Nice and sad story. To me it was obvious that
the mortuary owner was the real killer - dumb sheriff...
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I didn't catch the Q&A the first go round--thanks, Bev.
Was just reading it now... I'll get back to you.Anyone read the new short story "A Death" yet? Curious if it is supernatural or not, or if it is non-supernatural horror. Also, any opinions would be interesting. I sometimes dislike reading long works on line (not always, though).
Still reading... (in between moderation )Thanks for the replies. I await FNoir's opinion. What did you think of it, John?
I did like it... in the way that it gripped me right away from the first couple of paragraphs and in the way that he put me through a number of emotions in a short space of time:Okay, I just finished A Death. Hooked me from the beginning; writing, as always, great.
However, overall, because of the ending, specifically the concept of the ending and the solution to the story, if you will, I can honestly say I did not like the story. In the least.
Did you other guys really like it? I remember seeing Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace with some friends -- younger than me -- and I distinctly recall not liking the film, but not wanting to say anything because there was such a buildup to the movie event, including the buildup of all of us going to see it, that I didn't want to ruin it for them. Friends my own age who grew up with Star Wars would have been easier to commiserate with in terms of how disappointing that film was, but if I had said such a sentiment to this particular group, I felt that they would turn on me because of where they were in their life-stage (hopefully that makes sense and you understand what I mean). Nevertheless, as they said they liked it, I knew they didn't, it was written on their faces. And then, as you can imagine, they eventually said they didn't really like it.
I am under no circumstance suggesting people are lying; not at all. I just relate that anecdote to imply that maybe there is such pressure to like a new King story that we may kid ourselves about it. Quite honestly, this was not a good story, it was not clever, at some point I figured the twist out (and hoped that it wasn't the twist), and hoped there would be a second twist. (The idea that Boni proposed, whether in jest or not, would have been a better way to end the tale, although it wouldn't have saved it.) I probably thought of the ending only because the thread here said there would be a twist, so I was on the lookout; otherwise, I wouldn't have seen it coming, I'm pretty sure (my mind just doesn't work swiftly like that in most cases while I am reading a narrative or viewing a film).
Well, I hope the other stories in the collection that will be released later this year are better. A Death was no The Jaunt. Or Quitters, Inc. Or Everything's Eventual. A Death didn't really say anything, it had no commercial hook, it wasn't fun, the ending was inelegant, and because of this, because the engine of the tale had no creative oil running through the pistons, it seized up on me and ground to a halt. I may contradict myself a bit by saying I loved the pacing and the expression of the plot, but in most short stories, it is the concept that is important, the idea behind it, no matter whether it appears at the beginning, the end, or somewhere in the middle. That is the oil that lubricates the gears of entertainment value; the oil used here was stale, solid, ineffective. There was no entertainment value. This never would have been published by The New Yorker without a name like King's attached.
Would love to know Bev Vincent's opinion on the story, but I could understand him not wanting to reply to such a request. He might want to write about it later, but I would just like either confirmation or denial of the following line of thought: this just wasn't King at his finest (and he is, and always will be, a fine writer, this story notwithstanding).