot of other King endings do.
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# ? Nov 17, 2011 20:40 |
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Just finished 11/22/63. I dunno. I really wanted to like it, but overall it just didn't work for me. I really enjoyed it up until George leaves Derry. After that it got kind of boring. King seemed to fall in love with the idea of describing the 1960s, and there was too much emphasis on the dances at the school and the students, none of which I really gave a poo poo about. I liked the scenes of him stalking Oswald, but even those started to drag after a while. Too much of George just sitting around listening, just seemed like King transcribing his historical notes into the book. Thought the ending was meh. Oh, saving Kennedy actually made the future WORSE? Didn't see that one coming. The quick glimpse we got of the lovely future seemed pretty hastily sketched. And I was never clear on why George/Jake had to wait until 1963. Couldn't he have killed Oswald immediately, went back and seen what happened? Wouldn't it be obvious there was no second gunman if Kennedy had survived? If George screwed up he could just go back through the wormhole and reset everything. So yeah, parts were cool, but it could have been a lot shorter. Under the Dome was just as long but that seemed to move a lot more briskly, and I definitely enjoyed it more. Definitely way better than Lisey's Story or Duma Key or most of his recent output, though.
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 02:10 |
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I thought this was the thread about the worst Stephen King novel? I just got a collection of four of the Bachman books, just because it had 'Rage' in it and I don't believe you can easily find that story in print these days. It also has 'Road Work', 'The Running Man', and 'The Long Walk'. I haven't read 'Rage' and 'The Long Walk', so there will be some new material, at least. From what I understand, 'Rage' is kind of preachy and very teen angst, so we'll see what I think.
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 05:11 |
Mad Hamish posted:I just got a collection of four of the Bachman books, just because it had 'Rage' in it and I don't believe you can easily find that story in print these days. My understanding is that after Columbine, King decided he wouldn't allow the book to be reprinted.
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 05:33 |
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Ornamented Death posted:My understanding is that after Columbine, King decided he wouldn't allow the book to be reprinted. As I understand this was an agreement between him and the publishing company.
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 05:44 |
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So I just read the Wikipedia synopsis of "The Jaunt" and it scared the hell out of me. Still waiting on 11/22/63 to come in at the library...
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 06:00 |
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I've been trying to catch up on some of the older King books that I never read so I've been reading through Firestarter. The whole time I was like "wow, this is actually a fun little sci-fi what-if story with almost none of his usual creepiness" and then bam transvestite garbage disposal jerk-off session out of nowhere .
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 12:25 |
Farbtoner posted:I've been trying to catch up on some of the older King books that I never read so I've been reading through Firestarter. The whole time I was like "wow, this is actually a fun little sci-fi what-if story with almost none of his usual creepiness" and then bam transvestite garbage disposal jerk-off session out of nowhere . It wasn't out of nowhere. He spent a long time building that up.
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# ? Nov 18, 2011 13:20 |
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I don't know if anyone else is reading the Marvel comic adaption of The Stand, but the third to last issue was just released, covering the capture of Ralph, Glenn, and Larry, their executions, and the Hand of God. In the scene where Whitney Horgan decides to challenge Flagg before the execution, the comic changes the character to instead be Richard Bachman, and is of course drawn to look like King. I don't know if anyone has the desire to see a drawing of what King would look like as a burning corpse, but if so, it's right there. Other than that it's a pretty faithful adaption of the book, and I like it more than the Dark Tower comics. It still gets me every time I open it and the characters don't look like the TV versions, though.
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# ? Nov 19, 2011 01:19 |
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Bug Bill Murray posted:Just finished 11/22/63. Wasn't Oswald in Russia until 1960-61 or so? It's not like it'd be super easy to get into the USSR
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# ? Nov 19, 2011 05:43 |
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Bug Bill Murray posted:
He didn't want to risk popping somebody he didn't absolutely know was responsible. He even felt guilty shooting the janitor's dad the second time, compared to the first. There's a big difference between getting someone in the act and gunning them down in cold blood, which was fully demonstrated in the first third of the book. I mean, really, would you be able to kill someone like that? Plus, the residue. Who knows what repurcussions actions in the past like that have.
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# ? Nov 19, 2011 07:06 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:He didn't want to risk popping somebody he didn't absolutely know was responsible. He even felt guilty shooting the janitor's dad the second time, compared to the first. There's a big difference between getting someone in the act and gunning them down in cold blood, which was fully demonstrated in the first third of the book. I mean, really, would you be able to kill someone like that? Plus, the residue. Who knows what repurcussions actions in the past like that have. He could have killed Oswald, gone to the future to see if Kennedy was still killed to confirm that Oswald was the perpetrater. If not, take a quick trip to the Fruit and bring Oswald back to life.
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# ? Nov 19, 2011 17:41 |
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Jealous Cow posted:He could have killed Oswald, gone to the future to see if Kennedy was still killed to confirm that Oswald was the perpetrater. If not, take a quick trip to the Fruit and bring Oswald back to life. Yeah, this is what I meant. I guess he would have had to wait a couple years anyway with Oswald being in Russia. It didn't bother me that much, but it made all the "Gotta make sure it's the right guy!" stuff just seem like padding.
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# ? Nov 19, 2011 20:02 |
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Bug Bill Murray posted:Yeah, this is what I meant. I guess he would have had to wait a couple years anyway with Oswald being in Russia. It didn't bother me that much, but it made all the "Gotta make sure it's the right guy!" stuff just seem like padding.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 03:32 |
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savinhill posted:He did say a few times how exhausting it was just thinking about all the poo poo he would have to do over again and how he thought he wouldn't be able to go through it all again, so at that point it was vital that he make sure Oswald was the lone gunman. Also, like someone else said, he wasn't a soldier or assassin, he was a school teacher before all this, so he had to work himself up to killing and make sure it was totally justified. It was also brought into play the fact that many years would have passed, and realistically the 'second time around' he'd be 7-10 years older than he already was, and at an already in his 40's man, he wasn't certain he could do it if he waited because he was afraid if nothing else his body would fail him like Al's did.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 04:07 |
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Farbtoner posted:I've been trying to catch up on some of the older King books that I never read so I've been reading through Firestarter. The whole time I was like "wow, this is actually a fun little sci-fi what-if story with almost none of his usual creepiness" and then bam transvestite garbage disposal jerk-off session out of nowhere . It's been maybe 8 years since I read firestarter, but I definitely don't remember that or any way something like that could have come to be in that book. Maybe it's for the best.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 05:53 |
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working on 11.22.63 So far, I am really enjoying it. I wish I had more time to just sit down and read it. A little over 200 pages inm, Jake just returned from his first trip to Derry. I was a little worried when I heard King was writing a time travel book, but I really like the way it is shaping up. I'm anxious to see how it all turns on, but I'm looking forward to savoring every page.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 06:00 |
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Kingtheninja posted:It's been maybe 8 years since I read firestarter, but I definitely don't remember that or any way something like that could have come to be in that book. Maybe it's for the best.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 07:43 |
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Roydrowsy posted:
I wanted to savor every page too, but it's one of those books where you start at nine in the evening, then the next thing you know it's three, you're halfway done, and gently caress, I have work tomorrow, don't I? That was my experience, at least.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 17:47 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I wanted to savor every page too, but it's one of those books where you start at nine in the evening, then the next thing you know it's three, you're halfway done, and gently caress, I have work tomorrow, don't I? Oh, I know. I crawled into bed at about 3:00 last night.
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# ? Nov 20, 2011 23:30 |
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Some context about those all spoiler posts would be nice guys
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# ? Nov 21, 2011 01:31 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I wanted to savor every page too, but it's one of those books where you start at nine in the evening, then the next thing you know it's three, you're halfway done, and gently caress, I have work tomorrow, don't I? Glad I'm not the only one that does this. *looks at clock* "Eh, I can give up another half hour of sleep. Three hours is plenty!" At one point I was so tired that I realized I was trying to turn pages on my Kindle (as in, reaching up with my hand and kind of waving it like there was an actual page to turn) and finally gave up and went to sleep.
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# ? Nov 21, 2011 01:41 |
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ZoDiAC_ posted:Some context about those all spoiler posts would be nice guys Sorry, the ones from Cityinthesea's post to mine are about the new novel, 11/22/63 and are in reference to the actions of the main character dwaddling around in time!
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# ? Nov 21, 2011 05:15 |
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Mad Hamish posted:I thought this was the thread about the worst Stephen King novel? Under the Dome. There. The best is Misery, and maybe the uncut version of the stand The Stand. And anybody who disagrees is wrong. Farecoal fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Nov 22, 2011 |
# ? Nov 22, 2011 07:43 |
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Farecoal posted:Under the Dome. There. I am pretty sure that the worst is 'The Dark Half' and / or 'The Dead Zone' with 'Cujo' following close behind, but OK.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 03:51 |
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Farecoal posted:Under the Dome. There. My favorites are The Stand, Bachman Books, It, Talisman and Christine.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 04:18 |
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I liked Cujo. Lisey's Story and Dreamcatcher are probably the worst ones. For some reason, the first time I read it Dreamcatcher didn't seem that terrible. I tried to give it a reread a few days ago and gave up about a third of the way in.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 04:25 |
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My big problem with dreamcatcher is that towards the end I had no idea what the gently caress was even happening. That book was really scattered and all-over-the-place.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 04:30 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:My big problem with dreamcatcher is that towards the end I had no idea what the gently caress was even happening. That book was really scattered and all-over-the-place.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 04:36 |
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Cujo. The author doesn't even remember writing it.
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# ? Nov 23, 2011 15:43 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 04:19 |
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Can we start a new thread for just general SK discussion as people take the title far too literally and just come in to post Cujo or that scene from IT repeatedly Judging by his latest he's actually pretty good again!! I hope the Wind in the Keyhole or whatever it's called owns ZoDiAC_ fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Nov 23, 2011 |
# ? Nov 23, 2011 17:21 |