|
oldpainless posted:It’s no 1997 miniseries tho More like old bowl cut
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2022 20:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:55 |
|
|
Quick question: the Dark Tower wiki page shows The Wind Through the Keyhole as book 4.5 in the series, but it was written many years after the other books. I'm currently on the tail end of book 4. Should I read 4.5 next or circle back after I finish the others? Non-spoilerly as possible, please. Just from general pop culture osmosis, I know poo poo is going to go off the rails pretty soon, but it's really fun so far.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 16:01
|
|
|
I’d read Wind next.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 16:04
|
|
|
RCarr posted:I’d read Wind next. Straight to the point that I needed. Many thanks.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 16:15
|
|
|
deoju posted:In contrast, The Silence of the Lambs adaptation is incredibly faithful to the book. The most radical divergence I can think of that still resulted in a work of such high quality is LA Confidential. There's not a single character in the book whose fate is the same as in the movie. The plot is radically different, it's a giant sprawling mess that spreads across multiple decades, not just involving the porn/hooker/heroin/crooked cop conspiracy from the movie but also a serial killer supposedly brought to justice by Exley's father (who didn't die as a cop but rather survived to become a construction magnate who builds an amusement park for the book's Walt Disney-analogue), another serial killer who murders and rapes prostitutes, and bunch of other poo poo besides; the Stens character, for instance, doesn't die at the Nite Owl, but instead eventually shoots two people while robbing them and ends up in the gas chamber. And if anything the book is even more cynical than the film. Exley isn't the paragon of integrity that he's shown as in the film. He's a weak and cowardly man whose rise through the ranks isn't due to his being a legacy, it's due to his false claims of war heroism and the patronage of his wealthy father. In the movie, Exley starts as a straight arrow: "Would you shoot a hardened criminal in the back in order to offset the chance that some lawyer-" "No." Then he ends the movie doing just that. In the book, he answers the same question the same way (but it's being asked by his father, not Dudley), and then goes on to murder four men because he doesn't want to look weak in comparison to Bud White. Everyone in the book is compromised, there's nobody who's clean. And the whole Rollo Tomasi device, the one which was telegraphed and executed perfectly? They made that up entirely for the screenplay, it's not in the book at all. Like I said, I can't think of an adaptation that was so different but still kept the tone and core of the original intact and was so well-executed. It sure as gently caress deserved its Oscar for best adapted screenplay.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 16:24
|
|
|
Ariza posted:Straight to the point that I needed. Many thanks. No problem. It’s a legit great book too. Arguably my favorite one in the series.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 17:47
|
|
|
RCarr posted:No problem. It’s a legit great book too. Arguably my favorite one in the series. ditto
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2022 03:03
|
|
|
Ariza posted:Straight to the point that I needed. Many thanks. Alternately, if you want to get back to the plot after Wizard and Glass, skip it and come back to it after you finish.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2022 02:37
|
|
|
i would save wind through the keyhole for last for reasons you will understand when you finish. i would also read little sisters of eluria after the last book
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2022 02:45
|
|
|
I think 4.5 would read kind of weird if you did it right after Wizard and Glass. The tone is all kinds of different and there are tons of references to things in the later books that you probably won't really appreciate. To be honest it's my biggest complaint about it being marketed as DT 4.5. It's a decent story but there's so much random stuff (the number 19, dogans, language in general) that didn't exist until the later books that he just crammed into WTtKH like crazy. On the other hand, maybe you wouldn't notice as much if you haven't read the later books yet and a lot of that stuff jumps off in book 5 anyway. I think my problem isn't so much that the random stuff I mentioned exists in the book but that it exists in a book set right after W&G. You just get done with a huge flash back that's awesome but has a certain tone and language and then you get tossed into a different story/flashback where the same storyteller uses language drastically differently from what you just read. Not sure if that makes sense or not, but it's the best I can do to recommend just reading the series in release order.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2022 06:55
|
|
|
What was Merlin supposed to be in Wind Through The Keyhole? He's like a giant Tiger imprisoned by Walter? But isn't Merlin supposed to be the father of the Crimson King in the backstory? Or am I confusing different canons? Are the comics canon? I forget if Merlin is even mentioned in SoS or DT.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2022 11:13
|
|
|
I got about halfway through The Wind Through the Keyhole before I saw the other replies and the seed of doubt was sown. I noticed the bumbler could speak better than he should've (don't think that's a spoiler) and I'm afraid I'll start to notice other things. Going to move onto book 5 tonight and read 4.5 after the rest. Skin man will have to wait. After a couple weeks of being completely engrossed in/by the world, I'm dreading moving on. Hopefully it's not as irritating as I've been lead to believe.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2022 00:21
|
|
|
Ariza posted:I got about halfway through The Wind Through the Keyhole before I saw the other replies and the seed of doubt was sown. I noticed the bumbler could speak better than he should've (don't think that's a spoiler) and I'm afraid I'll start to notice other things. Going to move onto book 5 tonight and read 4.5 after the rest. Skin man will have to wait. The later books are still great books, they just having the feeling of "let's get this over with I want to write other things"
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2022 20:55
|
|
|
It's also a much different experience getting to read them when they're all out and you're not waiting years between sequels. I liked them all at the time but didn't have to wait and it was a good time all around.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2022 22:11
|
|
|
There's a definite shift in tone between Wizard And Glass and Wolves of the Calla. I can't quite explain it but the later books seemed like King was trying to make his writing "too clever" instead of just straight up telling the story the way books 2, 3 and 4 do.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2022 17:57
|
|
|
Kosmo Gallion posted:There's a definite shift in tone between Wizard And Glass and Wolves of the Calla. I can't quite explain it but the later books seemed like King was trying to make his writing "too clever" instead of just straight up telling the story the way books 2, 3 and 4 do. The wedging of 19 into literally every page rather than it being happenstance almost as before, if at all, didn't help
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2022 18:23
|
|
|
I was genuinely moved by Wizard and Glass. Like the emotions I felt finishing that book still stick with me. I didn't hate the rest of the series, but my distinct memory of reading Wolves is a feeling of "what the gently caress is going on now?" Anyway, I just read Misery for the first time. The ending kind of fizzles out, which I expect from reading King at this point, but drat that story had a hold on me for like 80% of it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2022 18:31
|
|
|
Kosmo Gallion posted:There's a definite shift in tone between Wizard And Glass and Wolves of the Calla. I can't quite explain it but the later books seemed like King was trying to make his writing "too clever" instead of just straight up telling the story the way books 2, 3 and 4 do. I think that may be because he was recovering from his accident. There's the obvious (and maybe serious) joke about his pain meds influencing his writing, but I also think his brush with death caused him to really self-reflect on his life, his awareness of himself as a writer, and what the Dark Tower series meant to him. I don't remember the details exactly, but in Robin Firth's Dark Tower Concordance, (spoiler-tagged for the person who hasn't gotten through the series yet) there was a very early story King wrote where a character much like Roland was aware of himself as a creation of an author, and even mentioned Stephen King in the text. It's probably arrogant to presume what King was thinking, but I can certainly see him trying to tie his very earliest work in with what he thought, at the time, would be the end of his work -- remember, he thought he was going to retire after DT7. And for that same reason, I think King wanted to really show his chops off again in a way he hadn't had to do, on account of early success, since The Stand and The Shining. The result wasn't quite the same, I think he had changed too much as writer in the intervening years, but yeah, I do see more of a "look at me" vibe in those last three books of the series. This great post by Mat Cauthon earlier this year goes into better detail about what I mean. But then he recovered from his accident and went on to write some goddamn good bangers like Under the Dome, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2022 19:32
|
|
|
It might not be in my top 5 King books/stories but Fairy Tale is up there too. It’s solid from beginning to end, with no real down points
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2022 20:25
|
|
|
11/22/63 is outstanding too.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 00:59
|
|
|
Breadallelogram posted:I was genuinely moved by Wizard and Glass. Like the emotions I felt finishing that book still stick with me. I didn't hate the rest of the series, but my distinct memory of reading Wolves is a feeling of "what the gently caress is going on now?" To me misery is one of the few books where the movie is better. It’s still a very solid book but it just kinda rambles about withdrawal for a lot of the run time, which is interesting but it doesn’t have the same click the movie does.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 13:10
|
|
|
Dapper_Swindler posted:To me misery is one of the few books where the movie is better. It’s still a very solid book but it just kinda rambles about withdrawal for a lot of the run time, which is interesting but it doesn’t have the same click the movie does. Agreed, I attempted it once and couldn't get past all the inner anguish about withdrawal. I gave up reading it because it wasn't very interesting. Plus I'd seen the film.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 13:52
|
|
|
I guess Misery kinda peters out towards the end, but I never noticed because it feels pretty deliberate, like how that kind of situation would go in real life and not a book where there’s just the crazy but not stupid lady’s resigned acceptance of death after digging herself a hole there was no way to get out of that she only puts off because of her favorite book. Is the part of the ending when Paul realizes he wants to write a kid’s book in the movie? I guess it wouldn’t hit the same without the book making it more clear that he considers himself a Serious Cultured Author but it was still touching in its own way.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 14:05
|
|
|
Last Celebration posted:I guess Misery kinda peters out towards the end, but I never noticed because it feels pretty deliberate, like how that kind of situation would go in real life and not a book where there’s just the crazy but not stupid lady’s resigned acceptance of death after digging herself a hole there was no way to get out of that she only puts off because of her favorite book. no, i doesnt believe. i didnt really mind the ending. my issue with the book was while i liked it, the pacing was kinda all over the place and it never really clicked for me.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 14:12
|
|
|
Misery: I don't remember the book that well and don't recall anything about it lingering on withdrawal symptoms? Was Paul an alcoholic in the book or something? I can see why the film might leave that out but a part of me thinks it adds another layer to the story that might be interesting.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 14:15
|
|
|
It was the (fictional) pain medication that Annie kept him on. In On Writing King mentions that Misery was the book he wrote realizing that he needed to break his addictions, so I can see how that would be on his mind.
Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Nov 16, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 14:21
|
|
|
Yeah, Paul is wracked by horrible, horrible pain because he receives mediocre first aid for his horrible crash injured legs instead of real medical attention so it’s a combination of the medicine being legitimately addictive and that trying to function without some kind of painkillers in his situation is…yeah.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 14:59
|
|
|
I thought Misery was pretty great, but it has that thing that The Body novella had too where it's got big chunks of fake book in book that I found a chore to read. Sure the movie is better, but that's not so much a statement on the book cuz it's a loving fantastic film and James Caan and Kathy Bates are so perfect. Really wish we could get a decent Apt Pupil adaptation one day. Heard the movie sucks and there's also the whole Bryan Singer thing ewww. I really loved Apt Pupil in the Dennis the Menace phase of the main character, where it's a commentary on American culture/society/Nazi fetishism/parenting/etc but it does get weaker during the adult phase where it just feels like King doing a Bret Easton Ellis thing. Punkin Spunkin fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Nov 16, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2022 20:34
|
|
|
Punkin Spunkin posted:I thought Misery was pretty great, but it has that thing that The Body novella had too where it's got big chunks of fake book in book that I found a chore to read. I really liked Apt Pupil the novella, and I thought the Apt Pupil film is good and in some ways improved upon the novella. The novella bogs down a bit and is a bit bloated in the latter part of it, and the film is more tightly edited/plotted. One thing that all the film adaptions of King lack is the extensive inner dialogue the characters have in the books. Not really possible to completely emulate, but you can capture some parts of it with clever filmmaking and visual storytelling.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 19:38
|
|
|
What does everyone think is the best King story (novel/novellla/short story or otherwise) that hasn't been adapted for film/TV? Current thread discussion reminds me that a load of the early stuff saw successful films made, but there seems to have been a point somewhere after Dreamcatcher where a King novel doesn't ultimately result in a film version. I'll be lazy and say The Jaunt, though that's definitely one for an episode on a horror anthology TV series.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 19:54
|
|
|
For my money it is The Last Rung on the Ladder. Of course The Jaunt is the obvious answer overall. On novel too? The Long Walk of course
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 20:00
|
|
|
Comedy answer: the lawnmower man
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 20:39
|
|
|
^^ Totally have to agree, the jaunt and the long walk are two stories that will be great movies.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 20:42
|
|
|
Could you get even 20 minutes of screen time out of The Jaunt though? Feels like it would be a bunch of build up and then a few seconds of Crypt Keeper-esque "Hahaha! I saw everything!" Could work with a slow build. Would love to see it in del Toro's Cabinet season 2. The Long Walk, yes.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 20:48
|
|
|
I still long for a standalone Gunslinger adaptation before he went and revised it. It's my favorite work of his and it's before he finds his style.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:02
|
|
|
Isn't the Jaunt like the #1 most filmed of Kings dollar script program?
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:04
|
|
|
It would depend how they spin it. The short story hints at some pretty incredible backstory that's begging to be built on. There would have to be some modifications to fill out two hours, but I don't think it's impossible.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:04
|
|
|
I found this on Wikipedia entry for The Jaunt. "As of January 2021, the story is due to be made into a television series for MRC by Fear The Walking Dead co-creator Dave Erickson." WTF? An entire series? https://www.space.com/stephen-king-the-jaunt-teleportation-tv-series
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:31
|
|
|
finally finished the shining again and i will say, i genuinely like the ending. i like how everyone sees through hollowing out of jack a because the hotel is a gestalt consciousness of debauched assholes who arnt that bright. they don't have any real plan outside kill the family and hope dannys power makes them stronger, hell the book basically states the hotel did it before with grady(one or both of the twins had the shine) and it didnt really make it powerful) the best it can do is hollow out drunks and make them meat puppets that yell angry poo poo about previous traumas, like i love the moment where the hotel gets confused when danny calls it out, because it legit can't understand why its not making him piss himself and beg. i love when king is able to make almost eldridge entity come off as pathetic.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:55 |
|
|
Eason the Fifth posted:It would depend how they spin it. The short story hints at some pretty incredible backstory that's begging to be built on. There would have to be some modifications to fill out two hours, but I don't think it's impossible. what if you went through the jaunt high on LSD and poo poo. i assume it wears off quick since infinity but id be curious.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 21:35
|
|