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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I saw a lot of similarities between this book & "It" but I think I liked this one more. Like "It" and several other of King's novels; the story follows several childhood friends' adventures both in the present day as well as through flashbacks to their childhood. I liked the "mystery" of the bizarre events that occur toward the beginning of the book and it had me enthralled throughout. I actually liked this book much more than I expected to and only read it AFTER I had seen the movie version (something I usually never do). By the way, the movie version was actually very good and stayed fairly true to King's story. I'd recommend both.
The start isn't actually that bad. Then, there's an interminable car chase and a mediocre ending. Pain meds are a hell of a thing.
this was too long, the premise was uninteresting, and the action so absolutely snail-paced that i barely finished. he's lucky i love him so i can forgive him these trespasses.
SPOILERS
Three things I remember about this book: 1) Farts are funny until there's an alien up your ass 2) I've never felt so much suspense in a scene where a toilet is involved 3) Cried, cried over Dudley. The Scooby Doo song now makes me sad.
Three things I remember about this book: 1) Farts are funny until there's an alien up your ass 2) I've never felt so much suspense in a scene where a toilet is involved 3) Cried, cried over Dudley. The Scooby Doo song now makes me sad.
not my favorite king book but still not a good one to finish before bed
I started reading this when it first came out, which would mark it as one of my first experiences with *anything* by King, and it's maybe, uh, not the best starting point for anyone diving into his body of work (which probably explains why I didn't finish it at the time). This honestly feels like a rough draft at times, and - if not for how clearly it seems to be informed by the circumstances of his accident - one could make a decent case that this was just hauled out of a drawer and released against King's better judgment (something Mike Noonan actually does in "Bag of Bones," oddly enough).
The premise is still appealing enough to me that I can hang with some of the most obnoxious characters King's ever created for a while (Kurtz being the chief offender here even though there's plenty of ignominy to go around), and the clear-eyed horror of the human body in revolt makes for some of the most personal and revealing writing of King's career (even as it results in something as howlingly unfilmable as the "shit weasels"). Considering he originally wanted to call the book "Cancer" (a better but obviously less-marketable title), it's easy to see where his mind was at in the wake of the horrific car accident that left him laid up in a hospital on painkillers writing freehand.
Honestly, the movie is an improvement on a lot of what's going on in the book, which is kind of an insane thing to realize. It's still not good, of course, but William Goldman sure as shit did his best to find something salvageable here.
The premise is still appealing enough to me that I can hang with some of the most obnoxious characters King's ever created for a while (Kurtz being the chief offender here even though there's plenty of ignominy to go around), and the clear-eyed horror of the human body in revolt makes for some of the most personal and revealing writing of King's career (even as it results in something as howlingly unfilmable as the "shit weasels"). Considering he originally wanted to call the book "Cancer" (a better but obviously less-marketable title), it's easy to see where his mind was at in the wake of the horrific car accident that left him laid up in a hospital on painkillers writing freehand.
Honestly, the movie is an improvement on a lot of what's going on in the book, which is kind of an insane thing to realize. It's still not good, of course, but William Goldman sure as shit did his best to find something salvageable here.
Weird. This being my first Stephen King read, I had no idea he was into aliens...
I know the reviews on this one are mixed, but this is truly one of my favorite novels. There is something so scary about the combination of alien invasion and deadly disease, and the way it ties into destiny (or maybe ka!) is really remarkable. The characters are all very likeable despite their flaws, and in true King fashion their bonds are deep and enviable. Truly one of my favorites.
Four boys befriend a special needs boy Duddits after preventing him from being bullied. Duddits has strange ability where he can read people's minds and see psychic traces. This ability is shared with the other four boys. Years later, on their annual hunting trip, the group gets caught up in an alien invasion. Yep, this just keeps getting weirder. These aliens are basically body snatchers and take over a human via spores. This definitely wasn't one of Stephen King's best. He even admits that himself, saying that he wrote it under the influence of oxycontin. I personally thought that there was too much going on with this novel. Telepathy and an alien invasion? It's a weird mix.