Stephen King, I love you. And also hate you

[brendan1]

I have no qualms about being a big fan of Stephen King; due to my parents rather lax censorship, I was as big a fan of King as 2000 AD when I was 12 or 13 (Cujo being an early read)

I loved him then, and still do now, happily sailing past his various critical highs and lows
(First he was schlocky rubbish, but time has moulded him into a 'Dickensian storyteller', apparently)

And while I am a *huge* literary snob (cf Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, anything by James Fucking Patterson or that cock who wrote The Firm) I have never been ashamed of my King love

Indeed, novels like The Stand, Salem's Lot, IT, The Talisman (Straub rules too), Misery et al are among my all-time favourites

But Christ.

Test my patience.

I've been trying to plough through The Dark Tower series for years now, and I keep bumping up against Vol 6 and giving up for years at a time.

The one in which King indulges in the most toe-curlingly solipsistic indulgence ever; he himself, Stephen King, is in. the. fucking. book.

And then tries to explain how every other book he has written (even dragging in poor old Straub in talisman/ black house) is *all part of the same grand universe*

How fucking irritating?

Am I the only one who is railing against this cyclopean act of egotistical nonsense?

Is the final book even worth ploughing on to?

Oh Steven.

Ps Yes, I know Bret EE did it in Lunar Park, but he did it with more style

[Jim_Campbell]

Yes, I know Bret EE did it in Lunar Park, but he did it with more style

Handled intelligently, it doesn't have to be a bad narrative device at all ...

Cheers

Jim

[lborl]

Also see Kurt Vonnegut's excellent BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.

[Dandontdare]

I blame that van that nearly killed him. he's never been quite...right...since. 

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Is the seventh book worth it? Not really. The ending, with the Gunslinger in the Tower, is quite good. But the handling of the Crimson King's final parts, with a clumsy tie in to Insomnia, is fairly poor.

And the criminal under-use of Randall Flagg is outrageous. Especially for a character King is on record as saying is NOT part of the Dark Tower's universe (although every other book is). [spoiler]Flagg turns up, leers a bit and then is killed by the Crimson King's spider off-spring, all in a few pages[/spoiler]

[skurvy]

Personally I found the ending of the last book a huge letdown man.

[Tiplodocus]

I'd enjoyed all of the early(ish) King stuff I read THE STAND, CHRISTINE, CUJO and an anthology SKELETON CREW (I think - the one with THE MIST) and thought that IT, in particular, was about as good as populist mainstream storytelling can get.

Skip on a couple of years and I read INSOMNIA. And apart from the fact that it had an eldster as the hero, I thought it was pretty much pants and haven't picked up anything since.

[Colin YNWA]

Also see Kurt Vonnegut's excellent BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.

Everyone should raed that book its brillant (though Deadeye Dick is my personal favourite)

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

As an aside, I'd add that I used to buy and read everything he wrote, but pretty much stopped (Dark Tower aside) with Insomnia. My mum recently gave me Lisey's Story, which I gave up on as more self indulgence. Haven't read Duma Key - is it any good?

I will pick up the paperback of his latest short story collection, as these tend to be very good (short and focussed).

I also am quite interested in the forthcoming Under the Dome, about a town trapped under a suddenly imposed forcefield. More because it is an idea he had in the 80s but, apparently, couldn't think how to develop. If it is a story line from the Dark Half/ Tommyknockers (heh, the dog in the shed) era then it should be good.

[Richmond Clements]

I'm currently halfway through Wizard and Glass again for the umpteenth time.

I love the Dark Tower books. And I think complaining about not liking the ending is wrong... after all, he warned you to stop reading because he knew you wouldn't like it.

And I've no problem with him appearing in the books- after all, the 'multivesre' element is laid down in the very first volume. I think if he'd cast himself as a hero, or even a nice person, I'd feel differently, but the King who appears here is a wining, self absorbed drunk, and not a nice person. I think it takes balls to write so honestly.

The Stand, though, will stand (forgive me that one) as one of the greats of 20th century writing. Of that I'm convinced.

[TordelBack]

I think if he'd cast himself as a hero, or even a nice person, I'd feel differently, but the King who appears here is a wining, self absorbed drunk, and not a nice person.

Note also that this same character appears (under different names, and in different states of aliveness) in more than a third of all the King novels I've read.

[Richmond Clements]

I think if he'd cast himself as a hero, or even a nice person, I'd feel differently, but the King who appears here is a wining, self absorbed drunk, and not a nice person.

Note also that this same character appears (under different names, and in different states of aliveness) in more than a third of all the King novels I've read.

This is quite true!
The version in Tommyknockers is the one that sticks in my mind the most.

[WoD]

King query (I think)...which book is it that's set in the 50's (at least in the beggining) and has a little girl as the main protaganist (or maybe a boy) but something happens with time or dimensions or something and people have to go on the run and I'm fairly sure one of the Dark Tower characters arrives in it and they're bwing hunted down and someone (or all of them, or maybe no one) has special powers...damn I'm glad I'm so clear and concise...??  It might have magicians in it (might not though).

[Bolt-01]

WoD- I think you are talking about 'Hearts in Atlantis' which featured uber-breaker Ted Brautigan on a 'holiday' from the world of the tower. I was also filmed with Anthony Hopkins.

Personally I love the Tower stories, and have not long finished a complete re-read of all seven for the first time. One thing that struck me was the hints at the very START of the first book as to how it might end.

As for King including himself- he does it reasonably well and gets away with it imo.

[GordonR]

I also am quite interested in the forthcoming Under the Dome, about a town trapped under a suddenly imposed forcefield.

But wasn't that the plot of The Simpsons movie?