Discussing the book... Spoilers

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
Well, sorry to say, but it`s not one of the best books in the SK Universe. The first 300 pages or so were awesome, interesting, intriguing....and then it fell flat. Hard. They borrowed from The Talisman, I mean, Our Place is what? Somewhere in the Territories? Or maybe a place from the DT opus? Obviously, elements of The Stand were in there, UtD....
It was just very, very dry, I felt nothing for nobody, the character backgrounds were a chore to read through, some shouldn't have been in the book at all, like the 2 idiot brothers and their bazookas...what was the point of them being there? I had no one to root for, somehow this book is stripped of emotions, leaves you feeling empty. I kinda wished Frank would bite the bullet, cause he was an annoying a$$hole and I felt a bit sorry for the doc dying, but then again, I didn`t really care either. How many times was Mickey`s nose job mentioned or Frank punching the wall? It was like they need to remind of us that every 20 pages. Nothing was explained, why it happened, where did Evie come from and ...I don`t know man, Our Place was like watching Oprah, then it switches back to the real world and there it`s half Jerry Springer, half Doctor Phil, cause Clint was just as boring as Phil is.
Everything that`s in the novel, you read every day, absolutely every day on the internet or you hear it on the news or some talk show, so it didn`t feel like it was fresh, original, it didn`t let me connect at all.
Yeah, kinda disappointed.
2 out of 5 stars.
 
Last edited:

MarkS73

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2014
350
1,679
50
Netherlands
I totally agree, hard to believe Stephen King was even involved in this book. The absolute low point was the point where the policewoman (forgot her name) shoots the prisoner and then starts doubting herself whether she also would've shot her if the woman would've been a white woman. I kinda felt that the bazooka brothers were in the book to show us that only men are capable of such idiocy's, but who knows? I kinda failed to see the whole point of the book...
Oh yeah, men are bad and women are good...

The strong point of Stephen books are, for me at lest, the fact that i am always totally involved with the characters, no matter how unbelieveble the circumstances are, i sort of become the character, that was totally lacking in Sleeping Beauties.

On a side note, i could explain all this a lot better in Dutch, but except for one or two other members nobody here would know what the hell i'm talking about...:)

Still a fan though, but this book was a miss for me...:)
 
Last edited:

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
I totally agree, hard to believe Stephen King was even involved in this book. The absolute low point was the point where the policewoman (forgot her name) shoots the prisoner and then starts doubting herself whether she also would've shot her if the woman would've been a white woman. I kinda felt that the bazooka brothers were in the book to show us that only men are capable of such idiocy's, but who knows? I kinda failed to see the whole point of the book...
Oh yeah, men are bad and women are good...

Still a fan though, but this book was a miss for me...:)

Of course I`m stil a fan, this is just an opinion on a book. :)

And yes, that part annoyed me to no end, somebody really thinks like that?
If you kill someone by accident or misunderstanding, you are devastated ( if you have a conscience ) because you killed a human being, not a black or a white human being, you killed a person, that`s it.
 

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
I totally agree, hard to believe Stephen King was even involved in this book. The absolute low point was the point where the policewoman (forgot her name) shoots the prisoner and then starts doubting herself whether she also would've shot her if the woman would've been a white woman. I kinda felt that the bazooka brothers were in the book to show us that only men are capable of such idiocy's, but who knows? I kinda failed to see the whole point of the book...
Oh yeah, men are bad and women are good...

The strong point of Stephen books are, for me at lest, the fact that i am always totally involved with the characters, no matter how unbelieveble the circumstances are, i sort of become the character, that was totally lacking in Sleeping Beauties.

On a side note, i could explain all this a lot better in Dutch, but except for one or two other members nobody here would know what the hell i'm talking about...:)

Still a fan though, but this book was a miss for me...:)

:lol:
Yeah, me too, in Serbian this would have been a lot more concise...but, it is what it is, I did my best. :)
 

MarkS73

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2014
350
1,679
50
Netherlands
Of course I`m stil a fan, this is just an opinion on a book. :)

And yes, that part annoyed me to no end, somebody really thinks like that?
If you kill someone by accident or misunderstanding, you are devastated ( if you have a conscience ) because you killed a human being, not a black or a white human being, you killed a person, that`s it.

The King's tried very hard with this book to make all sorts of statements on events that are hot in todays society and the news but failed in doing so in my opinion. They should have focused on telling a solid story. I honestly don't understand where the whole men/woman thing comes from, who thinks like that? I know it's a thing, maybe more in the U.S. then where i come from, but to write a whole book based on the fact that the world would be better for women whithout men i just don't get. Throughout the book i felt like i was missing the point, i started wondering is this is how women feel about men and i just never noticed. I asked a few, and maybe the King's should have done that to before writing the book...:)
The whole book i was waiting for everyone to finally understand that men aren't as bad as they thought but it just does'nt happen. Most women return to our world because they just do'nt knwo any better...
 

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
Well, some returned because of their kids and husbands, actually but yeah, in the whole, I agree with you.
Like you said - what was the point of it all, exactly?
Dunno, man, the non existing connection between the characters and myself had almost never happened before, for me, in a King book ( except in The Regulators...geeeezz, is that ever a bad book, at least for me ) and there were no emotions...I don`t think I laughed once through the whole book and I was also never sad for anyone.
Usually when I read King, there have been tears around many times....this time I was just bored.
Sorry, hope nobody gets offended, it`s just my two cents.
And Mark`s, so that makes it 4 cents. :D
 

doowopgirl

very avid fan
Aug 7, 2009
6,946
25,119
65
dublin ireland
I just finished Sleeping Beauties and I was very surprised and pleased at he ending. I started of very skeptical. I was seeing Invasion of the Body Snatchers with the politics and world in a microcosm as in UTD. As it went on it turned into it's own thing. Didn't like Lila's treatment of Clint. She was very unfair. He had a lot of issues she didn't let him deal with. I was very glad it didn't turn into men bad, women good. We all have our strenghts and weaknesses and vive la difference. Loved the ending.
 

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
I just finished Sleeping Beauties and I was very surprised and pleased at he ending. I started of very skeptical. I was seeing Invasion of the Body Snatchers with the politics and world in a microcosm as in UTD. As it went on it turned into it's own thing. Didn't like Lila's treatment of Clint. She was very unfair. He had a lot of issues she didn't let him deal with. I was very glad it didn't turn into men bad, women good. We all have our strenghts and weaknesses and vive la difference. Loved the ending.

Glad you liked it. :)
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
Right? Well, of course I always intended to read it (I read everything by SK) but honestly I was not enthusiastic about it and had forgotten it was even being released the day it came out. What a pleasant surprise it is!

Cool :) I'm glad you're reading it because...

You already know the characters arn't very likable, and SK and Owen probably purposefully made them unlikable, so you'll be able to concentrate more on the story. I'm real curious as to what you think about the ending :)
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
Tend to agree with most of what has already been stated. Overall a disappointing book. Too many characters and plot lines that went nowhere. My guess is that Owen wrote the bulk of this book as it has the definite feel of trying too hard to create a Stephen King-type novel. Not really Owen's style. I really enjoyed his "Double Feature." So it isn't a knock on Owen per se. His style just didn't work here. I do give the book some credit for straying from the standard plot lines. There is, for example, no real bad or good guy (although it implies all guys are bad I guess LOL) or winners and losers. Agree that the PC references to police shootings and blaming men for the ills of the world seemed forced and unnecessary. Just some really weird stuff that make a jumble of the narrative. And those bizarre character names! Wow - there some lulus that made it hard to remember who was who in a 700+ page book. I thought the Griner brothers were the most entertaining characters in the whole book which says a lot when their involvement goes absolutely nowhere in advancing the plot.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
chizmar12large_405x540.jpg
just finished this so,...I will be embarking on my hike through the mountains of pages later today....I'll see how I feel about it.....I have a little trepidation because I know how different Owen's style is-but he and Dad both said that their "voices" blended well....and I always say, a "bad" King book is better than most other "great" books any day....
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
65,192
59
sweden
I'm about halfway and i think it is good, not great but far from the clunkers he has produced. (Tommyknockers, good parts but a bad book) It is too long, too many sidestorys/backstorys for its own good so i think it would have been better at say 600 pages instead of 700. In this novel there are almost only grownups and alot of them. Each of them are described with good points and bad points so noone is an obviouschoice to root for. I think that was the intention. There is good and bad in everyone. With King, if you have a big cast as here, it can happen and is not a flaw in the novel. This novel is not herodriven but driven by the actions of this disease and the actions of the affected people. It has its weak points, some actions and thoughts by some people seem a little too much but that is more of a scratch in the vehicle, it does not stop the motor from going. That said i have still the second half to read so will see if it holds up.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
Cool :) I'm glad you're reading it because...

You already know the characters arn't very likable, and SK and Owen probably purposefully made them unlikable, so you'll be able to concentrate more on the story. I'm real curious as to what you think about the ending :)
You may have to wait a while for me to finish. I take forever to read through a book these days.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
I'm about halfway and i think it is good, not great but far from the clunkers he has produced. (Tommyknockers, good parts but a bad book) It is too long, too many sidestorys/backstorys for its own good so i think it would have been better at say 600 pages instead of 700. In this novel there are almost only grownups and alot of them. Each of them are described with good points and bad points so noone is an obviouschoice to root for. I think that was the intention. There is good and bad in everyone. With King, if you have a big cast as here, it can happen and is not a flaw in the novel. This novel is not herodriven but driven by the actions of this disease and the actions of the affected people. It has its weak points, some actions and thoughts by some people seem a little too much but that is more of a scratch in the vehicle, it does not stop the motor from going. That said i have still the second half to read so will see if it holds up.

I thought the first half of the book was somewhat better than the second. So I will be interested to hear your final opinion. When I got to about page 500 I started to feel like the Germans in Stalingrad. I could see the Volga but couldn't get to it no matter the effort. I avoided reading any major reviews until I had finished and they were fairly brutal. That is unusual for a King book since most of even his recent efforts have gotten favorable reviews. This one just didn't seem to work. Owen mentioned at the event I attended that they started this as a project to be developed into a potential TV series. And it has all the bad hallmarks of such.