Me Cussing King

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Neil W

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2008
1,203
2,592
Isle of Wight UK
He has chilled me, he has thrilled me, he has made me laugh, he has made me cry, he has done all of these things - and often - over my many years as a Constant Reader.

Only once has he made me cuss him out (but I had to put the book down for a day or two to shed tears first).

That was when he killed Jake to save his own damn life.

I admit that I had got my brain tangled up in the whole meta-fiction mish-mash, and that my reaction was ridiculous. But even so!

I had been travelling, in Jake's company, for as many years as the Dark Tower series had been in print. I loved that boy - maybe not as much as Roland, or Susanna, or Eddie, or Oy, but I loved him just the same. And then the damn writer - who exercised total control over Jake's life, remember - decides to kill him, just to save his own real-world life. And he didn't need to, he had already survived! The selfishness appalled me.

Then I got my head untangled. I was still saddened by Jake's death (one of a number of instances where Mr K has moved me to tears), and I was still angry at The Author. But I was also amused at him and at myself, and full of admiration for the cleverness and power of his writing.

Should this be in the Dark Tower forum? No, others may be cross with him for other things in his books.

As long as he carries on writing them, I'm happy!
 
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OKKingFan

Well-Known Member
Jun 15, 2013
138
371
Oklahoma
Neil, that brings up a good question. What stories/books has King written that made you mad for one reason or another?
I was sort of mad at him for The Colorado Kid, because I thought the whole thing was a waste of time if you're not going to solve the mystery.
I also was mad that
he killed Mattie in Bag of Bones.
It was totally unexpected, and also a very gruesome death to boot.
I guess this is a thread that will be full of spoilers, which I don't know how to hide. But an interesting question I think.
 
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WesleyGman

Well-Known Member
Jan 2, 2013
57
207
34
KY, deep in the country
I stopped reading the DT for 2 days after
Eddie died. I had no clue of what was to come later, and all I knew at that time was it was BS. Eddie was my second favorite character, right next to Roland, and I wanted him to live, damn it.
I of course picked it back up and finished the series, and loved it. I just had to cool down though, I had never been so emotionally invested in a fictitious work at that time.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Please remember to use spoilers. If you need instructions for how to do that, they are:

type: [spoil3r]type words you want hidden followed by[/spoil3r]

but substitute an e for the 3.
They don't have to do that anymore. Go to your toolbar and you see the smiley face? Next to it is the picture icon. Next to that is film icon. Next to that is a typed paper looking box thingy -- click that. A drop-down menu will give you a spoiler.
 

SharonC

Eternal Members
Jul 9, 2007
2,958
11,254
Canada
I stopped reading the DT for 2 days after
Eddie died. I had no clue of what was to come later, and all I knew at that time was it was BS. Eddie was my second favorite character, right next to Roland, and I wanted him to live, damn it.
I of course picked it back up and finished the series, and loved it. I just had to cool down though, I had never been so emotionally invested in a fictitious work at that time.
Me too, for the same reason. Just had a hard time getting past that!
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
He has chilled me, he has thrilled me, he has made me laugh, he has made me cry, he has done all of these things - and often - over my many years as a Constant Reader.

Only once has he made me cuss him out (but I had to put the book down for a day or two to shed tears first).

Should this be in the Dark Tower forum? No, others may be cross with him for other things in his books.

As long as he carries on writing them, I'm happy!
sK's never made me feel angry or frustrated enough to cause me to cuss him out. Once I realized that when reading him my sensitivities and sensibilities are on their own, I understood hat virtually anything might happen. I've always been drawn to and prefer this quality in an artist - the ability to be unpredictable in a tense and/or frightening way. I love it wherever I find it, whether in music, painting, movies, or literature.
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
Two things.

Cujo.
The end of Cujo. With that ending, the book for me becomes just another sad news story that I wished I hadn't watched all the way through. It's been a long time since I read Danse Macabre, but when I did, I remember thinking, "You broke your own rule in Cujo, sir, and you shouldn't have."

IT.
What I inelegantly refer to as the kiddie porn scene. I was already getting tired of the story, and that thoroughly repulsed me and made the rest of it go into a steep decline. I finished the book without paying a lot of attention, and then gave it away so my kids wouldn't read it.

Don't get me wrong. I think Mr. King is a wonderful writer. But Bob Gibson was my favorite pitcher, and he didn't win every game he pitched. So it goes.