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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
I’m kind of in the middle with this one, I thoroughly enjoyed some parts and other parts left me feeling quite bored. One of the things I enjoyed the most is that it felt like King was sitting in my living room and we were just chatting and sharing opinions. It’s like he was talking directly to the reader and it was great. I also really enjoyed the sections on horror books and movies but the sections on radio and television just didn’t capture my attention in the same way. This is definitely a must read for horror fans, although beware of spoilers! I’d also REALLY love to see an updated version of this book but featuring horror from the 90s on!
It's weird looking back at a guy forty years ago and seeing how much they've changed. But but with regards to horror. (Granted, the list of best of may be a little more up to date.) But I enjoyed it and I now have a shit ton to read.
King (in this book) describes another author's work as halfway riveting and halfway an "uphill push" which is more or less exactly how I'd describe this.
I think the biggest problem with the book is that it's a work of analysis on a genre that still hadn't seen some of it's greatest works to date. I think the author and the publisher should have waited until 2000 and had a much more complete review of horror before the 21st century.
King has a lot of interesting thoughts but they are mired in 41 year old takes (and huge air balls on predictions of where fiction will go) with a lot of "here let me recap in detail these works of fiction you haven't seen yet."
The result was me skimming this book heavily. If I hadn't been assigned an analysis of the work for class, I probably would have put it down and never picked it up again.
I think the biggest problem with the book is that it's a work of analysis on a genre that still hadn't seen some of it's greatest works to date. I think the author and the publisher should have waited until 2000 and had a much more complete review of horror before the 21st century.
King has a lot of interesting thoughts but they are mired in 41 year old takes (and huge air balls on predictions of where fiction will go) with a lot of "here let me recap in detail these works of fiction you haven't seen yet."
The result was me skimming this book heavily. If I hadn't been assigned an analysis of the work for class, I probably would have put it down and never picked it up again.
There's some great stuff here, although I do find it a bit obnoxious that he will complain about "university professors analyzing something to death" and then proceeds to do the same thing.
That said, a lot can be learned about the art form in these pages.
That said, a lot can be learned about the art form in these pages.
For work reasons it took me waaaay too long to read this and so it started to feel like a chore towards the end. Either that or the content sort of dried up which I'm thinking it did a bit (we didn't need full synopses of classic horror books, Mr. King) but anyway the first half was very enjoyable. Only read if you're interested in the horror genre during its golden age.
I liked the section on horror films a lot, but the part on books was a bit of a let down. I skipped a lot because I hadn’t read some of the books and King basically just repeats the plot, so for ones I had read it became a little dull.
A fun little non-fiction book by King written fairly early in his career. There's a certain novelty to hear young Stephen's thoughts about horror, written as he was still working on [b:Pet Sematary|33124137|Pet Sematary|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480069533s/33124137.jpg|150017], and well before his best string of books (such as [b:It|830502|It|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1334416842s/830502.jpg|150259], [b:Misery|10614|Misery|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1270545451s/10614.jpg|3230869], and so forth). The section on horror movies is almost quaint, since it focuses on horror movies of the 50s, 60s and 70s. One wishes for a sequel where we hear his thoughts on the 80s golden age of horror shlock cinema (largely thanks to the popularity of his own work!). It's weird to think this was written before even the first Nightmare on Elm Street was released.
The re-release contains a new introduction by King where he talks about more recent movies (mostly lavishing praise on The Blair Witch Project), which brings it more up to date, although even that section is already dated.
This is a good read if you're a King completest, or fan of the genre, but it's not what I would call essential reading. His insights are good, but they're more geared for fellow fans than anything else.
The re-release contains a new introduction by King where he talks about more recent movies (mostly lavishing praise on The Blair Witch Project), which brings it more up to date, although even that section is already dated.
This is a good read if you're a King completest, or fan of the genre, but it's not what I would call essential reading. His insights are good, but they're more geared for fellow fans than anything else.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I have a really hard time connecting to non-fiction books that are before my time. While this is no exception, I still enjoyed what I could relate to. I skipped a few pages here and there on books I haven’t read yet/movies I haven’t seen yet. I would love to see another one of these from King for movies/books from 1981 onward.
I am unfamiliar with many of the works King references and explores, but I still found his thoughts on the horror genre intriguing. I also added a few titles to my lists. I am not sure there is anything earth shattering in these essays, but the way King writes is like sitting with an old friend.