----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Pensinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 9:49 PM Subject: Stephen King
> I think King has his brilliant moments and he has his duds. Certainly > there are some books of his that I've read that were all too real - so > frightening, so close to the heart that I came away appreciating the > talent of the writer, but disliking the book because the fear was so real > it was unpleasant (I don't know if that makes any sense, but I don't know > how else to say it. If you have young children, don't read Pet Semitary. > I did when I read it and it gave me the chills. I didn't have kids of my own at the time, but I used to be the family babysitter. Pet Semitary made me cry from the sheer horror of the sons fate. > Rose Madder, if I > remember correctly, is about a battered woman and a predatory >husband. > Too real! Remember the hubby was also a racist, and the black female security person gave him a comeuppance that still makes me laugh. > > The Body and The Shawshank Redemption are two novelettes that are not >only > excellent stories, but they made excellent movies (The Body was the story > that Stand by Me was based on. The Green Mile was very good IMO. King is often superb at novella length and almost as good at short story lengths. I really wish he had more collections. > > Then he has his dogs. A number of his early works had really dumb >endings > and to me, a book with an F- ending just can't be considered very good. > Salelm's Lot I imagine I liked this one so much because it was Kings second novel and I read it without expectations. I think this one and The Shining scared me more that any other novels ever. The ending was good I thought. Quite frightening to have to run and hide for the rest of your life. >, Firestarter, The idea of Lot 6 pops into my mind at unexpected times. Not a great book, but had things in it I find hard to forget. > The Shining (which was very good up until > everything blew up, IMO) are a few examples. The Shining was ruined by Kubrik and Nicholson. Good movie, but it ruined any reading of the book. > I think Carrie I was the age Carrie was supposed to be when I read this one. It just blew me away with its frank treatment of teen cruelties. and The Dead > Zone were pretty good, and the Stand was too, but I knew half way in that > everything was going to blow up. But everything didn't blow up, just Las Vegas. About Time!!!<G> The Stand is a classic and will be popular for a long time since it is the first salvo of the Dark Tower Mythos. Trust me<G>, The Dark Tower is going to be held in the same regard as the works of Poe and Lovecraft. > > There was one forgettable book, i forget the title, that involved kids and > a scary clown and a sewer system or something under the town that of > course blew up at the end of the story, taking most of the town with it > (they made a mini series out of it I think) that was just terrible. > Stupid - threw it across the room when I finished it. IMO, of course. It! Eh? That was a pretty good one. > > So anyway, I don't think that you can dismiss King as a hack. He has his > moments, and I think some of his work will stand for a long time. Like > Dickens'. > But probably not like Shakespeare. Or even Tolkien. But probably King will be remembered for longer than most of the SciFi we read. But then one never knows. Maybe people of the future will value certain writers for reasons we would not expect. xponent The Wolves Of The Calla Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
