Another great story

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guido tkp

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2009
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outside the dome
it took me a few tries to 'get' into it...but then it just sorta swept me up and floated me along...

i thought it was a great read...one of those books, like DC, BOB, LS ...maybe even GG, that rely as much on a really well developed, finely tuned character plonked down into a richly told tale with intriguing places to take us...it was really well done on nearly all levels...

my only misgivings (minor, at best) were of the almost, for me, usual variety: the ending...

like so many other really good books, his endings, for me, sometimes feel all sort of....i don't know...both rushed and sort of incomplete-ish...things suddenly start happening and i'm often left all sort of rumble-tumbled...sorta scratching my head....

it's like 3-4-500 pages of top notch, i 'get' every moment of this...

and then...BAM...what just happened ??
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
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it took me a few tries to 'get' into it...but then it just sorta swept me up and floated me along...

i thought it was a great read...one of those books, like DC, BOB, LS ...maybe even GG, that rely as much on a really well developed, finely tuned character plonked down into a richly told tale with intriguing places to take us...it was really well done on nearly all levels...

my only misgivings (minor, at best) were of the almost, for me, usual variety: the ending...

like so many other really good books, his endings, for me, sometimes feel all sort of....i don't know...both rushed and sort of incomplete-ish...things suddenly start happening and i'm often left all sort of rumble-tumbled...sorta scratching my head....

it's like 3-4-500 pages of top notch, i 'get' every moment of this...

and then...BAM...what just happened ??

What I liked about the ending is the possible connection to The Dark Tower saga. Probably just me so I won't bother going into detail and too I imagine most would believe it a spoiler, but think wells and Wolves...and too, there was that line earlier in Duma, had to do with a well and maybe a kid on the east coast. Don't recall the exact details. I've noticed in a few of King's stories, say like in It...maybe The Talisman...probably others...there is a kind of climax a ways before the last page. Reminded of something Twain said, or wrote...about endings...something he was working on, didn't know how to end it so he marched everyone out into the yard and threw them down the well.
 

taylor29

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2014
103
391
my only misgivings (minor, at best) were of the almost, for me, usual variety: the ending...


like so many other really good books, his endings, for me, sometimes feel all sort of....i don't know...both rushed and sort of incomplete-ish...things suddenly start happening and i'm often left all sort of rumble-tumbled...sorta scratching my head....

it's like 3-4-500 pages of top notch, i 'get' every moment of this...

and then...BAM...what just happened ??[/QUOTE]

I think the endings are King's biggest challenge as a storyteller. At the end, most of the plots deflate like balloons. It can be frustrating as a reader....
 

guido tkp

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2009
2,632
480
outside the dome
yes..i can see that,T29...some times i feel as if he has too many balls floating through the air and can't quite juggle them down

hey, walt...i got that too...and, if i think back on it, maybe by the time i got to the end of that book, i was possibly feeling like 'oh gooooooooooooodddddddd !!! not another book suddenly taken over by having to interconnect it all !'

which...if i think back on it, doesn't make sense...'cause an awful lot that does go on in DK (and, for that matter, alot of other books) could easily be...influenced...by the greater wheel...kinda like pieces of a puzzle that only make sense at the end...

either way...when i have that sense of ending deja-vu....it never really bother me a whole lot, or changes the way i feel about the book...they just sometimes hit me as being...feeling rushed...odd...awkward...like something might be missing at times

as sting said...it's probably me
 

Autumn13

Active Member
Feb 14, 2012
43
101
It was that bad. Especially towards the end, and in italics every time. Drove me crazy!
The italics can be a problem and not just in Duma Key. The type face used in so many of his books can make it hard to differentiate an h from a b. I have to stop and figure out if the word is how or bow (sorry but the italics feature on this site doesn't use that font).
I thought it was old age creeping up on me. I have to have those "readers" all the time now.
But as to how many times Wireman called Edgar or Jack "muchacho" - how many times do guys call each other buddy or man on a daily basis?
I actually looked up some of the Spanish phrases and got a hoot out of some and learned a lot from others.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
New guy chiming in.
One of my favs.
2 thumbs up.
Welcome CTKeith :cheerful:

13407491.png
:tickled_pink:
 

Mocos

Active Member
Mar 6, 2016
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Tacoma, WA
I read it in print about 6 years ago and wasn't too impressed. Now, with my sight failing, I "read" it again as an audiobook and loved it. I remember the "teef" on the bigboy and am disappointed that I didn't notice it on the audio. Oh well. Anyway, what really struck me this time around is how Perse really isn't very scary, but everytime the sun goes down, I get a little nervous now, lol. I think it's because of the heroes in the book. They were scared. The whole mood and tone...hell, the attitude of the book seemed to scream that something horrendous would happen if Perse was allowed to stay awake, even though I didn't see any real evidence of that. To me, Perse seems like a somewhat mischievous and definitely uncaring demigod out of mythology. She's just also extremely spiteful. When someone tries to put a stop to her fun, she takes full revenge. That's all. But to Edgar, Wireman, and probably Jack (certainly him, by the end), that revenge is, and will be, horrendous. And that feeling was communicated perfectly. I think that if I saw a bird flying upside-down, I'd think it only highly unusual, but when Edgar saw it, I clearly felt the insanity of it. Great emoting in this book.
 
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César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
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I think that if I saw a bird flying upside-down, I'd think it only highly unusual, but when Edgar saw it, I clearly felt the insanity of it.

Dunno about that. It would not be a bird spinning and flying upside-down for a short while, I think, but one that looks perfectly comfortable and stable flying as if gravity were pulling it to the sky, instead of the floor.

dodo.jpg

I think some of young Elizabeth's creations could fit right into a cartoon (like any appearance of Wackyland, originally from a Porky Pig cartoon, or some Felix the Cat series).

If I saw a bird flying that way, I would definitely keep thinking it is impossible, even if I saw it happen.
 

Rrty

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Jun 4, 2007
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As the thread seems to indicate, this is a book that probably leans a bit more toward the ambiguous-like side (whatever that means, whatever I am trying to say, I guess).

For some reason though I enjoyed this book. It seems like the type of book I should not have enjoyed...it probably was too long for what it was trying to say. But I liked it. And I enjoy rereading certain passages now and again. I especially loved the character of Wireman. He seemed like a cool guy. Edgar also was very cool.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
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Sorry to hijack this old thread but there is no point making a new one just to add my 2pence worth (yeah, I'm English :)).

I liked it, it was a bit long as kings books usually are (not always a bad thing) but still good for the most part. I still get annoyed by use of spoilers - it was the last time I ever saw her again - now you know she's going to die later in the book and it's not as impacting.

My main issue with duma key is, I know king likes to be bold and brave enough to kill loved characters but he took the p a bit with this one. I think he missed a trick by not killing
jack
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
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Aguascalientes, Mexico
Sorry to hijack this old thread but there is no point making a new one just to add my 2pence worth (yeah, I'm English :)).

I liked it, it was a bit long as kings books usually are (not always a bad thing) but still good for the most part. I still get annoyed by use of spoilers - it was the last time I ever saw her again - now you know she's going to die later in the book and it's not as impacting.

My main issue with duma key is, I know king likes to be bold and brave enough to kill loved characters but he took the p a bit with this one. I think he missed a trick by not killing
jack

I always prefer to "revive" old threads with similar themes than just create new ones for every little question or comment, so I totally get what you say.

About killing that specific character, it would have been too much. :down:

That character was just too perfect to die. :a11:
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
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The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
I always prefer to "revive" old threads with similar themes than just create new ones for every little question or comment, so I totally get what you say.

About killing that specific character, it would have been too much. :down:

That character was just too perfect to die. :a11:
Yeah, I know. It just felt like he was on a mission with this book, he was like "...and you can die, and you can die, and you can die..."

I wasn't expecting
Jack, Wireman and Edgar to survive but at the end I was like "huh, they did all survive, I wasn't expecting....Oh wait wireman died anyway"