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villyidol 's review for:
Needful Things
by Stephen King
The devil sets up shop in a certain small town in Maine, and people come to have a look. Let the games begin.
Whenever someone would ask me what my favorite Stephen King novel was, I always said Needful Things, even though I gave [b: It|830502|It|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502._SY75_.jpg|150259] a higher rating. Somehow this became one of those books that I retrospectively liked better than at the time of reading. After 4 ½ years I thought it was time to verify my feelings about this particular novel.
Well, I love it.
Castle Rock is like no other small town. But then again, maybe it is like all the other small towns. A place where everyone knows everyone, and you can’t escape anybody. Neither the good people, nor the bad ones. And then there are also those people that look at you with their smiling-masks on, and then go on talking about you behind your back. The fake ones. Those are the worst, right?
All those fake smiles and passive-aggressiveness are turned into evil deeds and all-out war. It’s so much fun. But what about the openly bad and the truly good people? Well, everyone has their little secrets. Their secret needs. The devil has something in store for all of them. In return for those (needful) things he just wants to have a little bit of fun.
This book is maybe most memorable for two ladies (one quarrelsome and one a little jittery) going Mortal Kombat at each other on the streets. But that's only the first climax, before in the second act everything descends into delightfully evil and truly hilarious chaos.
What a book!
It does not get the same love from me on an emotional level that It does. But on the hellishly fun scale this scores full marks. It's a different kind of love. But it's a strong love too. I was having a blast.
This leapfrogs several books on my favorites shelf and enters the top 20 after this second read. So, in a way I was right. I had given it too low a rating the first time around. But I was also wrong. It lands a couple of spots behind It. But there is not much between them. I'd say they share the distinction of being my favorite Stephen King novel. They are just two very different kinds of treasures, that get two different kinds of love from me.
Buddy read with I Think I Saw Trish Passing By and Future Brad.
2021 addendum:
And this third read-through concludes my Castle Rock reading project. Now, knowing the preceding works and noticing all the little easter eggs in here, it was even more fun. Besides, Needful Things just remains a great work of dark humor and small-town horror.
My ratings/reviews for all the stories (note: there are different recommended reading orders for this):
It Grows on You ★★★☆☆
The Dead Zone ★★★★☆
Cujo ★★★☆☆
The Body ★★★★★
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ★★★★★ (This has been on my list of Castle Rock stories, but at the time of reading I didn’t quite see why. In retrospect it probably makes sense, because Shawshank (the prison) comes up in the other works from time to time. It might not be strictly necessary to read this, but then again, it is a great story.)
Uncle Otto’s Truck ★★★☆☆
Mrs. Todd's Shortcut ★★★★☆
The Dark Half ★★★★☆
The Sun Dog ★★☆☆☆
Needful Things ★★★★★
All in all, it was fun.
Recommended by Tobias
Whenever someone would ask me what my favorite Stephen King novel was, I always said Needful Things, even though I gave [b: It|830502|It|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502._SY75_.jpg|150259] a higher rating. Somehow this became one of those books that I retrospectively liked better than at the time of reading. After 4 ½ years I thought it was time to verify my feelings about this particular novel.
Well, I love it.
In a small town like Castle Rock, all the fuse-boxes were lined up neatly side by side. What you had to do was open the boxes … and then start cross-wiring.
Castle Rock is like no other small town. But then again, maybe it is like all the other small towns. A place where everyone knows everyone, and you can’t escape anybody. Neither the good people, nor the bad ones. And then there are also those people that look at you with their smiling-masks on, and then go on talking about you behind your back. The fake ones. Those are the worst, right?
…mostly you just laid low until everything was done … and then you turned on the juice.
All the juice.
All those fake smiles and passive-aggressiveness are turned into evil deeds and all-out war. It’s so much fun. But what about the openly bad and the truly good people? Well, everyone has their little secrets. Their secret needs. The devil has something in store for all of them. In return for those (needful) things he just wants to have a little bit of fun.
This book is maybe most memorable for two ladies (one quarrelsome and one a little jittery) going Mortal Kombat at each other on the streets. But that's only the first climax, before in the second act everything descends into delightfully evil and truly hilarious chaos.
What a book!
It does not get the same love from me on an emotional level that It does. But on the hellishly fun scale this scores full marks. It's a different kind of love. But it's a strong love too. I was having a blast.
This leapfrogs several books on my favorites shelf and enters the top 20 after this second read. So, in a way I was right. I had given it too low a rating the first time around. But I was also wrong. It lands a couple of spots behind It. But there is not much between them. I'd say they share the distinction of being my favorite Stephen King novel. They are just two very different kinds of treasures, that get two different kinds of love from me.
Buddy read with I Think I Saw Trish Passing By and Future Brad.
2021 addendum:
And this third read-through concludes my Castle Rock reading project. Now, knowing the preceding works and noticing all the little easter eggs in here, it was even more fun. Besides, Needful Things just remains a great work of dark humor and small-town horror.
My ratings/reviews for all the stories (note: there are different recommended reading orders for this):
It Grows on You ★★★☆☆
The Dead Zone ★★★★☆
Cujo ★★★☆☆
The Body ★★★★★
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ★★★★★ (This has been on my list of Castle Rock stories, but at the time of reading I didn’t quite see why. In retrospect it probably makes sense, because Shawshank (the prison) comes up in the other works from time to time. It might not be strictly necessary to read this, but then again, it is a great story.)
Uncle Otto’s Truck ★★★☆☆
Mrs. Todd's Shortcut ★★★★☆
The Dark Half ★★★★☆
The Sun Dog ★★☆☆☆
Needful Things ★★★★★
All in all, it was fun.
Recommended by Tobias