Reviews

Everything's Eventual by Stephen King

booksinthedark's review

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5.0

It’s a 4.5 stars. Really enjoyed many of the short stories in this one!

nora42's review

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dark medium-paced

4.5

megadeathvsbooks's review

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4.0

I read this for the two stories connected to The Dark Tower series. But I found myself enjoying the whole collection immensely, despite my usual tendency to avoid short stories.

just_jack's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

aperoll91's review

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I broke up with my partner and it was his dad's book lol

magyklyxdelish's review against another edition

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4.0

I adore short story collections and this one is no exception. It’s has heart, humor and horror. The scariest one for me was “The Road Virus Heads North” but my favorite was “Riding the Bullet” which made me very emotional. Solid collection from a master of his craft.

maripuu's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition

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5.0

Stephen King's short stories are always scarier to me than his novels. He leaves just enough unsaid for my imagination to take over and then I'm jumpy for days.

kitsuneheart's review

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5.0

A fantastical and uplifting story. A hotel maid finds a single quarter in the tip envelope, marked "luckey quarter." She decides to throw it away on a slot machine....and it wins. So she takes her winning to the roulette table...and wins again. And again. And again. By the end of the story, we're expecting hubris to be her downfall, as she bets it all...but then she wakes from her daydream. Everything looks bleak in her life as she hands the quarter over to her son...until he puts it in a slot machine...and it wins.

A definite departure from the King we expect. It's got his same tone of voice, but it's so nice to see a story in a collection which leaves the main character in a better place than when they started. We can only hope that she lets it ride.

Merged review:

GYAH. It's a good thing I'm on anti-anxiety meds, cause I can guarantee this story would have given me some issues before I was properly drugged.

A husband and wife are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a second honeymoon, when an atom bomb goes off. The wife wakes to find herself back on the plane, about to land, and begins to experience deja vu with every thing that happens, leading up to the bomb. It's all connected back to her childhood Catholicism, and the warnings given to her about an eternity in Hell.

I see that there's mediocre reviews for this story, and that's likely because of a general crudity. King adds in more and more about the couple's rocky marriage and various flaws, which can get tedious. But this story hit just the right buttons for me.

Merged review:

Most of us only recognize Stephen King for his horror (and perhaps a bit of sci-fi), but this story proves that he can do a bit of old-fashioned pulp fiction. Set during the heyday of car chases and bank robberies, we begin with a robbery gone wrong, the police hot on the trail of a gang, and one of their members, the titular Jack Hamilton, shot. From the title, we of course know that death will feature, but King brings in a little bit of his horror as he describes the slow, painful end of Hamilton. We're given a moment of "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" style whimsy near the end, before reaching the wrenching conclusion of both the tale and Jack Hamilton's life.

Fun and immersive, a good short story for a calm day when you don't need quite the full dose of King's horror expertise.

Merged review:

We're all looking for an easy out. Dinky has found it. After years struggling as a pizza delivery boy, he's got a job that covers his room and board, car, and an extra $70 a week. All he has to do is help the forces of good to eliminate the most evil people in the world.

But this is a Stephen King story, so....

The idea of the story--that there exists a select number of individuals with special powers, and organizations which seek to hone and direct those powers--is somewhat interesting, but the standard plot twist (oh no, I'm working for the enemy!) is so expected that it ruined this story for me.

Merged review:

A good selection for whatever you're going for. And it's a popular enough book that there's a very good chance the audiobook is in stock at your library, which includes King himself narrating "L.T.'s Theory of Pets," a simultaneously funny and depressing story about what happens when you add cantankerous animals to an otherwise happy marriage.

This volume also contains a prequel story to the Dark Tower series, and is so a must for any DT fan.

My favorite in this collection is "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," in which an unhappily married woman faces her death over and over again as she begins to realize she's spending her eternity in hell.

As old as this book is, don't go out for a new volume, but if you find this at a used bookstore, it's a nice addiction to a home library.

sirsquax's review

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3.0

1) 3,5 /5
2) 3 /5
3) 2,5 /5
4) 3/5
5) 3/5
6) 3/5
7) 3,5/5
8) 3/5
9) 3/5
10) 3,5 /5
11) 3/ 5
12) 4/5
13) 4/5
14) 2,5/5