Stephen King

[IDOL]

How does everyone feel about Stephen King and his novels? For me personally, I think he can build a story well when he wants to, but when it comes to the big reveal/resolution it’s almost always a let down or laughably bad.

I think he’s one of the few authors I’d rather see the film adaptation over reading his book. Just the sheer size of IT made me say nope, I think it would be a less daunting task to read the entire New Testament! Stand By Me, Carrie, Shawshank Redemption and It were all such enjoyable films that I’ve never sought out the novels.

Then there’s books that were so uninteresting to read like The Gunslinger and a book about aliens that I can’t even remember the name of.

I read the entirety of Revival, one of his newer novels and it had great themes on religion, existentialism, traumatic life events, and substance abuse, but holy hell the big reveal was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read:

Spoiler

After death, the afterlife consists of eternal enslavement at the hands (legs?) of giant ant masters. GIANT. FUCKING. ANTS. 

 Am I alone in feeling like I’m probably going to steer clear of his stuff in the future?

[Your Mom]

I'll almost always watch the movies but not much interest in reading any of it

[Moses Julep]

I like Stephen King a lot, but only for his non horror novels. The Stand is fantastic, 11/22/63 was awesome and the Mr. Mercedes trilogy was pretty cool. I can't really bothered with his pure horror books, they're not really for me but when it comes to his crime fiction or otherwise I'm always guaranteed to be entertained at the very least. 

[Gabriel]

Tommyknockers, The Green Mile and IT were all fantastic reads. I've been meaning to read Pet Sematary, but still haven't. I find with his stuff, a lot of the time I'm reading along and it feels like a slog because he seems to absolutely hate the idea of "less is more". I find he over-explains or over-details things that really don't need it, which can make it tough to get through his novels.

I feel like Stephen King's stories make for fantastic films because they're adapted in a way that usually eliminates the fluff.

The alien one you were thinking of is Dreamcatcher, which I actually quite enjoyed as a film. Never read the story, but I found the film to be pretty good. Definitely nowhere near the best Stephen King movie, but I liked it a lot.

And for the record, for people who haven't caught it yet, the series Castle Rock is probably one of my favorite uses of his lore... and while The Mist series was disappointing as hell, the film is still one of my favorite Lovecraft-inspired movies.

EDIT: In regards to horror writers, King definitely deserves the acclaim that he gets, but I personally believe that Clive Barker is far superior.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Gabriel

[Meacon Keaton]

I’ve read pretty much everything he’s written as himself and Richard Bachman, but I’m with Moses. His non-horror stuff like The Stand and 11/22/63 is his best stuff.

[Liam]

1 hour ago, iDOL said:

How does everyone feel about Stephen King and his novels? For me personally, I think he can build a story well when he wants to, but when it comes to the big reveal/resolution it’s almost always a let down or laughably bad.

I think he’s one of the few authors I’d rather see the film adaptation over reading his book. Just the sheer size of IT made me say nope, I think it would be a less daunting task to read the entire New Testament! Stand By Me, Carrie, Shawshank Redemption and It were all such enjoyable films that I’ve never sought out the novels.

Then there’s books that were so uninteresting to read like The Gunslinger and a book about aliens that I can’t even remember the name of.

I read the entirety of Revival, one of his newer novels and it had great themes on religion, existentialism, traumatic life events, and substance abuse, but holy hell the big reveal was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read:

  Reveal hidden contents

After death, the afterlife consists of eternal enslavement at the hands (legs?) of giant ant masters. GIANT. FUCKING. ANTS. 

 Am I alone in feeling like I’m probably going to steer clear of his stuff in the future?

Dreamcatcher?

[Kaney]

I've had middling experiences with his stuff. It was good, but long, The Gunslinger was a bit of a drudge to get through but I'm glad I stuck with it cos I'm about halfway through the Dark Tower series and enjoying it so far. Mr Mercedes was dreadful in my opinion, I didn't know there was a series but I'd stay well clear. It had a really intriguing premise I thought but the villain was terrible and I don't even remember how it was resolved.

I think hes definitely worth reading, but I would read Misery, or The Shining, something I know has had good reviews before I'd go with something I hadn't heard about previously, like Mr Mercedes.

[IDOL]

2 hours ago, Liam said:

Dreamcatcher?

Yes, that’s it.

[Liam]

2 minutes ago, iDOL said:

Yes, that’s it.

Yeah, it's shit.

[GhostMachine]

Love a lot of his work, but the Dark Tower/Gunslinger series is too friggin' long. 

Haven't cared for most tv adaptations of his work. though. The Stand is the best (one of the best adaptations of his work, period, actually), and the original version of It are the only two I really liked. The Langoliers was passable.

 

[Lint]

6 hours ago, Moses Julep said:

I like Stephen King a lot, but only for his non horror novels. The Stand is fantastic, 11/22/63 was awesome and the Mr. Mercedes trilogy was pretty cool. I can't really bothered with his pure horror books, they're not really for me but when it comes to his crime fiction or otherwise I'm always guaranteed to be entertained at the very least. 

What where the other books in the Mercedes trilogy?  I read the first one and loved it.

Also, not sure of its title, but it was the one set in the amusement park.  Joyland I think it was?  Thought that was great.  Also really enjoy The Colorado Kid, its just short enough I can get through it fairly quickly, but I've read it multiple times

[Moses Julep]

37 minutes ago, Lint said:

What where the other books in the Mercedes trilogy?  I read the first one and loved it.

Also, not sure of its title, but it was the one set in the amusement park.  Joyland I think it was?  Thought that was great.  Also really enjoy The Colorado Kid, its just short enough I can get through it fairly quickly, but I've read it multiple times

Finders Keepers, which was my favourite of the lot, and End of Watch, which was my least favourite of the lot.

I'm actually interested in reading his newest (The Outsider) because it's another crime fiction and it's gotten pretty awesome reviews.

[Meacon Keaton]

Oh, I haven't read it in years, but I loved The Long Walk, which he wrote as Bachman. It was fairly short for a King book. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

One of my favorite authors, partially out of a sense of nostalgia. One of the first "big boy" (>_>) novels I can remember reading is Cujo, and after that I read It. I must've been about 13 or 14 at the time. For a while I had read every King & Bachman book and checked out every new book of his at the library regardless of genre, but I haven't done that in a few years now so I'm behind on a lot books. Loved the Dark Tower, thought it ended like shit though.

One of my favorites is Danse Macabre, his 1981 nonfiction book about writing and horror fiction. Really interesting read. Only 400 pages too.

[9 to 5]

9 hours ago, Meacon said:

Oh, I haven't read it in years, but I loved The Long Walk, which he wrote as Bachman. It was fairly short for a King book. 

The Long Walk is excellent and so overlooked.

[TCO]

I don't really like most of Stephen King's work but 11/22/63 is probably my favourite book ever. It's also very unlike his typical work so that probably explains it. Love it from start to finish and the world he created was so vivid!

[Meacon Keaton]

17 minutes ago, TCO said:

I don't really like most of Stephen King's work but 11/22/63 is probably my favourite book ever. It's also very unlike his typical work so that probably explains it. Love it from start to finish and the world he created was so vivid!

The Stand was always my favorite but 11/22/63 is darn close to overtaking it. I’ve only read it once, so it may surpass it on a second reading.

[Maxx]

His son is better

[TCO]

54 minutes ago, Meacon said:

The Stand was always my favorite but 11/22/63 is darn close to overtaking it. I’ve only read it once, so it may surpass it on a second reading.

Give the audiobook a chance if you're into those. It might be the best book I've read but it's 100% the best audio book I've listened to!

[I Don't Mind]

In terms of movies, The Shining is an obvious masterpiece although it holds very little semblance to the book I've heard. I liked the original It but hated the ending, and the remake is amazing. I refuse to read It having heard about the preteen gangbang that seems pretty grossly self-indulgent.

I tried reading The Gunslinger and was pretty bored, and Cell killed my interest within the first few pages. I don't like the way he writes dialogue, really. The characters always feel like tropes rather than people.

Joe Hill is definitely better, as Heart Shaped Box and NOS4A2 are some of my favorite modern books. Horns was good too, but I got a little squeamish surrounding the sexual content