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rypakal posted:I was talking about The End of the Whole Mess. What did you think I was talking about? It.
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# ? Jan 3, 2014 22:35 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:53 |
rypakal posted:And it doesn't come up later. She doesn't even remember it when she's with Bill. It has no bearing on the future. You can almost tell when he thought it up and then went back a few manuscript pages and was like "Bev couldn't stop thinking about the grackles for a second how weird and inexplicable" IIRC previously that technique was used to bring in stuff when a Loser remembers something about IT. Not this time.
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# ? Jan 3, 2014 23:50 |
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SniperWoreConverse posted:You can almost tell when he thought it up and then went back a few manuscript pages and was like "Bev couldn't stop thinking about the grackles for a second how weird and inexplicable" My guess is that he wanted to tie it to her father's weird relationship to her entering puberty and how as an abuser he was very territorial over her, especially since it came after her father as IT was all trying to "examine" her but that didn't work well at all, and if anything it is good that it is so loosely connected to the rest of the story, because it is indeed very out of tune with the rest of the book.
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# ? Jan 4, 2014 03:33 |
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rypakal posted:And it doesn't come up later. She doesn't even remember it when she's with Bill. Yes she does: quote:“All of you?” she cried suddenly, her eyes widening, stunned. He did pull back and out of her this time, but in the sudden shock of the revelation, she barely felt him go. “What? Beverly? A-Are you all r—” “All of you? I made love to all of you?” Location: 18383
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# ? Jan 4, 2014 12:28 |
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So I finally hit the part that always bugged me in It. And now I get to bitch about it to strangers on the internet. Spoilers for towards the end Tom Rogan gets his point of view chapter when he dreams he is Henry. He watches Henry kill his own dad, imagining it is him doing it. And mentions how this can't be right, because "His father had died when he was in the third grade. well...maybe 'died' wasn't such a good word. maybe 'committed suicide' was actually the truth. Ralph Rogan had made himself a gin and lye cocktail. One for the road, you might say." My problem is that in his and Bev's intro, he had almost the exact same line. "Ralph Rogan had died-well 'died' was maybe not such a good word. maybe 'committed suicide' would have been a better was to put it, since he had poured himself generous quanity of lye into a tumbler of gin and quaffed this devil's brew while sitting on the bathroom hopper." Now, granted that was 850 pages ago, but it seems like such a easy editing catch. It bugs the hell out of me. On an unrelated note, apparently you can't put quotes into spoiler text. Good to know.
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# ? Jan 4, 2014 15:09 |
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I finished a few days ago. Solid experience, especially because I decided just to skip the sewer sex. I mean, what the gently caress . I really enjoyed some of the more grotesque forms that IT took in the service of terrifying children. I couldn't really take the part where IT was offering to give Eddie a blowjob too seriously, though. I read it, and started picturing Randy Quaid doing his best Cousin Eddie trying to grub some money.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 03:21 |
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Sorry for the drive-by post but I have a few bucks left on an Amazon gift card and I want to get a newer Stephen King paperback. The last book I read was The Dome and I really enjoyed it. What has been published since then that is a must-read (as a diehard fan preferably) that is also in paperback?
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 03:50 |
11/22/63 is the best thing king has written since his accident. Is it in paperback yet?
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 04:14 |
It totally is. A huge, intimidating paperback.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 04:46 |
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I am really glad I switched to ebooks years ago. No more having to lug around heavy rear end books that fall apart too easily, like King paperbacks are known to do.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 05:46 |
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I finished It and, after reading three other non-King books I just started Bag of Bones for the 2nd time and already noticed the protagonist's wife was reading a book by William Denbrough; and just now the protagonist (a novelist, what a surprise) is having a dream about approaching his summer house but he's afraid to because there might be "even one of William Denbrough's famous Creatures From Beyond the Universe, now hiding under the porch and watching me approach with glittering, pus-rimmed eyes." I suppose that explains what King thinks the origin of It is. What's striking to me though is, for all the talk about King spreading the Dark Tower throughout his works, he does so far more with Derry and its inhabitants. It's kind of neat to be re-reading a lot of his stuff and noticing this kind of thing;, I may read Cujo next just for the hahas, because I've only read it once. edit: Bag of Bones also has one of King's wittiest lines, imo: when talking to his agent about the Fall book lists he says "As the late Jim Croce so wisely observed, you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Mary Higgins Clark." Pheeets fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Jan 8, 2014 |
# ? Jan 8, 2014 06:45 |
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Pheeets posted:I suppose that explains what King thinks the origin of It is. What's striking to me though is, for all the talk about King spreading the Dark Tower throughout his works, he does so far more with Derry and its inhabitants. Derry simply became his Castle Rock after he destroyed Castle Rock. Bag of Bones is one of his best written (or dare I say best edited) books of his career. Following on the Green Mile and his Female Protagonist Trilogy, which I think gave him a creative reboot, he just seemed to have new life. Although the story isn't all that memorable and its ending is typical King, the craft of the book is excellent.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 15:50 |
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I always thought that Derry was a far more interesting town-creation than Castle Rock, to be honest. I've already written my treatise on Derry more or less so I won't go back to it all, but as a sort of even-more-evil analog to Lewiston (and Bangor somewhat) it's just a way more interesting place, at least as portrayed in It. I've spent my whole life in Maine and Derry, as a creation, captures something really dark and scary about those of us who live in prosperous Southern Maine prefer to ignore as much as humanly possible. Castle Rock, on the other hand, felt a little more cartoony to me and was literally like, "AnyTown, Maine". There are dozens of towns in Maine that "could" be Castle Rock. Though personally I always used Bridgton as a mental model for the town. Which is kind of funny since he set "The Mist" literally in Bridgton, if memory serves.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 17:18 |
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The scene in Bag of Bones where the protagonist is nearly done in by rocks thrown by a very old woman while her husband on a scooter(?) cackles evilly I thought was gonna give me some kind of fit from how perfectly zany-yet-scary it was. Joe Hill must've liked that part too because there's a very similar escape in NOS4A2.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 17:23 |
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kaworu posted:I always thought that Derry was a far more interesting town-creation than Castle Rock, to be honest. I've already written my treatise on Derry more or less so I won't go back to it all, but as a sort of even-more-evil analog to Lewiston (and Bangor somewhat) it's just a way more interesting place, at least as portrayed in It. I've spent my whole life in Maine and Derry, as a creation, captures something really dark and scary about those of us who live in prosperous Southern Maine prefer to ignore as much as humanly possible. Much as I like the Castle Rock stories, Derry will always be more in interesting in and of itself. Also, I just realized that It is pretty much a book-length expansion on something he very briefly covered in Danse Macabre, especially the bit when it explains how Stanley was "offended" more than "scared".
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 18:56 |
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What were the defining features of Castle Rock? I've seen the movie version of Needful Things but otherwise I don't think I've come across any material set in Castle Rock. Derry is a very distinctive setting and one of the coolest parts of reading 'IT' is that it's very much a novel where the location becomes a major character in its own right (almost literally in this case given that Pennywise essentially IS Derry). Are there any comparable characterizations of Castle Rock? Does King ever go into detail on why Castle Rock is distinctive or is it just supposed to be a generic stand in for small town Maine?
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 20:50 |
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Derry is the "cities" and "large towns" of Maine, which aren't very big in comparison to cities in most states. Castle Rock is indeed a small town, but importantly its an inland small town rather than a coastal one. There's a map on Stephen King's official website that puts up locations for most of his fictional Maine towns, and it has it near a real town called Woodstock, ME, so he intends it to be that kind of area.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 21:19 |
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Haha. Woodstock is about 25-30 miles north of Bridgton - I was right! All these towns we would drive through on our way to go skiing were in that region - you've got other towns like South Paris, Waterford, Harrison, etc which could all be dead ringers for Castle Rock in my humble opinion. The further north/further from Portland you go the poorer it gets, generally speaking, though, But yeah, this region is very much inland Maine near the NH border. Coastal Maine is very different. Oxford County is very poor and totally what I would consider as "Stephen King Country". kaworu fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Jan 8, 2014 |
# ? Jan 8, 2014 22:31 |
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Here's the map that was on his site, by the way:
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 22:44 |
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Helsing posted:What were the defining features of Castle Rock? Just off the top of my head the only thing I can think of is the gazebo in the park. At least, I think that was in Castle Rock.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 23:13 |
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Helsing posted:What were the defining features of Castle Rock? I've seen the movie version of Needful Things but otherwise I don't think I've come across any material set in Castle Rock. Derry is a very distinctive setting and one of the coolest parts of reading 'IT' is that it's very much a novel where the location becomes a major character in its own right (almost literally in this case given that Pennywise essentially IS Derry). Are there any comparable characterizations of Castle Rock? Does King ever go into detail on why Castle Rock is distinctive or is it just supposed to be a generic stand in for small town Maine? Cujo, The Dead Zone, and a bunch of short fiction. In many stories its just a place he mentiones (just like Derry is sometimes now just a place someone is from). Then he destroyed it and Derry kept popping up, starting with Insomnia.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 23:24 |
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rypakal posted:
In Bag of Bones, Mike Noonan has coffee with Ralph Roberts from Insomnia, and Ralph asks him if he's getting enough sleep. Plus Joe Wyzer, the pharmacist from Insomnia makes an appearance too.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 23:46 |
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Soysaucebeast posted:It totally is. A huge, intimidating paperback. When I got it from the library, the only version available was the large print one. Coulda killed a horse with it.
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# ? Jan 8, 2014 23:49 |
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Mister Kingdom posted:When I got it from the library, the only version available was the large print one. Coulda killed a horse with it. I read the large print version of Duma Key from the library, that was a weird way to read a book.
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# ? Jan 9, 2014 02:49 |
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I bought Doctor Sleep today. Going to bed early because I can't wait to get into it.
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# ? Jan 9, 2014 11:31 |
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Doctor Sleep is about a man struggling with addiction and ISN'T wooo The Shining is back wooo right? (The woooo is ghost noises)
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# ? Jan 10, 2014 22:47 |
juliuspringle posted:Doctor Sleep is about a man struggling with addiction and ISN'T wooo The Shining is back wooo right? (The woooo is ghost noises) Largely, yes, but it also deals with the shine and those who have it and prey upon those who have it.
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# ? Jan 10, 2014 22:49 |
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Doctor Sleep was a disappointment. It left so little impression on me, all I remember is RVs with old people and some sort of argument at the end. It didn't really feel like it was written by the same person who wrote The Shining.
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# ? Jan 10, 2014 23:52 |
Pheeets posted:Doctor Sleep was a disappointment. It left so little impression on me, all I remember is RVs with old people and some sort of argument at the end. It didn't really feel like it was written by the same person who wrote The Shining. It really wasn't, though. People change a hell of a lot in 35 years even if they aren't run over by a van. King is in a very different mental place than he was back then and probably can't channel that subconscious strain of addictive insanity that drove Jack like he used to because, y'know, he no longer considers filling his trash can with beer and blow to be an essential part of writing.
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 00:05 |
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Jazerus posted:It really wasn't, though. People change a hell of a lot in 35 years even if they aren't run over by a van. King is in a very different mental place than he was back then and probably can't channel that subconscious strain of addictive insanity that drove Jack like he used to because, y'know, he no longer considers filling his trash can with beer and blow to be an essential part of writing. Sure, I realize he's not the same as he was, who is? And I did think about qualifying that in my post, that he doesn't sound like the same writer. It seemed almost as if he had been nagged into writing it against his will, it sounded that forced. Maybe it is as you say, that he can't channel that kind of insanity any more, but he's written other books recently that definitely sound like Stephen King, most notably, to me, 11/222/63. Doctor Sleep sounded more like Joe Hill, if that makes any sense.
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 00:13 |
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Doctor Sleep is kind of weird because while the bad guys are definitely bad they're also a lot weaker than the good guys. Whenever Abra and Dan team up they basically smash those fuckers.
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 00:17 |
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Pheeets posted:11/222/63 What happened on June 9, 1964?
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 00:26 |
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:What happened on June 9, 1964? Ahaha good catch, that's what I get for sleep-writing.
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 04:03 |
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What's the consensus on Doctor Sleep stuff? I haven't found any true knots to his previous works (besides the obvious Shining stuff) but I have noticed a few tangential relations to some of his other books, Is that stuff ok to say or do I need to learn how to spoiler it?
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 18:34 |
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I recently read The Dead Zone and just now saw the movie is on tv which I didn't know existed. I definitely did not picture Johnny as anything like Christopher Walken. Is this movie any good by standards of King adaptations?
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# ? Jan 11, 2014 20:58 |
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Joose Caboose posted:I recently read The Dead Zone and just now saw the movie is on tv which I didn't know existed. I definitely did not picture Johnny as anything like Christopher Walken. Is this movie any good by standards of King adaptations? That movie is a cultural landmark. But no it's not good.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 00:00 |
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Joose Caboose posted:I recently read The Dead Zone and just now saw the movie is on tv which I didn't know existed. I definitely did not picture Johnny as anything like Christopher Walken. Is this movie any good by standards of King adaptations? It's mid-tier Cronenberg and is nowhere as good as the book but it's not a bad movie. Some of his visions (the burning apartment, the kids falling through the ice) are pretty striking and it has Walken at that point where he was weird without descending into full-on self-parody; I seriously can't imagine anybody else delivering lines like "THE ICE...IS GONNA BREAK!" in quite the same way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhFIwkbtJI
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 03:17 |
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Joose Caboose posted:I recently read The Dead Zone and just now saw the movie is on tv which I didn't know existed. I definitely did not picture Johnny as anything like Christopher Walken. Is this movie any good by standards of King adaptations? I found it dull but lots and lots of people seem to really like it for whatever reason. By Stephen King adaptation standards I suppose it's okay but it's a lot worse than the book IMO. e: yeah "mid-tier Cronenberg" is a good way to put it.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 05:22 |
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...of SCIENCE! posted:It's mid-tier Cronenberg and is nowhere as good as the book but it's not a bad movie. Some of his visions (the burning apartment, the kids falling through the ice) are pretty striking and it has Walken at that point where he was weird without descending into full-on self-parody; I seriously can't imagine anybody else delivering lines like "THE ICE...IS GONNA BREAK!" in quite the same way. The SNL Parody is a million times better.
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# ? Jan 13, 2014 01:36 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:53 |
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I finished Doctor Sleep yesterday and was anyone else fooled by the Danny death fakeout? I was worried that King really was going to kill him off.
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# ? Jan 13, 2014 01:45 |