Refresh My Memory

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HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
OK - I'm on a mission to post in a novel thread every day. I remember reading this in the early 90s right when it was published and I remember loving it. But I can't remember exactly what went on. I do recall the Fates and I was fascinated by all that. Is everyone's memory as horrible as mine? I was a new mom during those days, so I was preoccupied. Anyhow, I picked this up at a thrift store recently - hardcover, looks like it was never touched, and I am going to re-read it someday.

What are your thoughts on this one?
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
I enjoyed this story as I have enjoyed all of the stories from Stephen King. I read and reread this one like I did his others. I was fascinated by the use of color in this one...I was fascinated by a question on a previous version of the SKMB that asked if the green man was a force for good, or evil...maybe the member said good/bad...but you get the drift. I was fascinated by Old Dor. I enjoyed all of the old people in this one...was it Mrs...Peregine? Probably have the name wrong, but she scolds Ralph and this is a hoot, still lolly-gagging along...maybe she said something about his mouth hanging open. Heh! I enjoyed the connections to other King stories...there is a keyhole with a rose, or roses, on the back cover. Perrine. Her name is Perrine. Says he looks like the village idiot. I enjoyed the idea that there could be another force in the universe...aside from good/bad...the kind that went to King Herod, so on so forth. Esther is her first name.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
OK - I'm on a mission to post in a novel thread every day. I remember reading this in the early 90s right when it was published and I remember loving it. But I can't remember exactly what went on. I do recall the Fates and I was fascinated by all that. Is everyone's memory as horrible as mine? I was a new mom during those days, so I was preoccupied. Anyhow, I picked this up at a thrift store recently - hardcover, looks like it was never touched, and I am going to re-read it someday.

What are your thoughts on this one?
...many people have it at or near the bottom of their list of his novels-I myself and others found it endlessly fascinating and a well qualified contender in his lexicon...also has a nice DT tie-in...
 

OKKingFan

Well-Known Member
Jun 15, 2013
138
371
Oklahoma
I really liked Insomnia too. I read it before the Dark Tower series, so this book really made me want to see what this Crimson King guy was all about. Great characters in this book, and like doowop girl, I liked the strings and the colors surrounding each person. Good stuff.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
It was such an interesting book! Very metaphysical, with the auras/colors, and the Doctors (Fates) were pretty horrifying. I liked how it tied Greek mythology into the whole DT mythos (well, this and Rose Madder)--I think it was about here that the DT became epic, in the classical definition, by tying in heroes and legends to Mr. King's own world-building. The saga teetered on a knife's edge at this point, IMHO--the whole story could have become absurd--but taking that risk elevated the whole work (thankfully).
 

dsurrett

Well-Known Member
Jul 10, 2006
2,493
621
63
Alabama, USA
I finished the audio version for the second time this week, the last time was maybe 5 years ago, so I remembered some of what happened but not all, so parts of it were like reading it for the first time. I liked it better the second time through.
It's definitely worth a re-read!
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
This was the exact moment I sobbed in The Talisman:

"Wolf collapsed like a falling tree.
Jack knelt, turned him over. The hair was melting away from Wolf's cheeks with the eerie speed of time-lapse photography. His eyes had gone hazel again. And to Jack he looked horribly tired.
"Jacky--" Wolf raised a bloody hand and touched Jack's cheek.
"Shoot...you? Did he..."
"No," Jack said, cradling his friend's head. "No, Wolf, never got me. Never did."
"I..." Wolf's eyes closed and then opened slowly again. He smiled with incredible sweetness and spoke carefully, enunciating each word, obviously needing to convey this if nothing else. "I...kept...my herd...safe."
 

mustangclaire

There's petrol runnin' through my veins.
Jun 15, 2010
2,956
12,726
52
East Sussex, UK
This was the exact moment I sobbed in The Talisman:

"Wolf collapsed like a falling tree.
Jack knelt, turned him over. The hair was melting away from Wolf's cheeks with the eerie speed of time-lapse photography. His eyes had gone hazel again. And to Jack he looked horribly tired.
"Jacky--" Wolf raised a bloody hand and touched Jack's cheek.
"Shoot...you? Did he..."
"No," Jack said, cradling his friend's head. "No, Wolf, never got me. Never did."
"I..." Wolf's eyes closed and then opened slowly again. He smiled with incredible sweetness and spoke carefully, enunciating each word, obviously needing to convey this if nothing else. "I...kept...my herd...safe."
So true, me too. Even reading that quote. I think that was when I realised how King touched me so deeply and I knew I was totally stuck for life.