Review: Gwendy's Button Box

Reading Stephen King's collaborations with other authors always makes for an interesting review.  Mostly because I am familiar enough with King's style at this point - 40+ books into his bibliography - that I can generally figure out which parts have his fingerprints all over them.  It's not so much that I attribute everything good to him and all of the weaker aspects to whomever joined him: King has his own criticisms and even a few novels that I'd consider outright bad.  It's just that his writing is so identifiable that when it obvious that it is the contributing author that is writing, it is easier to assign them blame.  In the case of Gwendy's Button Box, Richard Chizmar managed to mimic enough of King's style that the novella flows almost seamlessly.

No, if I have any criticisms of this story, it is that it very much feels like Part One in a series (which it is) and that it neither author ever really lets the narrative breathe.  From the moment that Gwendy gets the titular box until the ending, the story moves at a breakneck pace.  King's strength has always been how he can make his locations and characters feel lived-in and lively, but this novella has none of that.

It is still a good yarn, make no mistake.  It's just one that is maybe a little shorter than one would want from it.  There is something to be said for a tight, simple story, but there's too much unanswered in this one - though maybe that will be fixed in Part Two (written only by Chizmar).

To get to the actual story:  Gwendy meets the mysterious Richard Farris as a young girl, who gives her a button box - one button gives her some candy with magical properties, one button gives her a rare silver coin, and eight other buttons how an unnamed power to them.  After Farris gives her the box, Gwendy learns the burden of having such an item in her care, but also goes through the crucible of earning the gift given to her.  Without going into further detail: the box has a weighty responsibility to it, and Gwendy was chosen by higher powers to shoulder said responsibility.

Far too interesting a premise for a measly 166 page book that covers 16ish years of Gwendy's life.  But again, there is a Part Two already out and a Part Three about to be - maybe they will answer my questions and fill out the story in such a way that the overall tale will be satisfying.

3 out of 5, with the option to raise it after reading the other books.

Stats:

Pages: 166

Movie?: None currently planned

Dark Tower?: Roland Farris links it to the Dark Tower pretty unambiguously

Child Deaths?: A friend of Gwendy's dies during her high school years, plus references are made to the Jonestown massacre and the many children that died there.

Book Review: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows Trisha - the titular girl - as she wanders off a hiking path and finds herself lost in the woods after attempting a shortcut and falling down an embankment.  While lost, she believes herself pursued by the malevolent God of the Lost - which may or may not be a hallucination - as she tries to find her way back to civilization.

Right out the gate, this is a promising premise for King to tackle , but in customary King style, he adds to it beautifully and both uses and subverts the tropes of this well-worn story type to explore self-reliance, loneliness, and wonder.

This is a shorter King novel - only 219 pages - but he uses each page wisely: Almost the entirety of it is focused on Trisha, with only a few bits here and there to let the reader know what is happening with her family and explaining how the search is going.  This allows King to really delve into her thoughts and feelings in a way that many of his other novels - with their large casts and multiple subplots - cannot hope to.

And Trisha is a great character.  While King definitely struggled with his women and girl characters in his earlier works, Trisha doesn't have any of those issues.  He manages to credibly make her self-reliant while still maintaining her childishness (Trisha is 9 years old).  This allows him to grow the character in interesting ways as she is forced to survive, and helps with the ambiguity of the supernatural events she may or may not be experiencing.

The supernatural aspects - though sparse - are also well done, especially since King never lets the reader know for certain if Trisha is truly experiencing them or hallucinating due to malnutrition and sickness.  Her first experience with it reads as both a dream and reality, and it is a harrowing read even if you do ultimately come down on the side of it being her imagination.

While this isn't listed as one of King's best novels - and, indeed, I'm not quite sure where I would rank it out of his 70+ books - I do think it might be one of his more underrated ones.  Whether because of its simplicity or because it found itself released between two more prominent of his novels (Bag of Bones and Hearts in Atlantis), I think it is often overlooked.  Which is a shame, because I would definitely recommend it - especially for first-time King readers.

4 out of 5

Stats:

Pages: 219

Movie?: None yet, though one is supposedly in the works with Lynne Ramsay set to direct
Dark Tower?: Like Carrie, this is the rare King novel that has no obvious connection to the Dark Tower

Child Deaths?: None, though this isn't surprising given the small cast

Book Review: Carrie

 

Back in 2015, I decided to read all of Stephen King's books - in their order of publication - and write reviews for them along the way.  I managed to read the first 42 of his books, but only managed reviews for the first 8.  Mostly because I was able to read on the job at that time, so I was able to continue reading even as I was unable to actually review.  I've decided to take up the project again, with a few modifications - namely that I will not be reading them in publication order.

Still, I wanted to start with Carrie, King's first published book.  Part of it is that I genuinely enjoy the book and wanted an excuse to re-read it.  I also wanted to see how my review would change over the 6(?!) years since I had last sat down to write about it.

And honestly?  It doesn't change much.  This is still a solid book - King's fourth written, though the other three had not been published at the time.  I don't feel the need to summarize - who doesn't know the basics of the story at this point?  Instead, I want to point out a few things I didn't notice from the first go-around because I wasn't as familiar with certain tropes.

The main thing I noticed this time is how King used the framing device - a series of interviews with residents/excerpts from books written about 'the White incident' - to push forward the story in a decidedly different way than he has used since.  I won't say he uses it as a crutch - he was far too talented a writer even at this early stage to use it in a lazy way - but he definitely changed how he normally writes stories for this one.

The other aspect I noted this time was his definite unfamiliarity with writing women characters.  I've come across multiple 'how a man writes a woman/how a woman writes a woman' breakdowns that King, unfortunately, falls into - notably in his having several of his characters think about their breasts in a very 'male' way.  Not anything book-ruining, but once I was made aware of this particular trope, it was hard not to notice it.

Otherwise, this is still a great book - not one of King's greatest, but definitely a great 'coming out' moment for King.  The characters of Carrie, Sue, Chris, and Margaret all resonate still, and even lesser characters like Billy, Miss Desjardin, and Tommy still feel well-rounded.  A definite recommend.

4 out of 5

(Original review)

Stats:

Pages: 199

Movie?: Carrie (1976), Carrie (2013)

Dark Tower?: This might be the only non-Bachman book that is not connected to The Dark Tower in some way

Child Deaths?: All of the teens killed during Prom Night. Not mentioned in the book, but possibly some killed when Carrie destroys parts of Chamberlain

Review: IT: Chapter One

We love our Stephen King here, so it is only natural that we run out to see this adaptation of one of our favorite of the Stephen King books (the less said about the other one, the better).

And director Andy Muschietti does a fairly good job.  The movie is far from perfect - and could have benefited from some judicious cutting of subplots - but we do get a fairly creepy, fast-paced movie about a killer entity that takes the form of a clown.

The movie follows the Losers Club, a misfit group of preteens who bond over the summer as they are threatened by the malevolent Pennywise.  Now, this is the crux of challenge of this movie:  You need not just a few, but 7 (arguably 10) good, strong child actors, plus an older actor who can carry the scares as the villain.

Now, while all of the child actors are strong, they might have effectively hidden the shortcomings of some by condensing the story's focus down to 3 of the children:  Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), Beverly (Sophia Lillis), and Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor).  Now, for those familiar with the book, this is something short of a travesty - as King does creates several great characters out of the children - but it is somewhat necessitated given that even chopping the book in half, you have something like 600 pages to squeeze into a two hour movie.

However, they give enough other business to the other actors (Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Olef as Richie, Mike, Eddie, and Stan respectively) that it reads more as a missed opportunity than a true crime against the novel.

Of the child actors, special mention must go to Sophia Lillis as Beverly - easily my pick for best in show amongst the children - and Finn Wolfhard as Richie.  To me, both really captured the characters from the book, although the screenplay lets down the former by damseling her in the latter part of the movie.

So, the elephant in the room is Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Clown.  Let me get this out the way:  Tim Curry will forever own this role.  Nothing anyone will ever do will take it away from him, so a comparison is unfair to any actor playing the part.  Having said that, Skarsgard does an excellent job in the role, playing Pennywise with a weird, off-putting vocalization that on its own manages to create a tension of just what Pennywise is about to do.

The CGI works very well for the most part, with only one scene where it 'shows' - but Muschietti makes the smart decision to have that play into the scare.

Part of what makes the novel great is how King builds the city of Derry itself into an extension of the malevolence of Pennywise, and to make the movie work, some of that has to transfer to the screen.  Muschietti manages to build some great setpieces that help create this mood (the house on Neibolt is right out of the book), and the way he films some of the parents (Eddie's mother in particular) create the meanness necessary for Derry to work.

The biggest critique I would give would be the treatment of Beverly from book to screen.  While they do make her one of the leaders of the group and arguably the bravest of the children, this is undermined by a late-movie MacGuffin to get the group back together at her expense.

The movie could have also improved by either cutting out the bullies entirely (so little time is spent on them that they feel like an afterthought), or by tightening several of the 'adult' scenes that seem to meander when the point has already been made.

But these are minor quibbles from an unexpectedly strong film.  

9 out of 10

The Dead Zone review

The Dead Zone follows two separate figures - a crazy politician and a man who wakes from a four year coma with psychic powers - throughout multiple years (and election cycles), culminating in the Psychic trying to stop the Politician after he has a vision of him leading the U.S. and the world to ruin.

Now, this is a solid premise and aspects of this novel work incredibly well.  However, this story digresses so frequently that at this point I would rather call it more of an exercise in narrative meandering.

It's not a bad novel, just one that takes its time getting where it wants to go.  And because of this, the climax feels overly rushed, interspersed with a series of letters that overly explain main character Johnny Smith's thoughts and actions.

I just couldn't get into the main story when it had B, C, and D plots that were either more interesting or fully realized.  And that kills me, because part of the Politician aspects so greatly mirror the current election cycle that it could almost be seen as commentary on Cruz and/or Trump if it hadn't been written 37 years beforehand.

The good stuff is very good however.  Several scenes with Greg Stillson - the politician character - are downright chilling, and when Johnny goes into his various trances King sets a mood that almost takes the reader into the story, but then he stops for 20+ pages to diverge into material that has either already been covered or doesn't add anything to the main plot.

The whole book is so episodic in nature that when I saw that it was a television series, my first thought was "I bet it works better in that medium" instead of "They'll lose so much from the book doing that!"  Which, again, isn't a horrible thing, just frustrating in novel form.

I feel that if he had just focused on Johnny and his 'adventures' with his newfound power first, then switched to Stillson after they meet, he could have used the last part of the novel to tie them together.  Instead he jumps between the two while also periodically focusing on minor characters that provide more distraction than anything resembling depth.

Worth a read, but I doubt it will be reread anytime soon.

Stats:

Pages:  402

Movie?:  A movie is 1983, and a TV series that ran from 2002-2007.

Dark Tower?:  Nothing in the novel proper connects it, but the events involving Frank Dodd are referenced in several others novels that are connected, so by proxy this one is.

Child Deaths?:  A 9-year-old girl is raped and strangled.

Penis Talk?:  Yes, the worst of which is an inner monologue from the rapist mentioned prior.

Grade:  B-

Review: The Long Walk

The Long Walk is easily my favorite of the Bachman books that I have read (at this point I haven't read either Thinner or Blaze, so this could change).  And not by a slim margin.  This is easily the most solid premise (100 teenage boys forced to walk until only one remains), the most well-rounded protagonist (Ray Garraty, of Maine), a solid group of supporting characters, and a damned nihilistic ending that works well in the context of the greater narrative.

If there is one thing that unites the various Bachman works (Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man, Thinner, The Regulators, and Blaze are the current line up), it is the dark nihilistic tones and endings that they have.  Evil is rarely defeated, and if it is, it is at far too high a cost.  The Long Walk embodies this as the reader follows the slow degradation of the core group of boys being followed, cheered on by a crowd that calls for their blood.

What King does well here is slowly build throughout the novel.  All of the participants volunteered for this, and at first they love the adulation of the crowd.  They are eager to meet The Major - a military figure who is apparent dictator of this futuristic United States.  As the novel progresses though, The Major becomes not only an object of scorn, but of hatred.  And the crowd stops focusing on individuals within and becomes The Crowd, an amorphous creature that terrifies the Walkers.

Ray Garraty is a solid protagonist.  He doesn't quite know why he feels the need to enter The Walk, but steadfastly refuses to step down when given the opportunity.  And he's likeable, which, after the parade of horrid protagonists scattered throughout the short stories of Night Shift, was a welcome change.

King also manages to differentiate the other Walkers quite well.  The majority aren't named, but those that are all manage to have distinct personalities, something that troubled King somewhat in The Stand.  Peter McVries is the standout of the supporting characters to me, with Stebbins being a close second.  Even a few barely-named Walkers get solid characterization, which shows King's improvement at quickly sketching together distinct personalities.

But the story is the biggest selling point for this novel.  Published in 1979 originally, one could easily see this as a metaphor for the reality TV craze that came about 20 years later.  It is horrifically realistic, making one think of the gladiatorial games of Rome in a present day setting.  Some will credit The Running Man for that prophetic vision, but The Long Walk truly captures the essence of what could eventually come.

Stats:

Pages:  370

Movie?:  None at the moment, though the rights have been secured by Frank Darabont

Dark Tower?:  No connection

Child Deaths?:  99 of them for certain, the last is ambiguous

Grade:  A-

Night Shift Review

Initially, I wasn't sure how to review this first collection of short stories.  Should I talk about each individual story, or just give a general overview?  The latter makes sense, but even the most thorough overview will fail to mention several positive and negative aspects of the stories.  I ultimately decided on the former, since any general overview would be just as long as mini-reviews of each short story, since I would want to mention all of them anyway.

Jerusalem's Lot is the first story, and it was, at the time, a previously unpublished one.  As 'Salem's Lot is one of my favorite King novels, it was nice to adventure back into that fictional part of Maine.  This story goes back in time to 1850, to a small town near Jerusalem's Lot and the family history associated with the abandoned town.  While it is a great story - I'd venture to say it is the scariest of the collection - it creates several plot holes for the novel.  For 'Salem's Lot is abandoned, and great pains are taken to mention no people or creatures have returned to it since the incident that caused the abandonment to happen.  How then, does the town come about?  Vampires are present, so why do they leave, paving the way for Barlow?  Still, a great start to the collection.

Graveyard Shift is the next story, and I didn't really care for it.  Dealing with a group of workers trying to clear out the area under a textile mill and the unusual rats they encounter, the story lacks anything resembling a likable character, nor do the motivations of the characters really make sense.  Once the main pair makes it to the deepest part of the underground passage, King does create a horrific ending, but that's about all to recommend to it.

The next story is Night Surf, which is what inspired The Stand (Captain Tripps is mentioned, though details of the disease differ).  Like the unpublished Jerusalem's Lot, the longer novel is much better, and like Graveyard Shift, most of the characters here are unlikable.  In fact, the only real reason to read this one is to see the beginnings of an idea forming for the novel.  Otherwise, one that could be easily skipped.

Next is I Am The Doorway which is great little sci-fi story about a flyby of Venus that has a rather horrendous side effect on one of the astronauts.  While the writing lacks the grace of later King works, the overall story is a stellar one.

The Mangler follows, and I love it for its rather unique premise (demonically possessed press machine from an industrial laundry) and its rather bold structure.  The story starts in media res, with the death of a laundry worker, then goes backwards to explain how the machine came to be possessed.  The story zigzags back and forth between the present and past, which is brave for a short story to do, but King manages to pack quite a bit into this rather short piece of work.

The Boogeyman is next, and it is one of the weaker stories in the collection, in my opinion.  Dealing with a father talking about his various encounters between the Boogeyman and his children, it lacks any sort of buildup, and the ending seems to be trying a bit too hard.  Another one that could easily be skipped.

Fortunately, another of the top tier stories follows it:  Grey Matter.  The story follows a group of men who go to check on a friend who has changed somewhat after drinking some bad alcohol.  King does a great job building the tension in this story, and the ambiguous ending serves it well.

Next is Battleground, which, while not scary, is still a fun piece about a hit man who, after his latest hit, has revenge visited upon him in a most interesting way.

Trucks comes next, an interesting tale about vehicles coming to life and attacking humans.  The prose here is much simpler than most of the other stories, and the story lacks some finesse that many of the others do, even the weaker ones.  Still, the story is solid.

Sometimes They Come Back is the one story that, to me, really needed to be a full length novel.  The story feels rushed, and while explanation for the ghostly visitation the protagonist receives isn't necessarily needed, some inkling of what caused it would help in a major way, as well as an explanation for how he deals with said visit.  Even with its rushed nature, the story has numerous plot holes, and might have been served better if certain subplots had been cut to lengthen other parts of the story.

The earliest work of Kings in the collection is Strawberry Spring, a story told in first-person about a series of murders from the character's past during a strawberry spring.  Another of the strong stories, it lacks a bit of the punch of the top tier ones, but the ending strikes just the right chord and makes it a must-read.

The Ledge follows, and it is more of a thriller than a horror story.  I'd rank it in the upper tier also.  Dealing with a man trying to run away with a mob boss' wife, King takes a simple premise and makes it absolutely terrifying.

The Lawnmower Man is next, and it is, frankly, an incredibly weird little tale.  I'd say it is skip-able, but I have the feeling that it is one either loved or hated for its weirdness.

Quitter, Inc. comes next, and it is the one of the other previously unpublished (at the time) works.  It deals with a man who decides to quit smoking, with the aide of a rather forceful company.  It works great as a standalone piece, and honestly could have been expanded to novel (or at least, novella) length, but loses nothing being a short story.

I Know What You Need is the next story, and the first (and only) to feature a female protagonist.  She deals with a young man who always seems to be there with what she needs, and the darker side of the romance that follows.  King seems uneasy writing this character, with some of the clunkiest dialogue occurring between her and her roommate, but still manages to tell a solid, if unspectacular, story.

Children of the Corn is probably the best known work from this collection, if only for the many movies, but it really comes across as a dud.  Again, the characters are unlikable, and King has them make dumb decisions repeatedly throughout.  The movie fleshed it out and managed to improve upon the premise, but overall, this is a weak story.

The Last Rung on the Ladder is a more emotional short story, dealing with grief and regret.  It deals with a fateful day in the life of two siblings, and the tragedy that befalls one once they start to drift apart later on in life.  It almost seems out of place amongst all the other stories in the collection, but it provides a nice break.  It is another that had been unpublished prior to this collection.

The Man Who Loved Flowers battles with The Boogeyman for my least favorite of the collection.  Following a man who is 'obviously experience spring love' it is short, uninspired, and has a terrible ending.

King again visits 'Salem's Lot with the short story One for the Road.  Unlike Jerusalem's Lot earlier in the collection, this one creates no plot holes, though it does allude to the ending of the larger novel.  This one deals with two men who know how The Lot has 'gone bad' and their attempt to help a man whose family is stranded there.  It's one that definitely should be read after 'Salem's Lot, as it compliments the larger novel, rather than creating problems.

The last work to be featured is also one that was previously unpublished:  The Woman in the Room.  It follows a man who has a terminally ill mother and his grief and anger at her condition.  Like The Last Rung on the Ladder, it isn't a horror story, and feel a bit out of place in the collection.  It is also an odd choice to finish with, as One for the Road would have been stronger and more circular (ending with a 'Salem's Lot companion piece after starting with one).  It lacks the emotional punch of The Last Rung, and the collection fizzles to an end.

How I Would Rank the Stories:

Quitters, Inc.

The Ledge

One for the Road

Gray Matter

The Last Rung on the Ladder

Jerusalem's Lot

I Am The Doorway

The Mangler

Strawberry Spring

Battleground

I Know What You Need

Trucks

The Woman in the Room

Night Surf

Children of the Corn

Sometimes They Come Back

The Lawnmower Man

Graveyard Shift

The Boogeyman

The Man Who Loved Flowers

Stats:

Pages:  504

Movie?:  Several have been made into movies:  Quitters, Inc. and The Ledge are both in the film Cat's Eye, Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Trucks became Maximum Overdrive, and Graveyard Shift.  A movie shares the title of The Lawnmower Man, but has no relation.  Trucks was again adapted for TV, as was Children of the Corn.  Sometimes They Come Back also received a television adaptation, as did Battleground.

Dark Tower?:  The Salem's Lot companion pieces would be considered part of it, but most of these are standalone.

Child Deaths?:  One gets turned into a vampire in One for the Road, several die in Children of the Corn and in The Boogeyman, and one dies in flashback in Sometimes They Come Back.

Penis Talk?:  Surprisingly, none, though I may have missed writing one down.

Grade:  I'd say it averages out to a B, maybe a B+

The Stand Review

So, the hardest decision to be made when re-reading this Stephen King novel was which version I was going to read.  Should I get the original hardcover from 1978?  The updated paperback from 1980?  Or should I go with the 1990 version, which updated the story from 1980 to 1990 and added 400 extra pages of material cut from the initial release?  Ultimately, I went with the 1990 version, mostly because I already owned it, but also because I wanted what Stephen King originally wrote before editors asked him to trim it down.

And make no mistake, this is a thick novel: My copy checks in at 1439 pages, over double what The Shining reached.  Part of this expansion is due to the nature of the book:  As opposed to a small enclosed area (like The Shining, or Rage), The Stand tracks multiple people across the entire United States as the deal with a superflu that wipes out 98% of the population.  A far-reaching apocalyptic novel cannot be hastily done in a tidy sum of pages.

And what's amazing, is that the book could easily have expanded more.  While we do get to delve into the inner thoughts of numerous characters, both good and bad, there are still many prominent characters that don't get much in the way of attention from King.  In fact, Ralph Brentner's lack of character development despite being one of the main 4 sent to make the final stand is one of my biggest critiques.

Still, King rather effectively explains how the superflu starts spreading, and why it doesn't get stopped.  Most novels (and many movies, to be honest) never explain how the world reached its post-apocalyptic state, but King believably explains it from start to finish.  One of the most harrowing sections of the book deals with Stu Redman escaping a government facility trying to figure out the virus they created, and it wouldn't be half as nerve-wracking if not for the groundwork King had laid earlier.

And The Stand is filled with many such moments.  Larry Underwood's trip through the Lincoln Tunnel is (to me) the single most vivid in its terror, but one could just as easily argue for the impromptu appendix removal, Randall Flagg's meeting with Nadine Cross, or even Trashcan Man's interaction with The Kid.  There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to well crafted moments of horror.

The novel does have its flaws though.  As mentioned above, several characters are prominent without ever really getting delved into (Ralph Brentner might be the worst, but Sue Stern suffers just as much), Randall Flagg, despite having several chilling scenes scattered throughout the novel, never truly feels like a threat, at least not in the way the Harold Lauder does.  And more world-building for Las Vegas would clarify how Flagg maintains loyalty despite having a much crueler disposition than Mother Abagail.

Still, after the shitshow that was Rage, anything would be welcome.  The Stand, thankfully, is pretty great on its own.

Stats:

Pages:  1439

Movie?:  A miniseries in 1994, nominated for six Emmys, winning two.  Supposedly there is a movie in development... or a series of movies.  It has been in development hell for 5 years now.

Dark Tower?:  Yes.  Randall Flagg is a recurring villain from the series, and the Ka-Tet briefly interact with part of the Captain Trips world.

Child Deaths?:  Lots, since the majority of the planet dies, but King does go into details involving a few.

Penis Talk?:  Yes, up to and including the thinness of a character's semen after masturbating.

Grade:  A-

Rage Review

This is a famously hard book to find.  Due to an association with several high profile school shootings in the late 80s and early 90s, the book was taken out of print.  For awhile you could still get it as part of The Bachman Books, but it has since been removed from that collection also.  Thank God, for it ended our long national nightmare and no school shootings have happened since.

Now that the sarcasm is out of the way, I will admit to being perturbed at the difficulty in getting this to read.  Fortunately, I was able to purchase an older edition of The Bachman Books that contained it, and for the not-at-all reasonable price of 60 dollars.  All so I could read a less-than-stellar book that is overly linked to similar real-life events.

And I cannot emphasize enough that this is not a good book.  It's readable, thanks to King's character work, but only insofar that the characters are interesting, but not explored that well.

The novel loses me fairly early, when Charlie Decker, whose viewpoint we follow through almost the entirety of the story, shoots two teachers and only one student screams while the others are silent.  None of them try to escape or run or in any way act like normal people do during such an event.  The entire class just calmly sits there.

Now, I understand that King wanted to have people there for Charlie to use as a kind of therapy group, but it reads false right from the start.  And that false start permeates every interaction throughout.  The slap fight between two girls that Charlie forces is resolved with no explanation, and the climax, where the entire class attacks another student, makes no sense.  At no point does King illuminate why Ted Jones, a popular student who recently quit the football team, would suddenly be set upon by his classmates.  While a type of Stockholm Syndrome comes about in the room (with only Ted unaffected), there is no build to the final confrontation.  It just happens so the novel can end.

Released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, this was apparently King's first written novel, though I can understand why it wasn't initially published.  Carrie explores stigmatization in high school much better.

Stats:

Pages:  163

Movie?:  None, probably because of the school shooting association.

Dark Tower?:  No, though I doubt any of the early Bachman titles will be associated with the series.

Child Deaths?:  Surprisingly, no.  The only deaths are the two teachers at the beginning.

Penis Talk?:  A girl talks about her boyfriend's penis and a random stranger's she picked up at a bar.

Grade:  D

The Shining Review

The film version of this book is widely considered one of the best horror films ever made.  While it initially was a bit of a box office and critical failure (Shelley Duvall - the single best performance in the movie - got a Razzie nomination for her troubles), critics slowly came around, and now it is a go-to for comparisons in style and tone.

And the movie is wildly overrated.

When I say Duvall is the single best performance (and it is a great performance, in my opinion), one could argue that I am damning with faint praise.  Almost every other performance ranges from terrible to occasionally adequate.  A few scenes do manage to be creepy (the twins flashing between 'Come play with us' and their dead bodies is unnerving), but overall the film is now overpraised.  The slow 'build' is barely there (Nicholson acts like he is ready to murder his family from the beginning, so not much to climb from) and the pace doesn't so much as build tension as it tests the patience of the viewers.

Now, this might seem a long-winded way of saying the book is so much better, but the book is so much better.  This book is terrifying, with King growing into his trademark imagery and character work to create a living hotel - not a creepy place but a malevolent being.  Jack Torrance is not an unhinged maniac like in the film, but a likeable man easily possessed by the hotel due to his own failings and inner demons.  Really, the relationships between all of the family makes the inevitable breakdown of the unit all the more terrible and frightening.

And the scares scattered throughout work much better in the imagination.  The movie only really got the woman in room 237 217 correct (side note: the hotel where the movie was filmed asked that a new room number be created lest guests refuse the room after the movie came out).  They cut out some of the better scares: the dead wasp nest that comes to life, the topiary animals, the playground... I could go on and on.

Oh, the topiary animals.  Without spoiling it for those that haven't read the book already, the sequences where Jack and Danny separately interact with them are some of the most frightening moments in the book.

The family unit is extremely well written also.  Wendy, Jack, and Danny are all fully realized characters, with very human flaws and motivations.  The decision Wendy and Danny make to stay is such a pivotal moment in the book , and it works so well because of King's early work exploring the characters' love for Jack while also examining the motivations of the characters themselves.  The rich detail into each one's personality serves the narrative well.

King had written an excellent book in Salem's Lot, and somehow managed to improve in every way possible going into his third novel.  A masterpiece in writing.

Stats:

Pages:  683

Movie?:  The overrated 1980 film discussed in the review, a miniseries in 1997.  The miniseries won 2 Emmys and was nominated for one other.

Dark Tower?:  Unless Doctor Sleep ties it in, this book is free of the Dark Tower

Child Deaths?:  While the prior caretaker is referenced as murdering his family, no children actually die during the book.

Penis Talk?:  Yes, though nothing of note about it.

Grade:  A+

'Salem's Lot Review

I read somewhere (probably in one of Stephen King's introductions, though it might have been an interview) that, after the success of Carrie, Mr. King brought two ideas to his editor - or his agent, the memory is fuzzy for sure - for his next novel.  Whomever it was said they preferred the vampire idea, but without enthusiasm.  They were worried that King would be labeled a 'genre' writer and limit himself in future works.  Fortunately, King took that risk, and wrote a pretty awesome book about vampires invading a small town in Maine...

To call 'Salem's Lot a vampire novel is severely limiting, however, as it is more about small towns and how they work - the dark secrets they keep and pass on.  To accomplish this, King greatly expands upon not only the number of characters, but how deeply he looks into their lives.  Primarily focused on Ben Mears, King delves into all sorts of major and minor characters and what makes them tick.  He creates this small town's character by looking at the histories of various residents.  Whether it is the child-beating young mother in a trailer park or the rich town selectman involved in shady real estate dealings, King doesn't just pull back the veneer, he rips it off and envelopes the reader in the thoughts and emotions of any resident he focuses on.

The result is a portrait of a a town in shambles, perfect for the dark invasion that occurs when Barlow and Straker come to town.

And we have to discuss Barlow.  While I have far too many King books to read to say he is King's greatest villain, he is damn near the top.  For a character that doesn't appear until the latter half of the book, he still radiates menace once he does arrive.  His chilling intellect and patience is unnerving, made all the more formidable by his strength.  Straker pales in comparison, though he does an adequate job as the 'front' man for the business venture that sets up the introduction of the two into the town.

King does a fantastic job on the 'good' side of the equation:  Ben Mears, Matt Burke, Susan Norton, and Mark Petrie are all rich characters with a great blend of heroism and fallibility.  While Father Callahan and Jimmy Cody get less attention to detail than the others, they are still well-written.  And Callahan gets much improved-upon in the Dark Tower books (where he also makes an appearance).

It is slightly disappointing that King fridges Susan Norton, and I feel like he glosses over Mark's grief in the immediate aftermath of what happens to his parents, but these are minor quibbles in a stellar book.  I could easily see this placing near the top of my favorite Stephen King books, which isn't bad for a sophomore novel.  Not bad at all.

Stats:

Pages:  427

Movie?:  2 made-for-TV movies, one in 1979, and the other in 2004.  The '79 version managed 3 Emmy nominations and the '04 version got 1.

Dark Tower?:  Father Callahan plays a rather important part in Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah.

Child Deaths?:  Many.  One is sacrificed at the start to allow Barlow into town, and many others are turned into vampires throughout.

Penis Talk?:  Jimmy Cody talks about having an erection while being bitten.

Grade:  A

Carrie Review

(This is for the book, not the movie!)

So, the book that started it all.  One might be tempted to overstate the importance of Carrie as Stephen King's first published book, especially as it was a best seller once it hit paperback.

One of the biggest surprises for me when I first read this novel (re-read for the Great Stephen King Experiment) was how short it was.  One of King's greatest strengths as a writer is how well he conveys imagery and burrows into his characters, but in this early work you don't see much of either.  You get a good feel for Carrie White and Sue Snell, with a bit of work thrown in on Tommy Ross and Billy Nolan, but most characters only get a cursory bit of insight.  Part of this stems from the decision to weave into the story 'excerpts' from fictional works about what is referred to as Prom Night in the novel, a decision that helps the reader see reactions to the event, but which also serves to distance them from fully immersing themselves into the story.

The story does move along quite briskly, with no lags despite the excerpts.  From the start, it slowly crescendos up into the pivotal moment at the spring dance, where it then manages to soar higher as Carrie enacts her revenge not only against her classmates, but also against the town of Chamberlain itself.  King conveys Carrie's rage nicely, and the various 'transcripts' taken from various townspeople capture the confusion and terror quite well.

My only critique, aside from rather thin sketches of the majority of the characters, is the lack of a truly strong villain.  Carrie herself is a tragic figure, so she hardly counts.  King makes you feel as if some sort of showdown will occur between Carrie and Chris Hargensen, but Billy Nolan gets more attention once the actual plan is in motion.  Margaret White also appears to be the villain, but she is mostly sidelined until her confrontation with Carrie after the dance.  Despite that confrontation being especially chilling, Margaret never feels like a true threat, even if she does strike what ends up being a mortal blow on Carrie.

Still, the novel is quite good, and a fine start for what turned out to be quite the career for King.

Stats
Pages:  199
Movie?:  2 of them - one in 1976 and another in 2013, plus a terrible sequel and a made-for-TV version.  Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Academy Award nominations for the 1976 version.
Dark Tower?:  No references that I can remember.
Child Deaths?:  The various teens at the dance, possibly some younger ones during Carrie's destruction of the town.
Penis Talk?:  Vague references from Sue Snell and Chris Hargensen from when they slept with their boyfriends, and Margaret White refers to her late husband's as The Devil's Serpent (unironically)
Grade:  B+

The Great Stephen King Experiment

So, I have a plan to read all the Stephen King books in order of publication.  As of this posting, I have read 33 of the 63 that have been published (although number 64 comes out on the 3rd of November, so it will be added to the pile).  As someone slightly familiar with Stephen King at this point, I am going to read the book, right a review, and keep track of a few things (for amusement's sake).

Number of Pages:  This is rather self-explanatory, and if I decide to add up the total number of pages read, at least I have a record.
Is There a Movie?:  Also self-explanatory.
Is it Part of the Dark Tower Mythos?:  I love the Dark Tower books and King has woven together quite a universe throughout his many works connecting them all together, so whenever references pop up, I will take note.
Do Any Children Die?:  Stephen King has no problem killing children, so this will also be tracked
Is There Penis Talk?:  Stephen King also talks about penis frequently.  This is obviously a 'for funsies' category
Grade:  Because why not?

I consider myself a fast reader, but there will obviously be some time between posts for these, as I do need to actually read the books.  Hopefully the delays will be short though.

Stephen King Book List

(in order of publication)
Carrie (original review)
'Salem's Lot
The Shining
Rage
Night Shift
The Stand

The Long Walk
The Dead Zone
Firestarter
Roadwork
Cujo
The Running Man
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
Different Seasons
Christine
Pet Sematary
Cycle of the Werewolf
The Talisman
The Eyes of the Dragon

Thinner
Skeleton Crew
It
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of Three
Misery
The Tommyknockers
The Dark Half
Four Past Midnight
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
Needful Things
Gerald's Game
Dolores Claiborne
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Insomnia
Rose Madder
The Green Mile
Desperation
The Regulators
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
Bag of Bones
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Hearts in Atlantis
Dreamcatcher
Black House
Everything's Eventual
From a Buick 8
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
The Colorado Kid
Cell
Lisey's Story
Blaze
Duma Key
Just After Sunset
Under the Dome
Full Dark, No Stars
11/22/63
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
Joyland
Doctor Sleep
Mr. Mercedes
Revival
Finders Keepers
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
End of Watch
Gwendy's Button Box
Sleeping Beauties
The Outsider
Elevation
The Institute
If It Bleeds

Later

Billy Summers
Gwendy's Final Task

Fairy Tale

Holly

You Like It Darker

Never Flinch
Talisman 3

Book Reviews

Homepage for Book Reviews:
Book of the Month Reviews
Stephen King Reviews

Other Reviews:

(alpha by author)

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
The Body in the Woods by Joshua Burleson

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman