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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Some really excellent stories in here! My favorites were Riding the Bullet, The Man in the Black Suit, and All That You Love Will Be Carried Away.
A Stephen King short story collection that somehow I haven't already read. As with all short story collections, there are hits and misses. One thing I really liked about this collection is that Stephen King wrote a little blurb either before or after each story explaining its origin or some random thought about it. It is always interesting to me when Stephen King talks about his writing, and I always wish he did it more often.
Some thoughts on specific stories:
"Everything's Eventual" - a story about a guy who gets what seems like a dream job where anything he wants is provided for him, the only stipulation being that he has to end each week cash neutral, meaning that if he doesn't spend it, he has to throw cash in the garbage disposal or dump change down a sewer grate. And, of course, there is the matter of the dark little job that he has actually been hired to do. It is unsettling and strange and makes you think about the consequences of your actions that you can't see first hand.
"The Road Virus Heads North" - This was my favorite story in the collection. It starts with a really cliched premise about a painting that moves/comes to life. But Stephen King somehow makes it feel not cliched and completely terrifying. He is so good at building tension and dread. The story really never gets that bloody, but, man oh man, I felt thoroughly creeped out the whole time.
"Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" - I didn't really love this story, but I loved that its origin was Stephen King walking past a cafe and seeing the maitre d' wink at him. And that little moment inspired this story that is so crazily gory and bloody and frenzied. I guess inspiration can come from anywhere.
"That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French" - This one is, of course, about deja vu and it left me so disoriented and queasy because it was just so surreal and real at the same time. It is one of those stories where you figure out what is happening bit by bit as it goes along, and you get gradually more and more panicked about it. Good stuff.
"1408" - This is a story about a writer who goes to spend a night in a haunted hotel room. He is a complete skeptic until he gets to the room and then pretty quickly comes to realize that he should have been A LOT more nervous about this whole experience. The guy is only actually in the room for a few pages in the story, but the way Stephen King describes it made me feel so uneasy and nervous and sick to my stomach. I don't know how he does it, but the images he chooses are just so disturbing and weird and make you want to scream at everyone in the story to just RUN!!
Some thoughts on specific stories:
"Everything's Eventual" - a story about a guy who gets what seems like a dream job where anything he wants is provided for him, the only stipulation being that he has to end each week cash neutral, meaning that if he doesn't spend it, he has to throw cash in the garbage disposal or dump change down a sewer grate. And, of course, there is the matter of the dark little job that he has actually been hired to do. It is unsettling and strange and makes you think about the consequences of your actions that you can't see first hand.
"The Road Virus Heads North" - This was my favorite story in the collection. It starts with a really cliched premise about a painting that moves/comes to life. But Stephen King somehow makes it feel not cliched and completely terrifying. He is so good at building tension and dread. The story really never gets that bloody, but, man oh man, I felt thoroughly creeped out the whole time.
"Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" - I didn't really love this story, but I loved that its origin was Stephen King walking past a cafe and seeing the maitre d' wink at him. And that little moment inspired this story that is so crazily gory and bloody and frenzied. I guess inspiration can come from anywhere.
"That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French" - This one is, of course, about deja vu and it left me so disoriented and queasy because it was just so surreal and real at the same time. It is one of those stories where you figure out what is happening bit by bit as it goes along, and you get gradually more and more panicked about it. Good stuff.
"1408" - This is a story about a writer who goes to spend a night in a haunted hotel room. He is a complete skeptic until he gets to the room and then pretty quickly comes to realize that he should have been A LOT more nervous about this whole experience. The guy is only actually in the room for a few pages in the story, but the way Stephen King describes it made me feel so uneasy and nervous and sick to my stomach. I don't know how he does it, but the images he chooses are just so disturbing and weird and make you want to scream at everyone in the story to just RUN!!
Long Journey to the Dark Tower–Stop 15: Everything's Eventual
3 Stars
A very mixed bag for me. I feel like this is on the weaker end of King collections with a few highlights. The Dark Tower stuff is decent enough. It’s interesting that the two that were published well after his accident are the two I liked the most.
3 Stars
A very mixed bag for me. I feel like this is on the weaker end of King collections with a few highlights. The Dark Tower stuff is decent enough. It’s interesting that the two that were published well after his accident are the two I liked the most.
I probably would have given this 3 stars, but "1408" is a full 5 stars all on its own, and one of my favorite things King's ever written. "Riding the Bullet" is quite good as well, and the way it unfolded really surprised me.
The stories earlier in the collection run from "solid" to "frustrating" and even just after finishing the book I have a hard time recalling any clear standouts. I enjoyed "The Little Sisters of Eluria" well enough, and I thought "The Man in the Black Suit" was genuinely eerie (if a little anticlimactic). "Everything's Eventual" struck me as a little weird in its conception (the use of "trannies" as a catchall term for people with similar abilities to the main character here struck me as something that's aged especially poorly, even if it wasn't done with malicious intentions), but it at least built to a fairly satisfying conclusion.
"The Road Virus Heads North" and "Autopsy Room 4" were both fine, and infinitely superior to their TV adaptations in the "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" miniseries (the former also reminded me a lot of the pilot episode of "Night Gallery" which was nice).
But "1408" is just, like, a stone cold chiller the likes of which I don't think I've encountered from King's work in a long time. It's easy to see why he was so interested in finishing the story after starting it (it's got a hell of a framing device, especially for an audio book - which is how it was initially released), and it really just knocked me for a loop. I remember enjoying the film adaptation, and I'm pretty anxious to give it a revisit soon.
The stories earlier in the collection run from "solid" to "frustrating" and even just after finishing the book I have a hard time recalling any clear standouts. I enjoyed "The Little Sisters of Eluria" well enough, and I thought "The Man in the Black Suit" was genuinely eerie (if a little anticlimactic). "Everything's Eventual" struck me as a little weird in its conception (the use of "trannies" as a catchall term for people with similar abilities to the main character here struck me as something that's aged especially poorly, even if it wasn't done with malicious intentions), but it at least built to a fairly satisfying conclusion.
"The Road Virus Heads North" and "Autopsy Room 4" were both fine, and infinitely superior to their TV adaptations in the "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" miniseries (the former also reminded me a lot of the pilot episode of "Night Gallery" which was nice).
But "1408" is just, like, a stone cold chiller the likes of which I don't think I've encountered from King's work in a long time. It's easy to see why he was so interested in finishing the story after starting it (it's got a hell of a framing device, especially for an audio book - which is how it was initially released), and it really just knocked me for a loop. I remember enjoying the film adaptation, and I'm pretty anxious to give it a revisit soon.
Sometimes I forget about Stephen King’s short story skillz. But after every mini-slice of King, I am happy and amazed. Happy and amazed, y’all. And sometimes disturbed.
So, what drew me to this collection of short stories is the Dark Tower related Sisters of Eluria, which was pretty good. In the end, I really liked Autopsy Room 4,The Man in the Black Suit, All that You Love Will Be Carried Away,Everything's Eventual(which was weird but interesting),The Road Virus Heads North(which is one of the better stories),Lunch At the Gotham Cafe and even at this point, I'm on the fence about Luckey Quarter. I wasn't that crazy about The Death of Jack Hamilton, In The Deathroom,L.T.'s Theory Of Pets or 1408, of which I think wasn't enough of. Overall, a pretty good collection.
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
I loved this compilation of short stories. It was a very good mix of scary tales and thought provoking endings.
I loved this compilation of short stories. It was a very good mix of scary tales and thought provoking endings.