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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
My least favorite of King's Richard Bachman experiment, but I still found it a little better than its reputation. It's no surprise at all that this is the one that led to the pseudonym being revealed — it's so obviously his voice and his favorite settings and character types.
Enjoyable. I'm sure things related to weight loss were fascinating to me as a teenager because I was constantly fasting or on a diet.
SO MANY racial slurs. A distracting amount of racial slurs. Joe Mantegna narrating slurs about Italian people was painful.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
nunca había leído Stephen King y me he atrevido con este. me he equivocado.
no he podido leerlo, me parece súper repetitivo.
0 estrellas
no he podido leerlo, me parece súper repetitivo.
0 estrellas
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thinner is one of the most well-known novels of Bachman-era Stephen King, and for good reason. Any fan of King's work would absolutely be able to tell that this was his writing; the descriptive style of character traits, grotesque imagery, and unnecessary personal details match King's previous works easily. My favorite parts were when King built the tension with the gross, terrifying reveals of both what happened to Taduz Lemke's other victims and what Ginelli did to "scare" the gypsyies. The ending is also quite the dark, gut punch for anyone who was expecting the truly happy ending the writing seemed like it was setting up. My only true criticism of the novel is how I feel it drags in the middle between when Halleck leaves home and tracks down Lemke and his family. I feel too much time was spent on this portion of the novel, though it did help the reader understand the trails and frustrations Billy went through to track them down. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who's a big fan of Stephen King's writing style, or wanting a very clever and detailed horror story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide
Minor: Terminal illness
Death: Many characters die via suicide or murder by the hands of the Romanian group. Two of the main characters relatives are fed a poisoned pie and cursed, causing them to die.
Eating disorder: There are many descriptions of eating and overeating many unhealthy foods in exceptional detail
Murder: Refer back to the Death section.
Racial slurs: Depending on how you see it, many uses of the word "gypsy" in referring to the Romanian people could be considered derogatory.
Violence: A woman is beaten and threatened. A couple characters are murdered in brutal ways, with words carved/drawn on them in blood. A couple uses of a slingshot with ball-bearings used to harm in brutal ways.
Body horror: Other than the main character consistently losing weight intensely, one character essentially starts slowly turning into an alligator and another character is covered from head to toe in large pimples, with details shared about popping them. One character has leprosy of sorts and many detailed descriptions of his nose falling/rotting off are included.
Animal death A pen full of dogs is fed poisoned steak and most, if not all, of them die. It's not focused on very much, but is an important plot point.
Suicide: Two characters commit suicide during the events of the novel. This isn't focused on very frequently. At the end of the novel, the main character does an action that he willingly knows will end in his death.
Terminal illness: It's mentioned in one chapter near the end of the book that a character is dying of terminal cancer.
A pretty solid book by Mr. King and one I'd include in the "one of the good ones" pile. My main complaint is that the beginning of the book repeats itself quite a bit. While Billy is obsessively checking the scales and tracking his weight loss, he mulls over the "tit-grabbing" judge that dismissed his case, the Gypsy uttering the one-word curse, and talks about how much he can eat while still losing weight. We get most of these details in the first couple of chapters, but they continue to be at the forefront of his mind for about half of the book.
Once Billy starts to accept the curse and take action, the book picks up quite a bit. And the ending is satisfying; which is not always a given for Mr. King.
Once Billy starts to accept the curse and take action, the book picks up quite a bit. And the ending is satisfying; which is not always a given for Mr. King.
Loved the first half and the last 5%. The rest was super slow. I had a hard time picking it back up.
The ending made reading it worth it, though. Damn.
The ending made reading it worth it, though. Damn.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting concept, god Billy really hates his wife.