I just finished watching it. I’m not familiar with the novel, or the earlier series. So I was going in fresh.
First episode was really good. I like that they start you right in the post-apocalypse, then flash back, but even with the flashback, it’s only 20 minutes before most people are dead and you’re in the main story.
Good stuff.
Viewing it from the perspective of 2020 though, it was really bothering me how no one was wearing masks when there was a pandemic on the loose, just because they thought they were in a safe environment. Wear a mask anyway, you fools! Jeez.
This resonates with me so much. Most obviously because yes, Tommyknockers was bad.
But the idea of a terrible book being hard to finish is so ridiculous, and true at the same time. It’s a terrible book, why do we want to finish it? We should be relieved to give up and get out as soon as we realise, right? But when I was in my Stephen King reading period, I couldn’t not finish a book. I’d fight my way through to the end, whatever the cost.
Even now, thirty years later, it takes a long internal struggle before I can give up on a book and stop reading.
I actually put Tommyknockers down and didn’t finish. I hit that point where you ask your self “why am I doing this?” Maybe the ending was amazing! :) Somehow, I think made the right decision.
Wondering that too? The original Stand miniseries was a very faithful adaptation of the book. I am curious about this new one.
The King book that knocked me out of the fan club was From a Buick 8. I started it, thought it was terrible, and skimmed to the end and have no idea now how it ended, that’s how memorable it was. Before that Dreamcatcher was another bad book that I did finish, but found it offputting.
Since then I’ve read a bit more of King that I enjoyed, so I am open to his work. I don’t really seek it out though.
It was the right decision. Like you, King was massively influential to me in the 80s and almost everything I had read of his up to that point was great. So I slogged my way through that book waiting for some twist or revelation to make all the shitty parts fall into some kind of magical alignment… and it never happened; it just got worse.
Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher are also ones King says are terrible. Tommyknockers was full-on coke, and Dreamcatcher was his first book back after the accident.
I also wasn’t a fan of The Outsiders. It felt like too many sensible people ignored “there is no way this person could be in that place to do the bad thing” Although 2020 has made me think that in a different light.
You’ve missed out. He’s had some great books since.
And for anyone who hasn’t read The Stand yet, you should.
As a teen, my favourite King book was The Talisman. That was a question and a half. But I devoured anything he published. I remember reading Salem’s Lot a few years later in a house with a sky light and boy did that window break me out at night.
King stories can be uneven. But I really enjoy his characterisations and writing style. He’s one of the few authors I pick up without waiting for reviews.
And, the long version as well. It is one of King’s best books. Rarely is the long version of a King book the better option.
Also, with King, he really gets kids. I had issues with The Institute*, but how he wrote the kids really reminded me of IT.
This one was a weird one where a subject I know quite a bit about – freight trains – he wrote wrong. He documented freight trains running similar to passenger trains. His freight trains would have a set schedule they’d arrive, and drop off cargo. The reality is the car would just be set off at a freight house and picked up later.
Ah, I was mistaken. I thought he started writing under bachman with Desperation / Regulators, which is where I quit reading. I was waiting for the rest of the DT series and when the doublepack came to costco in 1996/1997? I bought it, read a few chapters and haven’t been back since.
I did purchase / read On Writing, a non-fiction book of his.
I’ve read The Stand, unabridged no less. Wonderful book.
Oh yes. I was part of an aspiring writers group back on CompuServe (the Imps), several of which are now successful published authors. I merely dabbled. But I bought several books on writing fiction back then. And King’s On Writing is one of my favourite. I enjoy the way he dissects the way he approaches a story.
First four were Rage, The Long Walk, The Running Man, and, uh . . . Roadwork? The one about the guy fighting the bypass coming through, with much less mirth than Douglas Adams. You’ll have trouble finding Rage, it was a book about a school shooting well before those were a thing (Whitman notwithstanding). He depublished it. After that it was Thinner, then several more when we pretty much knew Bachman was King.
The Running Man and The Long Walk were the ones that stood out to me back then. My dad and I were part of a walking club in the 80ies and 90ies. We would walk 40 miles in a day on weekends. He once room part in a 24 hour event where he walked about 70 miles in one go.
So the latter story spoke to me.
And it was an interesting experiment for King. Seeing whether he could recapture success starting as an unknown again. But the stories in the Bachmann books were not my favourites to say the least.
Anyone else listening to the Kingcast? I originally started listening because I liked Wampler’s stuff at BMD, but it’s rekindled my love of King, and I started getting into more of his more recent recent stuff - I read Revival on the promise of it having a great payoff, and yeah. That was a gnarly fucking ending.
The general conceit of the podcast is that they’ll discuss a book and its adaptation with a guest - although they have off-speed episodes, like interviewing Dee Wallace of Cujo fame, or discussing On Writing with Rian Johnson. For my money though, the best episode is talking Salem’s Lot with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller, and how it helped him process living in a small town with an active serial killer.
Both are really good but The Long Walk is one of my favourite books ever. That the plot literally goes in a straight line with a defined ending gives him the chance to do what he really does best - characters.
Serendipitously to this thread I just picked up Sleeping Beauties again. I really enjoy him the most when he takes on big casts of characters like The Stand, Under the Dome, Needful Things, etc. (If you can get past the plots at times…)
