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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I don't know why I'm still surprised by how good Stephen King's books are. You'd think I'd have figured out that they're always going to be good after the first half dozen books.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not one of King's better books. Scary - yes. But his infantalized character with Downs syndrome was quite disappointing.
I was with him until the Aliens showed up... as usual!
The book doesn't seem to get anywhere and feels like an headache.
Long and convoluted. It’s an interesting idea though. King isn’t a fan of this work either.
The first part (of three) of the book is slow going, though the character development is at the high King standard. It’s hard to get over the silliness of the farting gags and to take the story seriously. But it gets much more interesting and less goofy after that.
There is a strong sense of IT here, with the ka-tet of Derry kids who do something important and then stay in touch (there is even brief mention of Pennywise). But there is definitely also some Tommyknockers, with the weird alien beings. Speaking of aliens, there is also clear reference to the movie Alien, so clear that King just comes and says it several times. Ditto with Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now and the name Kurtz. There is even a reference to the Mile 81 rest top in Maine (p. 746), though that short story wouldn’t be published for ten years.
Part two is sci fi, while part three becomes more thriller as everything crystallizes. There is still some silliness, especially as an alien tries to figure our human life, but it’s much better than the endless farting. That actually has a strong Men in Black vibe, a movie that came out just four years prior.
King famously wrote this while on the painkillers he took after getting hit by a car, and some of it is really trippy.
I was not expecting two main characters to die so abruptly. That definitely surprised me, and it worked for the story.
For a guy with three kids, Jonesy thinks about them remarkably seldom.
I didn’t actually understand how the alien’s plan would work, given that the shit weasels don’t like cold and the water would be extremely cold when it was dumped in.
There is a strong sense of IT here, with the ka-tet of Derry kids who do something important and then stay in touch (there is even brief mention of Pennywise). But there is definitely also some Tommyknockers, with the weird alien beings. Speaking of aliens, there is also clear reference to the movie Alien, so clear that King just comes and says it several times. Ditto with Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now and the name Kurtz. There is even a reference to the Mile 81 rest top in Maine (p. 746), though that short story wouldn’t be published for ten years.
Part two is sci fi, while part three becomes more thriller as everything crystallizes. There is still some silliness, especially as an alien tries to figure our human life, but it’s much better than the endless farting. That actually has a strong Men in Black vibe, a movie that came out just four years prior.
King famously wrote this while on the painkillers he took after getting hit by a car, and some of it is really trippy.
Spoiler
I was not expecting two main characters to die so abruptly. That definitely surprised me, and it worked for the story.
For a guy with three kids, Jonesy thinks about them remarkably seldom.
I didn’t actually understand how the alien’s plan would work, given that the shit weasels don’t like cold and the water would be extremely cold when it was dumped in.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. He's a master at building dread and panic. Although this isn't one of King's best (I read his masterpieces back when the dinosaurs still roamed), it is one of my more, er, 'recent' King favorites.