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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
For the most part, great book, but at least 200 pages too long
One of the absolute strangest and, at times, grossest, books I've read.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
It started off really interesting, with hints to things coming in later on in the book, but then the author kept adding and adding useless scenes and dragging on other scenes for far too long that it became useless to keep going. I kept reading just to figure out the ending, but even then I got super confused, so I wouldn't recommend it.
This is a weird book, but I liked it. It felt, on a much smaller scale, in a similar vane to It with the strength of a group of friends overpowering an evil entity. Recommend.
First I thought this will only be 3 stars until I realised what a masterpiece I am currently reading. Absolutely epic ride!!
Up to where I stopped, it was a 3. The military jargon and similarities to The Stand (ie. the government trying to contain a virus or some type of pathogen spread) turned me off. I wasn't into it this time around but I might try to read it again.
This is the single largest example of a writer I have enjoyed for decades, Stephen King, suffering from Stephen King-atosis. This is insufferably long, bloated, and empty. The four confusing main characters—Jonsey, Pete, Beaver, and Henry, were all the same to me. I could never tell one from the other (even though I had over 600 pages to practice).
The story surrounding the boy with Down Syndrome, Duddits, offered a glimmer of hope at the beginning of the tale, but that soon fizzled; and even though it was supposed to tie the whole story together at the end, along with the title, did not. The insane army officer, Colonel Kurtz, is compared to Colonel Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, but it actually a copy of Colonel Killgore from Apocalypse Now.
I know the story of how this was written while King was recovering from his own accident, but this was really his own personal “something-to-do” while recovering, and it should never have been published in this form.
As a credit to King, there were some excellent pieces of storytelling, but I think he knew it was a lower-tier story when he resorted to the farting and the creatures who ate their way out of bodies. I think it was in Danse Macabre where King, himself, wrote that if you can’t get them with good storytelling, go for the gross out.
I do not believe I’ve ever rated a Stephen King novel this low, but according to my own scale, this is a very solid 2.
My review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it and wasted my time or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, and I’ll think about it again”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”
The story surrounding the boy with Down Syndrome, Duddits, offered a glimmer of hope at the beginning of the tale, but that soon fizzled; and even though it was supposed to tie the whole story together at the end, along with the title, did not. The insane army officer, Colonel Kurtz, is compared to Colonel Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, but it actually a copy of Colonel Killgore from Apocalypse Now.
I know the story of how this was written while King was recovering from his own accident, but this was really his own personal “something-to-do” while recovering, and it should never have been published in this form.
As a credit to King, there were some excellent pieces of storytelling, but I think he knew it was a lower-tier story when he resorted to the farting and the creatures who ate their way out of bodies. I think it was in Danse Macabre where King, himself, wrote that if you can’t get them with good storytelling, go for the gross out.
I do not believe I’ve ever rated a Stephen King novel this low, but according to my own scale, this is a very solid 2.
My review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it and wasted my time or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, and I’ll think about it again”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”