The author, whom I think I'm in general agreement regarding SK's place among the masters, makes the statement that SK is "mean" and even "heartless' in dealing with his characters. He seems to mean that in a "good" way, given the context, but it's still untrue. King is unafraid to kill off his readers' favorite characters, that's true, but it isn't because he's mean, and it's certainly not heartlessness. If he were, the deaths wouldn't come off as nearly as heartbreakingly realistic. It's because he's committed to the literary school of Naturalism. Now characters who are killed in a slasher movie, who are not generally intended to evoke sympathy with the audience---there, the author is indeed being heartless. But not King. With him, it's a whole different story.
Also, the author says that SK shows courage in killing off characters like
Tad Trenton in Cujo. I can't argue with this, especially in light of the fact that many readers (including myself) objected (I didn't send SK any letters regarding Tad's death,
but I've read that letters arrived by the truckload). I don't think I would, in fact, have King's guts. I would never kill of a kid in one of my own self-published stories though. Not because I'm chicken --it's just not what I do.
Well, I agree about the Cujo thing. He broke his own rules as set out in Danse Macabre, or at least I remember thinking that he did. But in On Writing, he says that he wrote Cujo during really dark days of substance abuse and really doesn't remember it, which actually helped me out quite a bit in pondering why he would write what he did.
i.e., write something so hopeless and empty. Yeah, real life is sometimes hopeless and empty, but if I want to experience that, I'll stick with real life
that's funny, I thought it was The Tommyknockers he wrote during that period,of course,maybe it was several..I personally had difficulty with that one,and Desperation,and the Regulators,don't know if they were all around the same time,but I found them hard to like..
that's funny, I thought it was The Tommyknockers he wrote during that period,of course,maybe it was several..I personally had difficulty with that one,and Desperation,and the Regulators,don't know if they were all around the same time,but I found them hard to like..
...I would describe him as a "realist" as far as deaths of characters...people die in his stories, just as they do in "real life"-some for obvious reasons, others just because fate would have it...there are no gratuitous deaths...
I remember reading / watching a certain character being smashed in the head with a cylinder block thrown from a passing car - right outta the blue - and me thinking " WHAT A HEARTLESS BASTID SK IS!"
Poor girl ... (Read it - movie ain't been made- but I swear I saw it happen ??
He's not as mean as he used to be, unfortunately. I thought Dr. Sleep was going to be a return to full-on horror. The good guys come out with nary a scratch. Yawn.
Before its all said and done, I'd like to see ol boy do one heller of a horrible book--just go all out, for old time's sake. I don't want him listening to ANYBODY; I hate hate HATE when he says stuff like, "well, this scene was suppose to be much worse but (Tabby, his editor, the mailman, whoever) said NO WAY." I want him to ignore ANYONE'S opinion and just go full bore with the horror, one last time.
I doubt he's got it in him anymore (that's a challenge).
He's not as mean as he used to be, unfortunately. I thought Dr. Sleep was going to be a return to full-on horror. The good guys come out with nary a scratch. Yawn.
Before its all said and done, I'd like to see ol boy do one heller of a horrible book--just go all out, for old time's sake. I don't want him listening to ANYBODY; I hate hate HATE when he says stuff like, "well, this scene was suppose to be much worse but (Tabby, his editor, the mailman, whoever) said NO WAY." I want him to ignore ANYONE'S opinion and just go full bore with the horror, one last time.
I doubt he's got it in him anymore (that's a challenge).
I agree --I think he's got it in him --I guess I second your challenge. I want to see him go all out too. I'd like that and I think it would be epic. Just do it! I hope he does.
My biggest objection to the ending of The Mist movie was that it avoided the uncertainty of the ending of the novella. I liked it that we never actually found out what happened to them. It let our imaginations run free. The movie's ending changed that.
What I love about The Mist's ending is that, while we can speculate about how the those who escape the grocery store fare, it doesn't really matter if humanity's ultimately doomed. It's just what happens to species which can't adapt in the evolutionary scheme of things.
Evolution - that is, Man's final rise to the highest level of His incompetence - caused the creatures from beyond to rule the Earth, taking Man's place.
I don't remember which foreword or afterword (maybe The Bachman Books) where Mr. King specifically referred to "a time when I still believed in unhappy endings."
For me, I tend to believe that stories sometimes take their own directions and demand things that the author might not have originally had in mind. It's okay with me when my favorite characters die in stories. Beats the hell out of my favorite characters in real life dying off the way they do.
And plus besides, if you go into a story with a fair certainty that "our hero" and everyone he loves are going to be just fine at the end . . .
He's not as mean as he used to be, unfortunately. I thought Dr. Sleep was going to be a return to full-on horror. The good guys come out with nary a scratch. Yawn.
Before its all said and done, I'd like to see ol boy do one heller of a horrible book--just go all out, for old time's sake. I don't want him listening to ANYBODY; I hate hate HATE when he says stuff like, "well, this scene was suppose to be much worse but (Tabby, his editor, the mailman, whoever) said NO WAY." I want him to ignore ANYONE'S opinion and just go full bore with the horror, one last time.
I doubt he's got it in him anymore (that's a challenge).
This is exactly what I thought when I was most of the way through Under the Dome and still entertaining the idea that this might be the one where King was actually going to kill absolutely everybody.
Probably the only guy in popular fiction who could get away with it.
I don't remember which foreword or afterword (maybe The Bachman Books) where Mr. King specifically referred to "a time when I still believed in unhappy endings."
For me, I tend to believe that stories sometimes take their own directions and demand things that the author might not have originally had in mind. It's okay with me when my favorite characters die in stories. Beats the hell out of my favorite characters in real life dying off the way they do.
And plus besides, if you go into a story with a fair certainty that "our hero" and everyone he loves are going to be just fine at the end . . .
You say true, I say thankee. I like when he catches ya off guard--WHAM! One of your favorite characters just got whacked! Keeps ya on yer toes, so it does.
I remember reading / watching a certain character being smashed in the head with a cylinder block thrown from a passing car - right outta the blue - and me thinking " WHAT A HEARTLESS BASTID SK IS!"
Poor girl ... (Read it - movie ain't been made- but I swear I saw it happen ??
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