Tag: Writing

Stephen King: #60 – Under The Dome

On By Luke FlorenceIn Books, Lists, Stephen King, Uncategorized, WritingLeave a comment

#60 – Under The Dome

Plot

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day, a small town is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and rain down flaming wreckage. A gardener’s hand is severed as the dome descends. Cars explode on impact. Families are separated and panic mounts. No one can fathom what the barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if— it will go away.

Now a few intrepid citizens, led by an Iraq vet turned short-order cook, face down a ruthless politician dead set on seizing the reins of power under the dome, but their main adversary is the dome itself. Because time isn’t just running short, it’s running out.

Review

When I was in high school, I wrote a short story about a bubble that encapsulated a small town. You can imagine my reaction as I discovered King had penned a massive 1100 page epic centered around the same premise eight years later. And you know what? I loved everything about the book. It has tremendous character development, tells a wide – and yet focused story. However, it clocks in at #60 because it has – hands down – the single worst ending I’ve ever experienced.

My first gig when I moved from Madison, Wisconsin to Columbus, Ohio was at Delaware County Bank in Marysville, Ohio. It was a brand-new branch – super slow – and staffed with too many bodies. A lot of down time was available – much of which I spent reading this novel. Work smarter, not harder folks.

“Big Jim” is one of my all-time favorite literary characters as I despised him to no end. In my mind, I pictured Donald Trump while reading about James “Big Jim” Rennie.

This is a great novel and a masterpiece in storytelling, but after reading 1000 pages its conclusion left me upset and betrayed. All the collateral that it had built was instantly ruined.

Details

Pages: 1074

Dates Read: January – March 2010

Quote: “She can’t help it,’ he said. ‘She’s got the soul of a poet and the emotional makeup of a junkyard dog.”

Best Part: Everything about “Visitors Day” was outstanding.

Hint for #59: Its initials match a common smoke-signal for help.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.

Stephen King: #61 – Roadwork

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#61 – Roadwork

Plot

Barton Dawes’ unremarkable but comfortable existence suddenly takes a turn for the worst. Highway construction puts him out of work and simultaneously forces him out of his home. Dawes isn’t the sort of man who will take an insult of this magnitude lying down. His single-minded determination to fight the inevitable course of progress drives his wife and friends away while he tries to face down the uncaring bureaucracy that has destroyed his once comfortable life.

Review

I put the “Dates Read” section for two reasons. One, I wanted to convey how much time it took me to read the novel. Novels that you enjoy are often ones you read faster. And two, to showcase that the time and place that you consume art matters.

I began reading Roadwork after starting a brand-new job in 2020 and didn’t finish it until three months into the global pandemic. Life got in the way, and it slowed my reading consumption.

King wrote several novels under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman, including Roadwork. This had the bones of a decent book, but King’s writing let me down. It’s not that I didn’t understand what was happening, it was that I didn’t care. And ultimately, that lethargic energy was a constant throughout.

King mentioned in the prelude of this novel that it is his least favorite Richard Bachman book, which soured my opinion before I even started. I have very little doubt that if I were to go back and re-read this novel, I may have a completely different stance.

Details

Pages: 320

Dates Read: January – June 2020

Quote: “All places are the same unless your mind changes. There’s no magic place to get your mind right. If you feel like shit, everything you see looks like shit. I KNOW that.”

Best Part: The main character – Dawes – picks up a hitchhiker in the middle of this book, and it’s the most compelling part of the story.

Hint for #60: Think Syracuse basketball.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.

Stephen King: #62 – Dreamcatcher

On By Luke FlorenceIn Books, Lists, Stephen King, Uncategorized, WritingLeave a comment

#62 – Dreamcatcher

Plot

Once upon a time, in the haunted city of Derry, four boys stood together and did a brave thing. Certainly a good thing, perhaps even a great thing. Something that changed them in ways they could never begin to understand.

Twenty-five years later, the boys are now men with separate lives and separate troubles. But the ties endure. Each hunting season the foursome reunites in the woods of Maine. This year, a stranger stumbles into their camp, disoriented, mumbling something about lights in the sky. His incoherent ravings prove to be disturbingly prescient. Before long, these men will be plunged into a horrifying struggle with a creature from another world. Their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past – and in the Dreamcatcher.

Review

Stephen King was involved in a near-fatal car accident in 1999. While recovering – and heavily partaking in Oxycontin – King wrote Dreamcatcher. It shows. This is a clunky and underdeveloped novel. As King himself said, “I don’t like Dreamcatcher very much.” Either did I.

On the surface – there’s a lot to like about Dreamcatcher. It involves four childhood friends. It reads from multiple perspectives. It includes flashbacks. It’s set in Derry, Maine.  However, the way King both paced and layered this book was clumsy. Clearly the publishers were just happy to keep printing King books that they overlooked the editing process.

An observant reader will notice a theme with several of the books at the bottom of these rankings: too long. (That’s what she said.)

Details

Pages: 621

Dates Read: February – April 2022

Quote: “SSDD. Same Shit Different Day.”

Best Part: Only Stephen King could come up with what happens to the stranger in the cabin bathroom.

Hint for #61: Typically, if you encounter this while in your car it will slow you down.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.

Stephen King: #63 – Cell

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#63 – Cell

Plot

The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cell phone operating within the entire world. Within hours, those receiving calls would be infected. A young artist Clayton Riddell realizes what is happening. He flees the devastation of explosive, burning Boston, desperate to reach his son before his son switches on his little red mobile phone.

Review

Cell was one of the first Stephen King books I read (after finishing up The Dark Tower series) and it started off with a fantastic opening scene. However, the book drops off significantly afterwards and turns into a dystopian trainwreck. The premise was too silly, and the payoff was severely short.

Not only does Stephen King fail to write aliens well – but I would add zombies to that short list as well. This book is not well paced as it falls flat throughout the middle sections. Characters are not brought into focus and the zombies are just along for the ride.

Had a similar feel as The Stand – but would have been better served as a short story.

Details

Pages: 709

Dates Read: Pre 2012 (before I started tracking)

Quote: “Man has come to dominate the planet thanks to two essential traits. One is intelligence. The other has been the absolute willingness to kill anyone and anything that gets in his way.”

Best Part: The massively chaotic opening scene.

Hint for #62: You likely made one during summer camp – and if you’re anything like me – returned home and threw it in the trash (instead of its proper place by the bed).

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.

Stephen King: #64 – The Tommyknockers

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#64 – The Tommyknockers

Plot

The Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.

Review

Normally I would say that even a bad Stephen King novel is still better than most. And that sentiment holds true for nearly every book on this list. Except The Tommyknockers. It’s awfulness stands alone. Bad writing, horrendous plotting, and zero-character development. Even King himself said, “it’s an awful book.” He wrote much of this novel while recovering from a near-fatal car accident and was heavily under the influence of Oxycontin. It shows.

As you will soon see in the bottom half of this list – Stephen King struggles to write aliens well. Part of what drew me to King’s books was his ability to write powerful prose from both the protagonist and the antagonist’s perspective. With The Tommyknockers – and other alien-centered novels of his – there’s no antagonist viewpoint that would have created much-needed balance.

This was a struggle to get through and took me most of two months to finish.

Details

Pages: 975

Dates Read: February – March 2021

Quote: “Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don’t know if I can ‘cuz I’m so afraid of the tommyknocker man.”

Best Part: Finally finishing and closing this book … forever.

Hint for #63: The Walking Dead meets Verizon Wireless.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.