Book Eight:The Dead Zone

I have a hard time wrapping my head around this one. It is much more episodic than King’s previous novels and just didn’t really grab my attention. It is, however, the first novel in which Castle Rock makes an appearance.

Poor schlub John Smith had everything going for him until he got in a car accident and ended up in a coma. By the time he comes out of it, his girl has married someone else, his mom has become a total nutter, and he’s permanently handicapped by the long stay in bed. Oh, and he is also psychic.  While this has all the ingredients for a real page-turner, instead it reads more like a group of inter-connected stories where Johnny rages at fate. And obsesses over a Senator.

Lowdown: I would give this one a pass. I didn’t really get into and none of the characters (with the exception of Johnny’s Dad) really seemed all that sympathetic. Eh.

Bodycount: 90 people

Total bodycount:733, 18 unaccounted for, one dog, and two towns burned down.

Book Seven: The Long Walk

Note: I had read this before. In german.

This is to me the most disturbing of all the Stephen King I have read (which isn’t all of them, yet.) There is just something about this story that sticks in your head and comes back to visit every once and a while. It’s not that is particularly gruesome or more shocking than his other work, there is just something about the last image in the book that sticks in the psyche and doesn’t let go.

The story is of a group of young men who are in a contest to see who can walk the furthest. There are 100 young men and they must all maintain a speed of at least 4 miles and hour. They cannot stop or fall under that speed – if they do, they are warned three times and then shot. The winner will see their every wish fulfilled. The contest is apparently run by the military, though this is a different military than the one we know. A man known as The Major is in charge. He is a larger-than-life prescence that works on two levels. He both incites hero worship and fear. Look at his words at the start of the walk: “I give my congratulations to the winner among your number, and my acknowledgement of valor to the losers.” (p. 145)

This one quote sums up the book: “Do you think we could live the rest of our lives on this road? That’s what I meant. The part we would have had it we hadn’t. . . you know.” (p. 166)

Enema obsession. P. 187

Lowdown:Read this one. It’s short but very powerful. I enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first, though I have yet to see how it continues to affect me.

Bodycount: 99 People

Total Bodycount: 643 people, 18 unaccounted for, one dog, and two towns burned down.

Book Six: The Stand

Note: I had read The Stand before.

The first time I read this book, I did it in a day. I plowed right through the story, desperate to know who would survive and who would bite the big one. This time, it took me a little longer to get through – I blame this on a visit from the parents and a trip to Berlin. Taking the extra time to read the book had an interesting effect, however. I still wanted to know who would survive (even though I remembered quite a lot,) but this time the real tension got to build. It probably helped that I was moving on a pretty similar timeline to most of the action in the book: it starts in June and a good 600 pages of it are in the summer.

For those of you who don’t know, The Stand is about a man-made superflu that accidentally gets out and wipes 99% of the population off the face of the earth. This is with a little help from the army who decides if the US is going to go, then by god the whole world will go with it. The superflu manifests first as the sniffles. As I was walking around Berlin, every time people sneezed or coughed my first thought was “Captain Trips.” This was compounded by the fact that my poor mom caught something nasty on the plane and came down with the flu. I was surrounded by carriers. At one point, I even found myself sitting in the German National Gallery planning which paintings I would carry off if I was one of the lucky people who proved immune. This was a radical change to my first experience with the book.

The Stand is a novel about the battle between good and evil. Or maybe I should spell them Good and Evil. After the plague, the survivors have dreams which pretty much divide them into two camps. The good people flock to Mother Abigail in Boulder, CO and the bad people flock to Randall Flagg in Las Vegas (maybe that’s a little too obvious.)

“…that man was describing everything I dedicated my life to, its hopelessness, its damned nobility. I believe he meant that things fall apart. He said the center doesn’t hold. I believe he meant that things get flaky…” (p. 176)

Lowdown: Read it! It’s not considered a new classic for nothing.

Bodycount: 99% of everyone so we won’t count this one.

Book Five: Night Shift

The first collection of short stories, “Night Shift” was a fun ride. Swinging from new stories set in Jerusalem’s Lot to dramatic tales that aren’t really horror. My favorite was The Ledge in which a made man proposes a wager with his wife’s lover, but things don’t go quite the way he anticipated. There is also the fun title story Graveyard Shift where rats revolt against factory workers.

King’s short stories are intriguing and very clever. He manages to make the reader emotionally involved with the characters even when they only appear on a few pages. He also starts to play with some plot ideas that he expands later. The story Night Surf is a forcursor to “The Stand” and is the first exposure we get to Captain Trips.

Lowdown:

A must-read for everybody. While some stories are true horror, there is something in this book for every reader.

Bodycount: 44 people

Total Bodycount: 544 people, 18 unaccounted for, one dog, and two towns burned down.

Book Four: The Shining

Note: I had read “The Shining” before, but it was in German that time…

Imagine yourself on a overstuffed couch in the middle of the living room. There are double doors next to you leading outside. The sun is shining in and you are bathed in its comforting glow. You can hear family and friends moving around the house but they don’t intrude. This is how I first read “The Shining” and it still scared me. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to re-read the book at night when it was storming outside…

“The Shining” is one of the few books that genuinely scared me. Most horror novels intrigue, or titillate, or amuse me; this one made me want to leave all the lights on. And yet, it’s also a very sad story. The Torrances – Jack, Wendy, and their son Danny – move into the Overlook Hotel as winter caretakers. They will be stranded alone there as soon as the first snowstorm hits, with very limited contact with the outer world (hey, it’s 1977 and there’s no internet.) What they don’t know is that they aren’t really alone in the hotel, and what’s there really really wants to get its teeth into Danny. If that synopsis doesn’t put your hackles up, just take a look at the cover.

Warren Beatty is attacked by fluffy dogs and zombie boys

This book explores a couple different ideas that I found interesting. One is how children interact with the world. Danny is only five when the story takes place, but in some ways he is old for his age. His father is an abusive drunk who has gone on the wagon, so Danny is familiar with random acts of violence. Maybe this is the secret to his equanimity. Take the following excerpt for example. Danny has just been attacked by a firehouse:

“It was nothing to be afraid of. Why, he could go back and put that hose right into its frame, if he wanted to. he could, but he didn’t think he would. Because what if it had chased him and had gone back when it saw that it couldn’t…quite…catch him?” (p. 174)

This sequence is familiar to one from “Salem’s Lot” where the young boy is able to accept the vampire attack – and thus lives- while his father rejects the idea and perishes. Almost the entire novel of “IT” centers on that idea, too. King must realize that childish coping mechanisms, pulling the blanket under your feet so the monsters can’t get you, are more effective than adult ones.

I could go on and on, but instead here are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

“Still grinning, her huge marble eyes fixed on him, she was sitting up. Her dead palms made squittering noises on the porcelain. Her breasts swayed like ancient cracked punching bags.” (p. 217)

“Ordinarily he liked all of his characters, the good and the bad. he was glad he did. It allowed him to try to see all of their sides and understand their motivation more clearly.” (257)

“Medoc, are you here? I’ve been sleepwalking again, my dear…” (p.280)

“In his faded tartan bathrobe…he looked to her like an absurd twentieth-century Hamlet, an indecisive figure so mesmerized by onrushing tragedy that he was helpless to divert its course or alter it in any way.” (p297)

Lowdown:

Still a scary-ass book.

Bodycount: 1

Total bodycount: 500, 18 unaccounted for, one dog, and two towns burned down

Book Three: Rage

 

  

Note: I had read Rage previously. 

“Rage” is the first novel in what became known as the Bachman books. Stephen King published these novels under a pseudonym – I don’t know why, yet, but some biographies are on my list so hopefully I’ll know soon. 

Long before the tragedy of Columbine, King wrote about a horrific school shooting. Charles Decker reaches the end of his rope and snaps. Unfortunately when this happens he  has a gun in his locker. Decker decides to take over his math class and heaven help anybody in his way. But if you think that the worst thing to happen that day involves a bullet, you can think again. 

I wouldn’t consider “Rage” a typical horror novel. There aren’t monsters or excessive violence (emphasis on the excessive,) but this story definitely stays with you. After reading it I found myself contemplating what happens until late in the night. And then the next day. And the next. It’s hard to be witty and deep without giving away too much of the plot. “Rage” is a quickly paced short novel; almost everything is central to the plot. 

Lowdown:  

Read it for yourself. I mean it, though you may hate my afterwards. 

Bodycount: Two 

Total bodycount: 499, 18 unaccounted for, one dog and two towns burned down.

Book Two: Salem’s Lot

Note: I have read Salem’s Lot before. In fact, I think it was my gateway drug way back in sixth grade when it was much harder to find vampire books…

These days, vampire books seem to grow on trees. Supernatural beings are considered cool and sexy. Big names like James Patterson and Nora Roberts have dabbled on the dark side (the latter with infinitely more success than the former) and moody brooding vampires have taken over the cineplex. While the sex remains, a lot of the danger appears to have been removed. Dracula has been de-fanged and replaced by morose man-boys who twinkle (seriously, twinkle, WTF?) The modern vampire, in almost all cases, is someone the heroine falls in love with – though there are a few exceptions like Illona Andrews. Having obviously read most of the paranormals out there, it was refreshing to return to my roots and re-read “Salem’s Lot,” a book where vampires act like vampires.

Published in 1975, “Salem’s Lot” is very different from “Carrie.” First, it’s over twice as long, clocking in at 439 pages. The length allows to the story to move at a slower pace. You aren’t thrown headfirst into action as soon as you open the book. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t engrossing, there is a reason that the book is still in print, but the characters are much more developed than in “Carrie.” There are characters who are purely evil (vampires,) but everyone else seems to dwell in that morally gray world with which King is very familiar. The reader becomes very intimate with people like Ann Norton, whose possessive love for her daughter ends in heartbreak or Weasel Ed who has slowly fallen into alcoholism but still manages to get home every night. For me, this is what makes King such a great writer; even the most minor character’s secrets are revealed.

“Salem’s Lot” is a vampire story. Novelist Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a novel set in the Marsten House, the epic ruin on the hill “overlooking the village like – oh, like some kind of dark idol.” (p.131) Ben had a very bad experience in the house as a boy, and now he wants to purge himself of the memories. Unfortunately for him, and all the residents of Salem’s Lot, the new residents of Marsten House have plans of their own. Throw in a love interest, some lost children, and some folklore and Ben has the makings of a very bad time. Again, parts of the story are told through newspaper articles which succinctly raise the total of missing and dead.

I think the “Salem’s Lot” is more typical King as we now know him than ‘Carrie” was. Obviously, as it’s his second book he has more experience under his belt, but the distinctive style is easy to see in this book. For instance, take the way he describes how Salem’s Lot got its name:

“The town took its peculiar name from a fairly prosaic occurence. One of area’s earliest residents was a dour, gangling farmer named Charles Belknap Tanner. He kept pigs, and one of the large sows was named Jerusalem. Jerusalem broke out of her pen one day at feeding time, escaped into the nearby woods, and went wild and mean. Tanner warned small children off his property for years afterward by leaning over his gate and croaking at them in ominous, gore-crow tones: ‘Keep ‘ee out o’ Jerusalem’s wood lot, if ‘ee wants to keep ‘ee guts in ‘ee belly.'” (p. 30)

Being extra-loaded with detail is a classic King trait. So is research. In “Salem’s Lot,” King put a lot of time into researching folklore about vampires. My favorite example of this is on pages 332-333. The extermination team is meeting to discuss how to deal with the vampire problem. Between them they list a lot of ways to take out a vamp, many of which I had never heard of.

1. Paint white eyes over a black dogs real eyes and it will drive away a vampire
2. Pierce the heart with a stake
3. Cut off its head, stuff it the mouth with garlic, and put it facedown in the coffin
4. A husband, wife, daughter, son, etc. should be the one to kill a vampire
5. A white rose will act a protection against vampires
6. Go to confession before killing vampires so you are pure

These are all good things to remember if you ever find yourself caught up in a battle with the unholy Undead. Or Edward Cullen.

Theme-wise, I recognized a story that King has delved into again and again: that children are better equipped to deal with true evil than adults are. In “Salem’s Lot,” that role is filled by poor Mark Petrie, whose life is turned upside down by the vampire invasion. In later books, Danny Torrance and all the protagonists of “IT” are placed in similar situations. I think this is interesting, and I will definitely be paying closer attention as I continue with my challenge.

Lowdown:

Even on the second (or maybe third) reading, “Salem’s Lot” still held my attention. I still was muttering under my breath when characters made foolish – and deadly decisions, as if by hoping I could change a story whose outcome I was already more than familiar with. While I didn’t get any really chills from the book, I can honestly say it was a fun ride.

Body count: approximately 57 (it’s a little hard to be definite how many people get eaten) and one dog

Total body count: 497, 18 unaccounted for, one dog, and two towns burned down

Book One: Carrie

Note: I have read Carrie before.

Originally published in 1974, the copy I read must have been put out not long after that. Unfortunately, it’s not a first edition (I checked,) but the cover is nifty. The girl on the cover reminded me of J-lo – which hindered my enjoyment of the book as I could only picture Carrie looking like a hot latina and not the pudgy acne-riddled kid she really is. Damn them! Who would pick on J-lo?

See, totally looks like J-lo

For the two of you out there who don’t know the story of “Carrie,” a quick synopsis. A pudgy, unpopular, tortured girl discovers she has psychic gifts and opens a can of whoopass on her tormentors. And just about everybody else. The story is told through news articles, testimony transcripts, third-person narration, and excerpts from scientific studies/memoirs. It makes for an interesting mix of perspectives and I can see the nascent characterization abilities King is known for here. Even with a much shorter page count (199) than most of his work, King still manages to include those little asides that highlight character’s motivation, even if they are only on two pages in the whole book.

I did have some questions about the book. On page 61, Sue Snell is imagining her future “…screwing, fighting, or refusing to grin each time some mythic honcho yelled frog.” I have no clue what that is supposed to mean. Ideas anyone? Maybe it was seventies slang, though a quick Google search seems to negate this. On page 121, Margaret is reminiscing about how she “…almost killed [Carrie] then. Ralph stopped her.” That must have been a neat trick as Ralph died seven months before Carrie was born. Creepy.

There was one more interesting nugget in the book. On page 183, it’s quoted that

“…even if isolation could be made succesful, would the American people allow a small, pretty girl-child to be ripped away from her parents at the first sign of puberty to be locked in a bank vault for the rest of her life? I doubt it.”

Sound like the plot to “Firestarter” to anyone else?

Lowdown:

I like “Carrie,” but I think it’s a real bummer of a book. I do recommend it to others, especially readers who don’t have the patience for a thousand page book. It moves quickly, has complex characters, and isn’t too gory.

Body count:440, with 18 people still unaccounted for.