Just Finished Doctor Sleep!

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Anduan Pirate Princess

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2015
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What a great, great book. This was one of the most satisfying sequels I have ever read. Everything that Dan became was so right.

Here are a few random thoughts, questions, and observations. I am no book reviewer by any means, so I'll leave that to the other members here.

Firstly,
the very last page had the tears running freely, because the mentioning of pets usually makes me lose it. The "bad guy" orderly who commits elder abuse ends up worried about the fate of his beloved dog as he lays dying. :too_sad:
The theme of forgiveness and the idea that all people possess some amount of both good and evil is prevalent. Even though the True is detestable, I couldn't help but like, or at least admire, the members for the strong bonds of love and loyalty that held them together.

I liked the fact that in this book the main forces of "good" and "evil" were female. This is the first of King's novels I have read that features powerful women as main characters, and it was an interesting change.

Child of the 80s alert: The first thing I thought of whenever Azrael was mentioned was "The Smurfs." Azrael was Gargamel's cat. No connection whatsoever, I'm sure, but just throwing it out there because it made me nostalgic, lol.
16300cc5-07b6-4655-8e00-8c3f58b85354.jpg

Silent Sarey's special talent sparked my interest especially, since it is shared with the incarnation of Flagg from Eyes: becoming dim. Is there any significance there, or am I reading way too much into it?
Either way, it doesn't really matter, because it doesn't help her much; she was defeated rather easily, but in such a delicious way.

I also noticed that Dan says the same phrase that Jake does in The Gunslinger; "There are other worlds than these." One of those interesting bits of harmonization. :smile:

I guess that's it for now. I loved it so, so much.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
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The theme of forgiveness and the idea that all people possess some amount of both good and evil is prevalent. Even though the True is detestable, I couldn't help but like, or at least admire, the members for the strong bonds of love and loyalty that held them together.

This is one of the things that eludes a lot of writers who are merely good. I would not necessarily describe the villains in this story as "sympathetic," but they are a family of a kind, are they not? We may not think of them as persecuted, but they certainly see themselves that way and they have (as you point out) this bond that makes all of them -- even the strongest among them -- more as a unit than any of them can be alone. This is a thing you could say about most families; just as you might notice that even the "best" families can be broken in small ways that only their members understand.

We may not weep for the True -- and this may be stretching the point to make a point -- but they find what they need where they can and use it as they deem they must; and discard it when they have no further use for it. This happens to varying degrees every day all around us, with people who consider themselves no more "evil" than you or I.

Just a thought.
 
May 3, 2016
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I also just have finished Dr. Sleep. It's a great story. Like a real King story in the beginning it's a bit foggy because of all new characters. Once you know them you start to love them. King has the ability to make you love the good guys and hate the bad guys (normally I always love the bad guys). It's a pity the book isn't bigger for I would like to read it some more days.
 

The Walkin' Dude

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Jul 5, 2016
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Very good points all around. I liked this book as well and I loved just how much of a different feel it has when compared to The Shining. Good to see he didn't just try to replicate and capture the same feeling as the first one. I think it's good that he waited as long as he did.
 
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elgatonyc

New Member
Aug 13, 2006
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I would not necessarily describe the villains in this story as "sympathetic," but they are a family of a kind, are they not? We may not think of them as persecuted, but they certainly see themselves that way and they have (as you point out) this bond that makes all of them -- even the strongest among them -- more as a unit than any of them can be alone.

Well, SK does describe the True Knot as a "paranormal Manson family" and, like them, these average looking mostly middle aged people are murderers. SK focused on Andi and her abuse by her father for her reason to hate the world and agreeing to join the True Knot and I expected more from her. It was strange that after all that that SK chose a different path for her instead of including her in the final showdown. At least we saw her motivations for joining. I was left wondering what the others' were. And how did Rose & co. manage to turn twins? Still, SK gets us to understand their sense of unity which a lesser writer would've glossed over.
 
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Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
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I would not necessarily describe the villains in this story as "sympathetic," but they are a family of a kind, are they not? We may not think of them as persecuted, but they certainly see themselves that way and they have (as you point out) this bond that makes all of them -- even the strongest among them -- more as a unit than any of them can be alone.

Well, SK does describe the True Knot as a "paranormal Manson family" and, like them, these average looking mostly middle aged people are murderers. SK focused on Andi and her abuse by her father for her reason to hate the world and agreeing to join the True Knot and I expected more from her. It was strange that after all that that SK chose a different path for her instead of including her in the final showdown. At least we saw her motivations for joining. I was left wondering what the others' were. And how did Rose & co. manage to turn twins? Still, SK gets us to understand their sense of unity which a lesser writer would've glossed over.
Interesting observation - it is funny but now that I am of an age to be considered "middle aged" I find myself, while not necessarily 'persecuted', to be treated differently by people in their 20s or 30s.

I have become that person who walks a bit slower than them and they feel the need to speed past me at light speeds. It makes me a bit sad. I used to be able to walk at quite a clip and even to run but after being at a sedentary full time job for over 10 years and going through a couple of health issues I can sort of sympathize or relate to the True Knot.

Yes, they are evil and I don't want to be like them, that's for sure!

They feed off of it -
like when they gathered just outside of New York to watch what happened on September 11, 2001

You almost make me want to read the book again!

(I'm a bit behind however - still have to catch up with both Finder's Keepers and End of Watch, actually) :indecisiveness:
 
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