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laurav 's review for:
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
by Stephen King
Overall: 3.5 to a 4. I liked enough of the stories to round it up to a 4. The individual story ratings and my thoughts are as follows:
1. Dolan’s Cadillac – (4/5) good story of revenge; draggy in the middle, but overall a good story
2. The End of the Whole Mess – (3/5) good concept, but boring in the beginning (all about how genius his brother is) and depressing in the end
3. Suffer the Little Children – (4/5) I’d totally love a whole book about what those kids are! Definitely creepy.
4. The Night Flier – (4/5) Loved it, the main character was a dick though so I was kind of hoping he’d be eaten in the end.
5. Popsy - (4/5) – Kind of a companion to the Night Flier. Fun and creepy.
6. It Grows On You – (3/5) So-so story. Didn’t love it didn’t hate it.
7. Chattery Teeth – (4/5) Nice and creepy with a twist. Classic Stephen King.
8. Dedication – (3/5) kind of a weird one, but pretty good
9. The Moving Finger – (5/5) I remember watching a TV show or something based on this and it gave me nightmares. The story is really good and I love the ending.
10. Sneakers – (4/5) a good story but an anticlimactic end
11. You Know They Got a Hell of a Band – N/A couldn’t get into it so I DNF
12. Home Delivery – (4/5) pretty good story; resilient heroine which is always nice
13. Rainy Season – (4/5) nice and creepy but…toads seemed a little odd to me
14. My Pretty Pony – (3/5) okay but got draggy for me; kind of felt like I missed the point so maybe I’m just not getting the message?
15. Sorry, Right Number – (3/5) love the concept; less thrilled about the screenplay style
16. The Ten O’Clock People – (5/5) kind of reminded me of that movie where the dude can see the aliens when he wears special glasses and stuff? I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me but yes, it is a good story and I liked it a lot
17. Crouch End – (4/5) maybe more of a 3.5 but I like it enough to round up; very Lovecraftian story; some nice creepy moments; little draggy when it’s at the police station; ending felt a tad rushed and more of an “okay here’s how everyone winds up”
18. The House on Maple Street – (5/5) Probably my favorite out of the whole book; love that he got the idea from the Chris Van Allsburg book because I remember LOVING that as a kid and making up all kinds of stories for the pictures!
19. The Fifth Quarter – (3/5) so-so; not bad but not great; no real opinion tbh
20. The Doctor’s Case – (5/5) really enjoyed it! A great homage to Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle and Watson finally gets to figure out the whole case himself!
So the last three stories (Umney’s Last Case, Head Down, and Brooklyn August which is technically a poem not a story) I DNF’d. Umney’s Last Case started out kind of interesting but I just couldn’t get my mind to focus on it after the first part. It’s kind of an homage to Raymond Chandler but I don’t know it just didn’t seem to get the right tone? Head Down is a sports essay thing and I’m just not interested in that at all so I skipped it. Brooklyn August just isn’t my style of poetry so I skimmed it but it didn’t really jump out at me but I don’t feel fair giving it an actual rating.
1. Dolan’s Cadillac – (4/5) good story of revenge; draggy in the middle, but overall a good story
2. The End of the Whole Mess – (3/5) good concept, but boring in the beginning (all about how genius his brother is) and depressing in the end
3. Suffer the Little Children – (4/5) I’d totally love a whole book about what those kids are! Definitely creepy.
4. The Night Flier – (4/5) Loved it, the main character was a dick though so I was kind of hoping he’d be eaten in the end.
5. Popsy - (4/5) – Kind of a companion to the Night Flier. Fun and creepy.
6. It Grows On You – (3/5) So-so story. Didn’t love it didn’t hate it.
7. Chattery Teeth – (4/5) Nice and creepy with a twist. Classic Stephen King.
8. Dedication – (3/5) kind of a weird one, but pretty good
9. The Moving Finger – (5/5) I remember watching a TV show or something based on this and it gave me nightmares. The story is really good and I love the ending.
10. Sneakers – (4/5) a good story but an anticlimactic end
11. You Know They Got a Hell of a Band – N/A couldn’t get into it so I DNF
12. Home Delivery – (4/5) pretty good story; resilient heroine which is always nice
13. Rainy Season – (4/5) nice and creepy but…toads seemed a little odd to me
14. My Pretty Pony – (3/5) okay but got draggy for me; kind of felt like I missed the point so maybe I’m just not getting the message?
15. Sorry, Right Number – (3/5) love the concept; less thrilled about the screenplay style
16. The Ten O’Clock People – (5/5) kind of reminded me of that movie where the dude can see the aliens when he wears special glasses and stuff? I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me but yes, it is a good story and I liked it a lot
17. Crouch End – (4/5) maybe more of a 3.5 but I like it enough to round up; very Lovecraftian story; some nice creepy moments; little draggy when it’s at the police station; ending felt a tad rushed and more of an “okay here’s how everyone winds up”
18. The House on Maple Street – (5/5) Probably my favorite out of the whole book; love that he got the idea from the Chris Van Allsburg book because I remember LOVING that as a kid and making up all kinds of stories for the pictures!
19. The Fifth Quarter – (3/5) so-so; not bad but not great; no real opinion tbh
20. The Doctor’s Case – (5/5) really enjoyed it! A great homage to Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle and Watson finally gets to figure out the whole case himself!
So the last three stories (Umney’s Last Case, Head Down, and Brooklyn August which is technically a poem not a story) I DNF’d. Umney’s Last Case started out kind of interesting but I just couldn’t get my mind to focus on it after the first part. It’s kind of an homage to Raymond Chandler but I don’t know it just didn’t seem to get the right tone? Head Down is a sports essay thing and I’m just not interested in that at all so I skipped it. Brooklyn August just isn’t my style of poetry so I skimmed it but it didn’t really jump out at me but I don’t feel fair giving it an actual rating.