And I'm sure Stephen King is crushed to hear it.
(insert sound of snortling laughter all the way from Maine.)
I'm a devoted fan of Stephen King's book ON WRITING which I think every writer should own, read and re-read.
I'd never read anything else of his cause I'm a wuss when it comes to horror and supernatural stuff. I saw that movie about the car that comes alive and it terrified me.
So, when Stephen King turned his hand to the JFK assassination, I figured it was time to dive in. 850 pages of depth, but I was ready. I read it last weekend. In about 36 hours. There was some sleeping and some eating, but not much else.
I was right there with him for the first 150 pages. Stephen King can REALLY write, but you don't need me to tell you that. Many of you not only already know, you've got favorites among his many MANY novels.
Then as the novel moved forward it lost momentum. The plot just fell in on itself and flailed.
And worse, he didn't do anything new or interesting with time travel. Think about it: Stephen King has imagined stuff that has haunted our dreams for years. New and interesting ways to do all sorts of blood curdling stuff. But this time travel was essentially ho-hum. I'd seen it all before cause I've seen all three Back to the Future movies. (yea, more than once, I admit it.)
I expected more. Not fairly perhaps, given "more" implies he being held to higher standard than other writers. But honestly, he's Stephen King. I expect him to knock my sox off, and when he didn't it feels like a disappointment.
But, I'd have been disappointed if someone other than Stephen King had turned this in. Of course, with anyone else, it would have been chopped down to 400 pages first thing. And I'm not sure it would have gotten published. It's not terrible (despite what the Pittsburgh critic said) but it's not a book I put down and wanted to start talking to people about. Well, ok that's not true. I did. But what I wanted to say was "You LIKED this?"
And just in case Stephen King is reading this (cue those snortles again) here's a link to a post about how to deal with soul-crushing bad reviews.
26 comments:
I haven't read 11/22/63 yet, but your review doesn't seem too bad.
So I'll keep this book on my To Be Read List.
I've only read On Writing and The Stand, both of which were solid reads. Don't know if I've heard anything compelling enough about this new one to make me seek it out.
Thanks for this, Janet. I'm not a Stephen King fan, but I share your hearty recommendation of ON WRITING. Largely because of this, I have read some of his books, and, yes, he can write. I know that not all of his work is in the horror genre (THE DEAD ZONE is certainly not what you would call horror, and is significantly shorter than 800 pages--perhaps one for you to try?), so I was curious about 11/22/63. As a huge fan of Doctor Who, the time travel thing appeals to me too. But perhaps I should put this a little lower down on my TBR list, if it is as unoriginal as you say. I'm not dismissing it entirely on your say-so (though I value your opinion), but there are plenty of books I really need to read before I try this one.
I appreciate the tip. :)
Aloha,
I'm in the middle of 11/22/63 and as the dude from McDonald's says: "I'm loving it."
I think it's classic King, and for any fans of "IT," there are tons of insider references to that fantastic book about Derry, Maine
I know it's only a novel, but imagine if someone stopped Oswald... how different the country/world would be...
Oh, like Sarah, I loved THE STAND. It's one of my favorites. Haven't read a lot of his new stuff, but that one was simply amazing. Janet, you should read that.
And I'm a pretty big wuss when it comes to horror, but I think there are a lot of his books that are more suspense than horror.
I'm a DEVOTED S.K. fan, and I've been trying to read this since it came out...I keep picking it up, reading five pages, and putting it back down. There's just so much rambling in the dialogue, both internal and external...I think his editors are afraid of him. He is, after all, Stephen-freaking-King. Glad to know I'm not the only one who's had trouble with this book!
I haven't read a good Stephen King novel since the early 80's. His novellas and short stories, however, are great reading.
I'm w/ you on King's horror stuff - my imagination runs away when confronted with bloody crazies.
But I've read other really famous writers (Fanny Flagg, for instance) whose recent stuff just needs a good chopping. It's almost like, the more famous a writer is, the more scared an editor is to do his/her job.
I am not a Stephen King fan in general- and that is not because I think his writing is sub-par. I'm just incredibly jolted by take-no-prisoners fiction. No one is safe in a King novel. Seriously. Your favorite character could buy it at any time.
But I have to say that if he was my cuppa, the unoriginality of a time-travel plot line would probably not bother me. I am not all that fascinated with fresh and original plots but rather if I am invested in the characters. If I like the MC or a couple of ancillary characters, I'm in it for the long haul.
Which, again, is why I am not a Stephen King reader. He can make me completely invested in a character that is going to meet an unpleasant, messy end. THAT's unpredictable and original, but dammit, I hate it!
I bet the die-hard King fans will love it.
His ON WRITING should be on every writer's desk. Not only is it about writing, it's about HIS writing and about HIM. Loved it.
Drove by his house in Maine, about twenty times, the person I was with taught one of his kids years ago. He has the coolest fence ever made. I figured if I went for one more drive-by they'd think I was stalking.
A lot of his books splat at the end. I'm not a huge fan, but I've read enough of them to know his endings tend to be hit-or-miss.
Sometimes prolific writers find themselves writing the same story over and over, or they put bits of several stories in a bag, add Elmer’s glue, shake it and out comes a new one. I grew up reading my dad’s SF and my mom’s Mary Roberts Rinehart books. I still love Rinehart, but, alas, she fell into that trap. Compare The Bat with Circular Staircase. You’ll see what I mean. King does this too. It’s sad and it’s irritating.
King’s book on writing is good. Rinehart’s bio is as good and instructive though it takes a different approach. No one reads it anymore, I suppose. It’s long out of print. But you should hunt it up.
I finally stopped reading King in the '90s. He had some fantastic story lines and a few great finales, but I hated being 400+ pages invested only to have a sub-par ending.
I haven't read S.K's latest book, but I am a fan of the toe-curling horror that he pumps out. Just in broad daylight with lots of distraction around. Not late at night just before sleep! :)
I'm a new follower and look forward to your posts ;)
Jade
I read almost all of King's early work (scared the crap out of me as a kid). I've finally gotten my hands of a copy of IT, but it's languishing in my To Be Read pile. I adore ON WRITING with complete devotion.
But his latest novel? I had no interest in it. I don't know why, but the whole plot idea just didn't strike me. So, after reading this, I feel a bit less guilty for not wanting to read it.
Also, the Back to the Future movies are fun. :-)
Wow, what a bummer. I still plan to read it...but I'm one of the "devoted to the SK canon" fans...have read all his old stuff, not as much of the new. BUT he's going to the Savannah Book Festival next month and I will be there!! (Not great latest books and all!) Because he changed my life by scaring the daylights out of me as a kid, teaching me that it's ok to write genre fiction. :) So I still love him.
If you ever WANT to read his stuff, start with Carrie...it's more psychological thriller than horror show.
Haha the only Stephen King book I've ever read is also On Writing -- a fantastic book! I'm not a horror book kind of person, and I was going to pick this book up but maybe I won't now....I was also considering getting The Dome which also looked good. Hmm. Thanks for the update, and you're not alone! :)
I have also read much of his old stuff, not much new. I think I stopped reading when I realized what he did well and what he didn't. He has one gift (reading "IT" is a great way to get a good dose of it, but it is also the scariest of all his novels in my opinion) I really admire and rarely see: he's the master at making believable children in fiction.
I can't stress enough, as a member of a large family and mother of three, how rarely I see an author that impresses me with their ability to mimic child logic, conversation and interaction.
He's also great at garnering an emotional response, key, I'd think, for anyone in the shock business. I've laughed and cried and been afraid to sleep for days and that was just It - but he's got great pathos and characters like in Firestarter and Dead Zone.
But other books left me cold. Some of his short stories, however,are awesome.
Again, my own take. Hmm. I don't even think I've read any of his books since college. I wonder if I'd see them differently now.
On Writing is a great book and I also love his novellas. Do you think when you get to his kind of career you just stop reading reviews all together?
Also, since you've plugged me before I'm trying to draw people's attention to this completely unrelated, yet infuriating story about the whole Arizona thing and the kids it affects: http://wp.me/p1NlZX-e5
I saw Christine as a kid, and never looked at a huge black car the same again.
Cujo was even worse.
Christi Corbett
Of everything I've read by King, the one thing that *still* makes me shiver and keep the light on wasn't from a horror book. It was a scene from The Green Mile. I recommend it to those who aren't into horror.
As to soul-crushing reviews? I've come up with a new way to handle negative feedback. I listen to Tim Minchin's "Song For Phil Daoust". By the end of it, I'm grinning.
I find with King, that his work I love, I really love, and the rest I can't get into at all.
Loves include Rose Madder, The Stand, and a couple of his short stories that movies were based off of (you would know them as Stand by me, and Shawshank Redemption).
That said, I feel that a lot of his work needs to be edited a bit more strenuously, which can be said for a lot of "bigger" writers. Jean M Auel's latest book for example made me wish I'd never read it.
I grew up on Stephen King. He was one of the first "adult" writers I started chewing on in, ehh, 8th grade. I haven't read much of his new stuff, so I haven't picked up the book in question, but I can say without hesitation that 90% of his books have weak endings and about 50% have a middle sag like you describe, too.
Stephen King has a unique problem that I sincerely hope I have one day.
Who has the cajones to edit his books? Who's going to tell him it would really be better if he did thus and so. He's frigging Stephen King, for God's sake!!
And he wrote the book On Writing.... :-)
When I was young, a hundred years ago or more, YA wasn't really around; we had the Point Horror franchise (remember that?) and the Sweet Valley High books (remember them? Remember the TV series?!). Instead, we read Stephen King - I will freely admit the dirty bits had more than a little to do with our enthusiasm (you never had *that* going on between Elizabeth and Todd).
I'm half way through 11.22.63 and...it's not the best of King's work. He is, without doubt, one of the best *writers* out there. He does omni better than anybody I can think of offhand. He can take a big, complex idea and run with it (Look at The Stand, or Under The Dome. Is there any other writer who could do those ideas so comprehensively? Compare The Passage by Justin Cronin. 11.22.63 may be dragging, but at least everything (for now) is tying into a greater whole. It enriches.).
However, he's also writing the same characters he's been writing for the last 40 years. What disappoints me about King is that I know exactly what I'm going to get with him. (I'm also enraged by his portrayal of female sexuality, but, yannow, he's in pretty good company when it comes to that. Dear Male writers, if there's blood on the sheets after her first time, you need to have spent more time fiddling with her first. The hymen doesn't exist in the way you think it does.)) For many people, that's his appeal, but...
When he's good he is so very, very good. His novellas are outstanding. His short stories aren't too shabby either (The Body, which was made into the film Stand By Me, is a standout for me.)
Everybody who wants to write needs to read something by Stephen King. He is a good writer, even if you don't like him.
I don't know. I'm one of those fans who think King on his worst day is still pretty fucking good. Yet DUMA KEY and CELL didn't really do it for me.
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