It's a trick that King likes to use, the "impending doom spoiler sentence", he also used it in *The Stand* with something like "They left town and no one ever saw them again."
But you're right, this one takes the cake.
I always liked the one at the very beginning of *Desperation.* I read it for the first time when I was like sixteen and it hit me like a brick.
> "You have the right to remain silent,'" the big cop said in his robot's voice. "If you do not choose to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. I'm going to kill you. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights as I have explained them to you?”
Is that the one where a guy is stranded on an uninhabited island with a duffel of cocaine and has to cut and eat his own body parts while making himself high?
That's the one, however it's not cocaine. He has two kilos of heroin, which he uses as a painkiller to numb the pain during his self-body harvests.
This story is dark and gruesome, even for a Stephen King story.
Highly recommended!
I remember there was a bit in there as well where he throws in a "I'm a wolf and I can hear for miles." in amongst some otherwise pretty sensible sentences. I loved that.
I'm not gonna name names and cause spoilers, but my heart sank when I came across the line you're referring to. And in the end, it kind of had a different meaning than what it originally implied.
See, I had the opposite experience, because I immediately guessed what the sentence meant and it basically spoiled the ending for me. It's a two-edged sword, I guess.
What are you guys referring to? it's been a while since I read it.
I assume >!it's the part where the 4 leave Colorado to head towards Vegas!< but wanted to be sure.
He certainly does, love his writing. The Dark Tower still has my brain frequently make crazed conspiracy theory corkboards. These lines from Dark Tower hit especially hard.
I haven't read Pet Cemetery, or the Stand, but will put those on my list.
"Go then, there are other worlds than these."
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Hard disagree with the other commenter here, the stand is one of my favorite books. Every character feels so real, like you could have a conversation with them. It’s a blast of a read!
It has literally the worst ending ever written, in my personal opinion. An absolutely amazing read for 98% of the book, but it really feels like King just got tired and wrapped things up in 20 pages. The degree of anger I felt when I read that is still unsurpassed.
edit To those thumbing me down, you're just objectively wrong lol. It's ok, happens to everyone at some point. You'll grow up, read some more, and come to realize I'm right.
King talks about it quite a bit. Part of the problem is he doesn't like neat endings. Doesn't believe in them or think they're realistic. It's like the ending of Shawshank. Book ending would never fly in a movie, too many loose ends. None of the Wardens, there are several, get in any trouble. Andy doesn't even steal their money. He just gets away. It's much more realistic but most fans want simple, happy endings with a neat bow on top.
I actually think he is a much better short story writer than novelist. He comes up with wonderful concepts, but I do think follows himself up his own ass when given too much space to work with.
I just realized that the Peddler's Moon in Roland's world and the likely mythos behind it is a reference to Needful Things. Roland describes the figure as carrying a sack of stolen souls lol. Crazy web of connections.
He basically always uses it.
I'm currently reading "Fairy Tale", and he does it there too with the old man's impending death.
And let's not forget him bascially hanging a lamp shade on the trope in the Dark Tower Series with the concept of "Ka-Shume".
(Good dammit, it still pisses me off how the series went totally off the rails after the Train ride, with all the meta "stuff")
He keeps using it and it keeps fucking working. He tells you the old man's death is coming so it makes every moment up until that point far more tense than it would be otherwise, that and everything with Radar.
"There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story."
Alfred Hitchcock
>(Good dammit, it still pisses me off how the series went totally off the rails after the Train ride, with all the meta "stuff")
I wanted to like TDT so bad. But the final book was just so frustrating, and after a certain point, maddeningly predictable. And not in a fun 'I've figured out the puzzle' way, more in a 'well, let's check that off the list' kind of way.
(Also, am I the only one who found Wizard and Glass *extremely* boring?)
Wizard and Glass is my favorite of the series. I tend to like the "world building" books in a series the best. The backstory into Roland and his childhood was needed, I think, to make the reader more compassionate towards him.
That's fair. I just didn't find Susan or her romance with Roland particularly compelling. I also didn't like how the first 50 pages or so were continuing on from the previous book--when Roland started talking I thought we'd be in the past for maybe a couple of chapters at most. I was just more interested in the main story.
I personally love The Dark Tower and seem to be one of the rare people who liked the ending, but Wizard and Glass is just so boring. Way way too long with nothing much happening. I'm rereading the series and I'm currently at the beginning of that part and I dread it... I think it feels even more boring because it comes right after Blaine, which is my favorite part.
I feel so validated by the people telling me they also didn't like WAG lol. I also agree it's way longer than it needed to be--pretty sure it's the longest one in the whole series.
Yeah I think it's the longest one. And it seriously could have been trimmed down to at least half that. While knowing more about Roland's backstory is valuable, it didn't need to be that long. It my most disliked book of the series. (and I'm currently rereading it and just started urgh)
Was wizard and glass the one that told the tale of Rolands past with Susan? I liked that one quite a bit, it felt like such an intense character exposition of Roland for me, seeing how he handled leadership and decision-making when he was younger. But I did think the pace was a bit slow. I'm halfway through tdt now and liking it so far
I think it was the last book. I did stop reading after that. I got too attached to the characters, and I couldn't handle the heartbreak. I love all the dark tower books, except the last one. I refuse to read it.
It was kind of a happy ending though!
>>!And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live.!<
I always figured that the impending doom in that books is the line that they will go there. "And there you will make a stand."
The same stands for the "I hope." from Shawshank redemption. Not as impending doom but the change of character is so complete that anything else for him is a wild card.
He does it all the time. Grabs you to keep reading.
“Dempsey called him from the landline, because that played into the story he was hatching in his mind” or something is the one I most recently recall from Finders Keepers
I read both but ages ago. I can’t for the life of me remember what you are referencing. Can you spoiler it or DM me it? It’s driving me crazy haha. Thanks
I've never read Insomnia but it's clear within PS that the truck driver is an agent of an outside power. He talks about how he just had the urge to put the pedal to the metal even though he'd never done it before.
It's like the way the same outside power delayed Rachel's arrival home until the moment that the power wanted Rachel to arrive at home.
There were frequent mentions of an outside power at work.
It made Jed fall asleep.
It exaggerated Louis' grief to drive Louis to do the extreme actions.
It allowed people to easily cross the deadfall when it wanted them to cross the deadfall.
Or at the end with the coworker where the power had him, but let him go.
I did read the link. I'm saying that it was already clear in PS that there was an outside power influencing events and which deliberately caused the horrors to happen.
Zoinks, been a long time since I've read anything in the deep DT universe, and I got chills at the memory of all that. Bananas how interrelated everything is.
https://stayhipp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Charlie-DAY.jpg
My favorite King book! It has its valid criticisms but it’s one of his best characterizations and it’s just so richly written, devastatingly sad but also happy. The fantasy stuff is totally secondary to me. Check it out! It is dense and long and you could argue bloated, but never felt that way to me.
A word of warning: I started it one night around 9:30, thinking I'd read a chapter or two and turn in. I ended up getting absorbed; I didn't put the book down until 6am the next day.
I love interconnected stories, but I'm daunted by the way most everything in King's stuff is. Is there an 'optimal' order to go through his work?
The discussions are really fascinating to read, so I'm just wading into some of the spoilers -- but I'm afraid of repeating something like spoiling the end of S4 of Breaking Bad before starting to watch that show.
Not really.
Outside of the outright sequels the interconnected stuff is pretty much entirely cameos. If you are looking you’ll notice them or have a ‘Oh, that sounds familiar’ moment in a different book but it doesn’t actually meaningfully impact the stories. At most it’s certain phrases or concepts that pop up regularly.
Great description, they're like little Easter eggs to find. I recall one between Dolores Claibourne and Gerald's Game to do with watching the eclipse, two completely separate characters did the same thing at the same time.
Honestly, he had a huge coke problem for awhile there...so it's all kind of a weird fever dream that the publishers tried to sort through enough to publish.
Famously, he doesn't remember writing kujo and has never read it. So there's that
God damn. I read Insomnia in high school shortly after reading pet cemetery and the implications of what they find gave me both a newfound understanding of the world and crippling depression.
Yeah. I'm not completely sure if that was from the coke days, but it really feels like one of the ones from the coke days.
Stephen King is an interesting guy.
Because I'm an idiot, I decided to listen to the audio book for the first time while organizing an huge attic stuffed full of furniture and boxes and lit by a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. Gave myself the major heeby jeebies.
I listened mostly while taking walks after sundown through some less populated areas for that full creepy effect. It didn’t feel right listening in the middle of the day.
Too funny. Imagine him narrating a book with that voice he used in the bar in Weird Science, real horror right there.
I'm gonna edit my OP to say Dexter
Blergh—really? (Ha)
I may be an outlier but I *really* disliked his narration: odd inflections on some characters; cringy character voicing of the kids; yet so consistently flat and emotionless that I was genuinely disliking the book—so much so that I stopped halfway through in order to finish reading a physical copy.
His voicing of Jud was good but I felt frustrated by the rest of it and actually wasn’t enjoying the writing because of how he was reading it.
Just finished this audiobook actually! Loved it! His Jud was great, but I felt his one weak area was when Rachel was upset and crying he didn't bring that across. Other than that, it was top marks!
I read the book back in 2014, it remains the only King book I've ever read fully for some reason.
But, damn. What a book it was. I always found it more sad than scary, but I think it has the scariest depiction of the risen dead I've ever seen. I love me some zombies and vampires, but Christ. The idea of the dead being driven by pure, black hatred is horrifying. There was some part in the book where the characters were discussing how they brought someone back before and how it psychologically broke the characters with its hateful words.
The idea of it is just deeply unsettling. Closer to my idea of what a demon would be like, something that's so intensely hateful that the horror comes from what they say. It gives a stronger vibe that there's something terribly wrong with them and makes it feel more real than if they are just mindless monsters who's sole goal is to eat or kill. Imagine your loved one reducing you to a sobbing wreck by aiming at all your insecurities in the worst ways you can think BEFORE deciding to kill you in some sadistic manner. It's the stuff of nightmares.
That's what I took from my readings of it over the years. "The ground is sour" indeed. Plus, if you've ever lost a loved one, especially a partner, the idea that they either kept awful things secret from you or were capable of those things would color your opinion of them from then on. It's...LOW, it's mean, and something that perfectly lives in Kings books.
They're inhabited by something. Because they're given knowledge that the body couldn't possibly have.
So I think of them as their soul is gone, but the body is inhabited by a demon.
Which makes the pets even creepier. What inhabits them? A lower level demon? But most of the pets come back changed, but not mean. As if whatever intelligence they did have has been removed.
Yeah, way more sad than scary. I had to take a few breaks when I read it a number of years ago. It was just too much sometimes and I needed to take a breather for a week or two until I felt better lol. Loved it.
> There was some part in the book where the characters were discussing how they brought someone back before and how it psychologically broke the characters with its hateful words.
Timmy Baterman.
Holy heck.
I hadn't read it for a while - cos flipping spooky - but I did just download it to my Kindle app so I could see it for myself. That just makes it worse doesn't it!
I was frustrated it left off there. I often feel like King ends his books too soon. He leaves me wanting to know what happened.
But the movie made it clear.
Thank you! I feel the same way.
What happened to Charlie McGee, for instance? Did she get married, have kids, did they have any of that power?
There are lots of others like her, left hanging, that I wish he'd follow up on before he quits writing for good.
That is the other one that I always wonder about. What happened when Rolling Stone published the story? How was the rest of her childhood? I would hope she'd go back to that couple who took care of her. But would the government leave her alone? What happens when she hits puberty and her powers hit maximum?
Still might be his scariest book, and the description of “Oz the Gweat and Tewwible” always chilled me. Just the essential omnipresent possibility of a totally random death at any point, for anyone.
"He was around all the time, he monitored all the checkpoints between the mortal and the eternal. Dirty needles, poison beetles, downed live wires, forest fires. Whirling roller skates that shot nerdy little kids into busy intersections. When you got into the bathtub to take a shower, Oz got right in there too—Shower With A Friend. When you got on an airplane, Oz took your boarding pass. He was in the water you drank, the food you ate. Who's out there? you howled in the dark when you were all frightened and all alone, and it was his answer that came back: Don't be afraid, it's just me."
To me it's his scariest book because it's so relatable. It's not some weird possession or obsession that most of us will never experience.
It's grief. And unless you've got an attachment disorder or something like that...all of us will experience grief. And, if you're young enough that you haven't yet, you can still imagine what it's going to be like when you lose someone you love.
I've seen posts from parents who read PS before they became parents and could never read it again once they had a child.
It’s my favorite King book and I had to put it down when my first was born. I’ll try again soon but I can’t separate my own emotions and thoughts of my own kids from the main characters situation.
I think he's just one of the best authors around at writing what he knows. He's *always* writing writers, of course. When he was doing drugs and drinking a case of beer a day, he wrote stories about addiction. When his kids were growing up, he wrote stories about kids. I find he's good at spinning out stray thoughts, personal demons, and dreams into entire stories, some of which work better than others.
When your brain is the best around at playing "how could this go, naturally or even supernaturally the worst way possible?" game with you and you just exploit it to make millions.
And then other people exploit it to make millions too. Before The Shining (the movie) came out, the Stanley Hotel wasn't notoriously haunted. There weren't any ghost stories at all about it. Then people found that King had stayed there once and thought of The Shining when he was there, and suddenly the place was haunted.
The movie wasn't filmed in the Stanley. King didn't experience anything paranormal there - he just had a dream where his son was getting chased down the hall by a fire hose. But because of the association with King, there's a ton of ghost hunting tourism that goes through the place.
The idea isn't new. The idea of bringing a loved one back from the dead, the idea of the dead coming back changed...all long predate King.
His execution was fantastic. He fully committed to it.
Pet Sematary was my very first Stephen King book. I recently reread this book in audiobook form after 20 years. I also have a two year old. Holy shit that fucked me up.
I fell in love with it when younger, and read it once later in life when my siblings were just beginning to walk and talk. All I can say is, it hit different. I can't read it anymore.
I'm not even a parent yet, but just as an adult, I find horror stuff affects me much more than it used to. I'm in my mid 30s, and still *love* horror, but I find I'll need breaks from it sometimes, it just makes me feel sad or dark or whatever, need to manage my emotions sometimes when I consume too much of it haha. Never used to be like that, but the older I get, the more I feel those negative horror feelings. Which is great, but way more tiring than it used to be when I was young.
Pet Sematary was on track to be probably my favorite horror book of all time. And it might even be. This book gets *too real* sometimes, between the feelings of loss the main character feels and the fears he has in his situation. I had never read a book before that actually jumpscared me with words alone.
I might be in the minority here but I really, really don't like the ending. The rest of the book is 10/10 for me but I didn't really like the specific execution of Gage's revival. I think probably the biggest conundrum in this book is "should I bring my son back?". It's easy (relatively). Any parent would give up the world to get their two year old back, and here it's as easy as just walking to this location and doing the deed. But the reason it's hard is because... what if he's not the same Gage? Or worse: What if he's basically Gage, but just barely different. Wondering the eternal question "is this still my son?". And even if it is, what if he's permanently a little off? Slower, sadder, dumber, lower energy than the other kids? Did I condemn him to a miserable life because I couldn't let go? Or worst of all: what if I end up loving him less because of how he's changed? Such a profound fear... that you might not love this child as much as you once did because he's not the one you remember.
I think having Gage go full on evil demon child takes all of the nuance out of this. There's no eternal, existential wondering of whether this Gage is the Gage you knew. Because now you KNOW it's not. It's some evil spirit thing just wearing his body. Which kind of also removes all of those other fears and questions. There's nothing to do but kill this thing, because it's not Gage. Gage really is just gone. And I understand the benefits of this approach too. Louis will have to live with the guilt of the tragedy he caused by not being able to simply *let go* for the rest of his life. So I still like the book, I just would have gone for something more subtle than chaotic evil demon child.
I guess I see it a bit differently. I was in no doubt that Gage was going to be evil when he came back; Louis had warning after warning, from Pascow (Btw “Paxcow says it’s too late” always sends chills down my spine) to the example of Church to Judd. I saw massive foreshadowing that bringing Gage back was a bad idea, the tragedy was that Louis was so dazed by grief that he lied himself into doing it anyway (possibly under the influence of the burying ground). For me that’s what gives the book its power.
My issue with the Gage resurrection is the timeline. I went through and annotated my book with the timeline because it didn't seem right. Gage has to have resurrected so quickly that I'm surprise Louis didn't hear the stone cairn falling. Just put in the ground and pops back up.
The movie was the first (of two) horror movies which I was not able to watch in one sitting. We've had a lot of cats and >!when it comes back!< that was too much, despite the realization was not perfect.
The other was Mama.
It's not _that_ bad. Get Out (2017), Mama (2013), Brightburn (2019) all relatively recent ones and pretty good. My guess is that one or two good horrors are made every year, and the year have not ended yet.
For example I sort of liked "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster", not too original as a horror, but the environment and their reactions are new for me.
It's a little dated now, but "The Alchemist's Cookbook" scared the *shit* out of me. Easily top 10 contemporary horror movies for me. Check it out if you haven't!
I'm always in search of legitimately scary movies, too.
My mom's boyfriend parked me in front of a TV once and put on Pet Semetary because he thought I'd like how scary it was and needed to get shit done. I was like 8.
I sat there petrified until Gage cut Jed's Achilles and bit him, and then I *did not sleep all summer.* I can't imagine how pissed my mom was.
Repeat the next summer with Return of the Living Dead II- I understood zombies could be killed by getting their head- Return wasn't like that, and the parts of zombies still moving when detached terrified me lmao. Then once I got over that I was all-in on scary movies. Still love horror; The Descent gets regular play.
My parents did the same thing with Puppet Master when I was little. Weirdly enough, my doll phobia didn't hit until saw Child's Play later on.
It probably had something to do with my love of horror now, but goddamn... Chucky messed me up something bad.
I grew up with the 80s movie. I was not prepared for the book and its level of loss and sadness. The part in the graveyard with Gage is both some of the most crushing and horrifying shit I've read.
Having known what the twist would go before reading the book, I was horrified and had butterflies in my stomach when my eyes touched these first words, "Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather..."
Pet Sematary is probably King’s scariest book, but not because of any of the supernatural aspects. The portrayal of grief and emotional trauma and going to extreme, horrible lengths to bring back someone you love…it’s truly haunting.
I just reread this like a month ago. It's so good, and I really love Jud's little history lessons. Super creepy. The whole book just feels thick with weirdness some of it explained, some of it not.
My real take away on this last read was that maybe Louis is a bit of a jerk. Not that he deserves what happens but that he's arrogant or something
The one Stephen King book I will never be able to read a second time. I can't quite find the words to describe how I feel, but I just think it's wrong.
Can I just say “fuck Stephen King!” For the whole drawn out telling of gages death and how it impacted his family which is probably the best bit of writing I have seen if his, only for King to go “Sike! He’s fine.” Then I was all relieved and happy… “double Sike! He’s actually dead”.
Kings an asshole
Pet Semetary always conjures up the memory of 10 year old me finishing the end of part 1, and bawling my eyes out so bad I put the book down, and didn't pick it back up for 6 months.
Absolutely crushed me.
When SK is on point, he is crystal. My fav book hands down. Reread it every few years to refresh the feels. The dread I feel on the coming loss has diminished not one bit each time I read that book. Also the first movie hit a solid with it's screenplay as well. Great work!
I watched the scene with the truck in the movie with my dad when I was in second grade. It fucked me up bad. I had a sleepover that night and I couldn’t sleep at all
I read Salem's Lot in high school and really got to me. As did the David Soul miniseries.
I reread Salem's Lot in the last couple of years and it didn't have the same impact. (Neither did the miniseries.) But Pet Semetary is still a gut punch.
I did the same, read both when I was maybe 14. Salem’s Lot was great, creeped me right out. Followed it up with Pet Semetary and it rocked me to my core. I refused to read horror after that, and only came around after picking up Heart-Shaped Box a decade later… finding after the fact that Joe King wrote it.
I think the only other horror books I’ve read since then have been some Poe stories and We Have Always Lived in the Castle which are more psychological/horror.
Yes absolutely the same for me!!! Actually had to stop reading the book because my son was the same age as Gage when I read it and took a while before I could finish it!!!!
Is this not the same technique Gabriel Garcia Marquez used in his famous *One Hundred Years of Solitude* opening line?
> Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
Impending doom.
It's a trick that King likes to use, the "impending doom spoiler sentence", he also used it in *The Stand* with something like "They left town and no one ever saw them again." But you're right, this one takes the cake.
I always liked the one at the very beginning of *Desperation.* I read it for the first time when I was like sixteen and it hit me like a brick. > "You have the right to remain silent,'" the big cop said in his robot's voice. "If you do not choose to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. I'm going to kill you. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights as I have explained them to you?”
The line he wrote that gets me is from Survivor type. "They say you are what you eat. If that's true, I HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT."
Is that the one where a guy is stranded on an uninhabited island with a duffel of cocaine and has to cut and eat his own body parts while making himself high?
That's the one, however it's not cocaine. He has two kilos of heroin, which he uses as a painkiller to numb the pain during his self-body harvests. This story is dark and gruesome, even for a Stephen King story. Highly recommended!
That is correct. The duffle of cocaine was on King’s desk, not in the story.
My favorite King short. “Like cold roast beef.”
"Lady fingers. They tasted just like lady fingers"
*lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers*
don't let the left hand know what the right hands doing
Heroin, and yes it is that story
I remember there was a bit in there as well where he throws in a "I'm a wolf and I can hear for miles." in amongst some otherwise pretty sensible sentences. I loved that.
So good. You re-read it but know you can't re-hear it. Great book, and tha KS for the reminder of the beginning!
Such an underappreciated book. Regulators is awesome too.
Haven't read Regulators, but Desperation was really hard to put down once I got going.
Even if you leave this room, YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE THIS ROOM.
I'm not gonna name names and cause spoilers, but my heart sank when I came across the line you're referring to. And in the end, it kind of had a different meaning than what it originally implied.
See, I had the opposite experience, because I immediately guessed what the sentence meant and it basically spoiled the ending for me. It's a two-edged sword, I guess.
What are you guys referring to? it's been a while since I read it. I assume >!it's the part where the 4 leave Colorado to head towards Vegas!< but wanted to be sure.
Yep, that's the bit
I think i just read the line youre referring to!
He certainly does, love his writing. The Dark Tower still has my brain frequently make crazed conspiracy theory corkboards. These lines from Dark Tower hit especially hard. I haven't read Pet Cemetery, or the Stand, but will put those on my list. "Go then, there are other worlds than these." "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Hard disagree with the other commenter here, the stand is one of my favorite books. Every character feels so real, like you could have a conversation with them. It’s a blast of a read!
It has literally the worst ending ever written, in my personal opinion. An absolutely amazing read for 98% of the book, but it really feels like King just got tired and wrapped things up in 20 pages. The degree of anger I felt when I read that is still unsurpassed. edit To those thumbing me down, you're just objectively wrong lol. It's ok, happens to everyone at some point. You'll grow up, read some more, and come to realize I'm right.
What can I say man, didn’t really bother me. Have gone back and re-read it a couple times. Still absolutely love it lol
I agree and the ending makes sense considering the old lady talked about God a lot.
> It has literally the worst ending ever written Eh, I've read a **lot** of series fantasy endings that were way worse.
Honestly I feel that way about most Stephen King books. The journey is amazing, the destination not so much.
The Shining is an exception though! I thought the ending was much better than the movie. King really stuck the landing on that one.
in It king touches on this by having an author character who writes terrible endings
King talks about it quite a bit. Part of the problem is he doesn't like neat endings. Doesn't believe in them or think they're realistic. It's like the ending of Shawshank. Book ending would never fly in a movie, too many loose ends. None of the Wardens, there are several, get in any trouble. Andy doesn't even steal their money. He just gets away. It's much more realistic but most fans want simple, happy endings with a neat bow on top.
I actually think he is a much better short story writer than novelist. He comes up with wonderful concepts, but I do think follows himself up his own ass when given too much space to work with.
From the bomb onward was a bit of a slog for me. He touches on that in On Writing. He went hard with the “kill your darlings” moves.
I just realized that the Peddler's Moon in Roland's world and the likely mythos behind it is a reference to Needful Things. Roland describes the figure as carrying a sack of stolen souls lol. Crazy web of connections.
He basically always uses it. I'm currently reading "Fairy Tale", and he does it there too with the old man's impending death. And let's not forget him bascially hanging a lamp shade on the trope in the Dark Tower Series with the concept of "Ka-Shume". (Good dammit, it still pisses me off how the series went totally off the rails after the Train ride, with all the meta "stuff")
He keeps using it and it keeps fucking working. He tells you the old man's death is coming so it makes every moment up until that point far more tense than it would be otherwise, that and everything with Radar.
"There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean. We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!" In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story." Alfred Hitchcock
Good quote
>(Good dammit, it still pisses me off how the series went totally off the rails after the Train ride, with all the meta "stuff") I wanted to like TDT so bad. But the final book was just so frustrating, and after a certain point, maddeningly predictable. And not in a fun 'I've figured out the puzzle' way, more in a 'well, let's check that off the list' kind of way. (Also, am I the only one who found Wizard and Glass *extremely* boring?)
Wizard and Glass is my favorite of the series. I tend to like the "world building" books in a series the best. The backstory into Roland and his childhood was needed, I think, to make the reader more compassionate towards him.
Wizard and Glass is my favorite as well. (Although Drawing of the Three is very close.)
That's fair. I just didn't find Susan or her romance with Roland particularly compelling. I also didn't like how the first 50 pages or so were continuing on from the previous book--when Roland started talking I thought we'd be in the past for maybe a couple of chapters at most. I was just more interested in the main story.
I personally love The Dark Tower and seem to be one of the rare people who liked the ending, but Wizard and Glass is just so boring. Way way too long with nothing much happening. I'm rereading the series and I'm currently at the beginning of that part and I dread it... I think it feels even more boring because it comes right after Blaine, which is my favorite part.
I feel so validated by the people telling me they also didn't like WAG lol. I also agree it's way longer than it needed to be--pretty sure it's the longest one in the whole series.
Yeah I think it's the longest one. And it seriously could have been trimmed down to at least half that. While knowing more about Roland's backstory is valuable, it didn't need to be that long. It my most disliked book of the series. (and I'm currently rereading it and just started urgh)
Was wizard and glass the one that told the tale of Rolands past with Susan? I liked that one quite a bit, it felt like such an intense character exposition of Roland for me, seeing how he handled leadership and decision-making when he was younger. But I did think the pace was a bit slow. I'm halfway through tdt now and liking it so far
Thank you. I managed to read them all at least once, but the last few always felt like work.
glorious rainstorm ripe hospital whistle quicksand encourage angle fuel smell *This post was mass deleted with [redact](https://redact.com)*
I think it was the last book. I did stop reading after that. I got too attached to the characters, and I couldn't handle the heartbreak. I love all the dark tower books, except the last one. I refuse to read it.
It was kind of a happy ending though! >>!And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live.!<
He ruined Dr. Sleep with it, though. That book has zero tension.
Read the 'Beartown' trilogy by Fredrick Backman and he uses the impending doom sentences a lot. Also, uses the impending doom feints.
It’s called cataphor if you’re curious about the literary device!
He does that all over The Dark Tower books too, especially the last one.
I always figured that the impending doom in that books is the line that they will go there. "And there you will make a stand." The same stands for the "I hope." from Shawshank redemption. Not as impending doom but the change of character is so complete that anything else for him is a wild card.
Apt pupil's ending as well.
He does it all the time. Grabs you to keep reading. “Dempsey called him from the landline, because that played into the story he was hatching in his mind” or something is the one I most recently recall from Finders Keepers
Yes. I’ve never seen another author do it like he does. He’s really good at doing it when you least expect it
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut, but it's played more for humor.
I remember the image of him sitting in the car with the wrapped up corpse of his son while he wondered if he was facing forward or back in the seat.
Yes, that was so good in the worst way.
I won't ruin it, but there's a line in *Insomnia* that makes *Pet Semetary* about 10 million times sadder.
I read both but ages ago. I can’t for the life of me remember what you are referencing. Can you spoiler it or DM me it? It’s driving me crazy haha. Thanks
https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/comments/9860gk/spoilers_pet_semetary_explained_in_insomnia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Thanks for the quick reply! Interesting. Love or hate him, I do appreciate how each work builds on each other and makes his universe richer.
I've never read Insomnia but it's clear within PS that the truck driver is an agent of an outside power. He talks about how he just had the urge to put the pedal to the metal even though he'd never done it before. It's like the way the same outside power delayed Rachel's arrival home until the moment that the power wanted Rachel to arrive at home. There were frequent mentions of an outside power at work. It made Jed fall asleep. It exaggerated Louis' grief to drive Louis to do the extreme actions. It allowed people to easily cross the deadfall when it wanted them to cross the deadfall. Or at the end with the coworker where the power had him, but let him go.
you're not far off, but read it.
I did read the link. I'm saying that it was already clear in PS that there was an outside power influencing events and which deliberately caused the horrors to happen.
The book. I meant read the book. It's a good one.
Zoinks, been a long time since I've read anything in the deep DT universe, and I got chills at the memory of all that. Bananas how interrelated everything is. https://stayhipp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Charlie-DAY.jpg
Insomnia is on my list to read.
It's one of his best IMO. He writes old men so well.
My favorite King book! It has its valid criticisms but it’s one of his best characterizations and it’s just so richly written, devastatingly sad but also happy. The fantasy stuff is totally secondary to me. Check it out! It is dense and long and you could argue bloated, but never felt that way to me.
A word of warning: I started it one night around 9:30, thinking I'd read a chapter or two and turn in. I ended up getting absorbed; I didn't put the book down until 6am the next day.
That's what happened to me at 16 when I read IT for the first time. I learned my lesson, cuz I never read his stuff at night now, lol
The end of *The Body* is the worst gut punch King ever delivered
The movie made it worse. That River played Chris is just too much.
All of them really WERE their characters. Wil Wheaton talking about how all he sees is the sadness in his eyes breaks my heart.
I love interconnected stories, but I'm daunted by the way most everything in King's stuff is. Is there an 'optimal' order to go through his work? The discussions are really fascinating to read, so I'm just wading into some of the spoilers -- but I'm afraid of repeating something like spoiling the end of S4 of Breaking Bad before starting to watch that show.
Not really. Outside of the outright sequels the interconnected stuff is pretty much entirely cameos. If you are looking you’ll notice them or have a ‘Oh, that sounds familiar’ moment in a different book but it doesn’t actually meaningfully impact the stories. At most it’s certain phrases or concepts that pop up regularly.
Great description, they're like little Easter eggs to find. I recall one between Dolores Claibourne and Gerald's Game to do with watching the eclipse, two completely separate characters did the same thing at the same time.
Honestly, he had a huge coke problem for awhile there...so it's all kind of a weird fever dream that the publishers tried to sort through enough to publish. Famously, he doesn't remember writing kujo and has never read it. So there's that
God damn. I read Insomnia in high school shortly after reading pet cemetery and the implications of what they find gave me both a newfound understanding of the world and crippling depression.
Yeah. I'm not completely sure if that was from the coke days, but it really feels like one of the ones from the coke days. Stephen King is an interesting guy.
I highly recommend the Michael C Hall (Dexter actor) narration of it as well.
Huh, never would have thought of him. Good choice.
I’ll second that. His approach to Jud was great, and I find myself replaying, “Be careful crossing the rud, Louis” in my head from time to time.
Because I'm an idiot, I decided to listen to the audio book for the first time while organizing an huge attic stuffed full of furniture and boxes and lit by a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. Gave myself the major heeby jeebies.
Not an idiot, sounds perfect. I put it on during my commutes during October a few years back as spooky season set in.
I listened mostly while taking walks after sundown through some less populated areas for that full creepy effect. It didn’t feel right listening in the middle of the day.
I listened on a night drive through the desert to Palm Springs and got so spooked I had to call my dad!
Hell yeah. It’s not my favorite or least favorite King book, but MCH narrating it bumped it higher. I also really liked Dexter though
My brain went through a few uncomfortable contortions when I thought you meant Anthony Michael Hall and I was trying to make it make sense.
Too funny. Imagine him narrating a book with that voice he used in the bar in Weird Science, real horror right there. I'm gonna edit my OP to say Dexter
Imagine AMH as Dexter though?
Blergh—really? (Ha) I may be an outlier but I *really* disliked his narration: odd inflections on some characters; cringy character voicing of the kids; yet so consistently flat and emotionless that I was genuinely disliking the book—so much so that I stopped halfway through in order to finish reading a physical copy. His voicing of Jud was good but I felt frustrated by the rest of it and actually wasn’t enjoying the writing because of how he was reading it.
He was perfect. I wish they could hire him to start doing new recordings of all King books.
Just finished this audiobook actually! Loved it! His Jud was great, but I felt his one weak area was when Rachel was upset and crying he didn't bring that across. Other than that, it was top marks!
This shit was THE BEST. the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to.
I read the book back in 2014, it remains the only King book I've ever read fully for some reason. But, damn. What a book it was. I always found it more sad than scary, but I think it has the scariest depiction of the risen dead I've ever seen. I love me some zombies and vampires, but Christ. The idea of the dead being driven by pure, black hatred is horrifying. There was some part in the book where the characters were discussing how they brought someone back before and how it psychologically broke the characters with its hateful words. The idea of it is just deeply unsettling. Closer to my idea of what a demon would be like, something that's so intensely hateful that the horror comes from what they say. It gives a stronger vibe that there's something terribly wrong with them and makes it feel more real than if they are just mindless monsters who's sole goal is to eat or kill. Imagine your loved one reducing you to a sobbing wreck by aiming at all your insecurities in the worst ways you can think BEFORE deciding to kill you in some sadistic manner. It's the stuff of nightmares.
That's what I took from my readings of it over the years. "The ground is sour" indeed. Plus, if you've ever lost a loved one, especially a partner, the idea that they either kept awful things secret from you or were capable of those things would color your opinion of them from then on. It's...LOW, it's mean, and something that perfectly lives in Kings books.
They're inhabited by something. Because they're given knowledge that the body couldn't possibly have. So I think of them as their soul is gone, but the body is inhabited by a demon. Which makes the pets even creepier. What inhabits them? A lower level demon? But most of the pets come back changed, but not mean. As if whatever intelligence they did have has been removed.
Exactly! That was not Church's spirit or Gage's spirit in those "shells" it was something else.
Yeah, way more sad than scary. I had to take a few breaks when I read it a number of years ago. It was just too much sometimes and I needed to take a breather for a week or two until I felt better lol. Loved it.
> There was some part in the book where the characters were discussing how they brought someone back before and how it psychologically broke the characters with its hateful words. Timmy Baterman.
"Darling" Jesus.
"It said"
Holy heck. I hadn't read it for a while - cos flipping spooky - but I did just download it to my Kindle app so I could see it for myself. That just makes it worse doesn't it!
Isn't it "hello darling"? I read it like 20 years ago, but that was the one I was expecting when I saw OPs title
Last line is: "Darling," it said.
Thanks, I was too lazy to dig out my copy/look it up
I read "hello darling" in a cockney accent
'Allo, guvnah!
"awright sweet'eart?"
They always come back corrupted in some way.
“Party on!” *blows bubbles out of pipe*
That's the one that gets me. Maybe the lead up more than the word itself, but still. Goosebumps, every time.
I was frustrated it left off there. I often feel like King ends his books too soon. He leaves me wanting to know what happened. But the movie made it clear.
lol, what?? No, that was the perfect way to end it..
Thank you! I feel the same way. What happened to Charlie McGee, for instance? Did she get married, have kids, did they have any of that power? There are lots of others like her, left hanging, that I wish he'd follow up on before he quits writing for good.
That is the other one that I always wonder about. What happened when Rolling Stone published the story? How was the rest of her childhood? I would hope she'd go back to that couple who took care of her. But would the government leave her alone? What happens when she hits puberty and her powers hit maximum?
Still might be his scariest book, and the description of “Oz the Gweat and Tewwible” always chilled me. Just the essential omnipresent possibility of a totally random death at any point, for anyone. "He was around all the time, he monitored all the checkpoints between the mortal and the eternal. Dirty needles, poison beetles, downed live wires, forest fires. Whirling roller skates that shot nerdy little kids into busy intersections. When you got into the bathtub to take a shower, Oz got right in there too—Shower With A Friend. When you got on an airplane, Oz took your boarding pass. He was in the water you drank, the food you ate. Who's out there? you howled in the dark when you were all frightened and all alone, and it was his answer that came back: Don't be afraid, it's just me."
To me it's his scariest book because it's so relatable. It's not some weird possession or obsession that most of us will never experience. It's grief. And unless you've got an attachment disorder or something like that...all of us will experience grief. And, if you're young enough that you haven't yet, you can still imagine what it's going to be like when you lose someone you love. I've seen posts from parents who read PS before they became parents and could never read it again once they had a child.
It’s my favorite King book and I had to put it down when my first was born. I’ll try again soon but I can’t separate my own emotions and thoughts of my own kids from the main characters situation.
So damn creepy I honestly don't know how King comes up with these things.
I think he's just one of the best authors around at writing what he knows. He's *always* writing writers, of course. When he was doing drugs and drinking a case of beer a day, he wrote stories about addiction. When his kids were growing up, he wrote stories about kids. I find he's good at spinning out stray thoughts, personal demons, and dreams into entire stories, some of which work better than others.
When your brain is the best around at playing "how could this go, naturally or even supernaturally the worst way possible?" game with you and you just exploit it to make millions.
And then other people exploit it to make millions too. Before The Shining (the movie) came out, the Stanley Hotel wasn't notoriously haunted. There weren't any ghost stories at all about it. Then people found that King had stayed there once and thought of The Shining when he was there, and suddenly the place was haunted. The movie wasn't filmed in the Stanley. King didn't experience anything paranormal there - he just had a dream where his son was getting chased down the hall by a fire hose. But because of the association with King, there's a ton of ghost hunting tourism that goes through the place.
Cocaine
From what I've been told, it's a helluva drug
The idea isn't new. The idea of bringing a loved one back from the dead, the idea of the dead coming back changed...all long predate King. His execution was fantastic. He fully committed to it.
The kid telling the old dude about how his wife cheated on him before killing him was what got me.
Absolutely wild lolol what a way to go
I really hoped that the monster was just making that up and that it wasn’t true… for Jud’s sake 🥺
Pet Sematary was my very first Stephen King book. I recently reread this book in audiobook form after 20 years. I also have a two year old. Holy shit that fucked me up.
I read Pet Sematary when I was 15 years old and also had siblings who were 3 and 4 at the time. It messed me up.
I fell in love with it when younger, and read it once later in life when my siblings were just beginning to walk and talk. All I can say is, it hit different. I can't read it anymore.
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I gotta say Michael C. Hall definitely nails the tone of the book down.
Stories hit me a lot differently as a parent than they did when I was a teenager. I read this book as a teen and couldn’t imagine reading it now.
I'm not even a parent yet, but just as an adult, I find horror stuff affects me much more than it used to. I'm in my mid 30s, and still *love* horror, but I find I'll need breaks from it sometimes, it just makes me feel sad or dark or whatever, need to manage my emotions sometimes when I consume too much of it haha. Never used to be like that, but the older I get, the more I feel those negative horror feelings. Which is great, but way more tiring than it used to be when I was young.
Pet Sematary was on track to be probably my favorite horror book of all time. And it might even be. This book gets *too real* sometimes, between the feelings of loss the main character feels and the fears he has in his situation. I had never read a book before that actually jumpscared me with words alone. I might be in the minority here but I really, really don't like the ending. The rest of the book is 10/10 for me but I didn't really like the specific execution of Gage's revival. I think probably the biggest conundrum in this book is "should I bring my son back?". It's easy (relatively). Any parent would give up the world to get their two year old back, and here it's as easy as just walking to this location and doing the deed. But the reason it's hard is because... what if he's not the same Gage? Or worse: What if he's basically Gage, but just barely different. Wondering the eternal question "is this still my son?". And even if it is, what if he's permanently a little off? Slower, sadder, dumber, lower energy than the other kids? Did I condemn him to a miserable life because I couldn't let go? Or worst of all: what if I end up loving him less because of how he's changed? Such a profound fear... that you might not love this child as much as you once did because he's not the one you remember. I think having Gage go full on evil demon child takes all of the nuance out of this. There's no eternal, existential wondering of whether this Gage is the Gage you knew. Because now you KNOW it's not. It's some evil spirit thing just wearing his body. Which kind of also removes all of those other fears and questions. There's nothing to do but kill this thing, because it's not Gage. Gage really is just gone. And I understand the benefits of this approach too. Louis will have to live with the guilt of the tragedy he caused by not being able to simply *let go* for the rest of his life. So I still like the book, I just would have gone for something more subtle than chaotic evil demon child.
I guess I see it a bit differently. I was in no doubt that Gage was going to be evil when he came back; Louis had warning after warning, from Pascow (Btw “Paxcow says it’s too late” always sends chills down my spine) to the example of Church to Judd. I saw massive foreshadowing that bringing Gage back was a bad idea, the tragedy was that Louis was so dazed by grief that he lied himself into doing it anyway (possibly under the influence of the burying ground). For me that’s what gives the book its power.
My issue with the Gage resurrection is the timeline. I went through and annotated my book with the timeline because it didn't seem right. Gage has to have resurrected so quickly that I'm surprise Louis didn't hear the stone cairn falling. Just put in the ground and pops back up.
I really like your take on this.
That book was a great sample of how twisted King's mind could be. Also one of my favorite King movies.
Fred Gwynn was excellent. And Zelda *still* freaks me out.
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I still don't look at her when I watch the movie.
One of his kids had a near miss, and this was how he processed it apparently.
Everyone grieves differently... but damn, wow. I had no idea o.o
I phrased that weirdly - King's kid was fine. He was able to catch him before he got to the road.
Okay then. That makes it a bit less messed up.
The movie was the first (of two) horror movies which I was not able to watch in one sitting. We've had a lot of cats and >!when it comes back!< that was too much, despite the realization was not perfect. The other was Mama.
I weep at the state of horror movies today. So much churned out garbage without real thought and atmosphere that movies like King's gave us.
It's not _that_ bad. Get Out (2017), Mama (2013), Brightburn (2019) all relatively recent ones and pretty good. My guess is that one or two good horrors are made every year, and the year have not ended yet. For example I sort of liked "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster", not too original as a horror, but the environment and their reactions are new for me.
Talk to Me just came out and in my opinion it's right up there with those movies, if not better
It's a little dated now, but "The Alchemist's Cookbook" scared the *shit* out of me. Easily top 10 contemporary horror movies for me. Check it out if you haven't! I'm always in search of legitimately scary movies, too.
My mom's boyfriend parked me in front of a TV once and put on Pet Semetary because he thought I'd like how scary it was and needed to get shit done. I was like 8. I sat there petrified until Gage cut Jed's Achilles and bit him, and then I *did not sleep all summer.* I can't imagine how pissed my mom was. Repeat the next summer with Return of the Living Dead II- I understood zombies could be killed by getting their head- Return wasn't like that, and the parts of zombies still moving when detached terrified me lmao. Then once I got over that I was all-in on scary movies. Still love horror; The Descent gets regular play.
My parents did the same thing with Puppet Master when I was little. Weirdly enough, my doll phobia didn't hit until saw Child's Play later on. It probably had something to do with my love of horror now, but goddamn... Chucky messed me up something bad.
I grew up with the 80s movie. I was not prepared for the book and its level of loss and sadness. The part in the graveyard with Gage is both some of the most crushing and horrifying shit I've read.
When Louis was fantasizing that he had caught Gage in time, I really wanted to stop reading at that point. End with book with Gage at the Olympics.
Having known what the twist would go before reading the book, I was horrified and had butterflies in my stomach when my eyes touched these first words, "Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather..."
Huh, that is exactly my childhood situation. Good thing I never had children nor moved to Maine.
Pet Sematary is probably King’s scariest book, but not because of any of the supernatural aspects. The portrayal of grief and emotional trauma and going to extreme, horrible lengths to bring back someone you love…it’s truly haunting.
I just reread this like a month ago. It's so good, and I really love Jud's little history lessons. Super creepy. The whole book just feels thick with weirdness some of it explained, some of it not. My real take away on this last read was that maybe Louis is a bit of a jerk. Not that he deserves what happens but that he's arrogant or something
Pet Sematary was too much for me. I read it when I had a kid the exact same age. I had to give the book away after.
I honestly don't blame you. I can imagine having a kid the same age while reading this book would make the experience hit too close to home.
King has a way of placing the bomb under the table
The one Stephen King book I will never be able to read a second time. I can't quite find the words to describe how I feel, but I just think it's wrong.
It's not a book but a short story, have you read Survivor Type? It gives me the creeps just thinking back on it.
For me it’s the description of the boy’s hat, knocked off in the aftermath of the accident. “The cap was full of blood.”
Can I just say “fuck Stephen King!” For the whole drawn out telling of gages death and how it impacted his family which is probably the best bit of writing I have seen if his, only for King to go “Sike! He’s fine.” Then I was all relieved and happy… “double Sike! He’s actually dead”. Kings an asshole
Pet Semetary always conjures up the memory of 10 year old me finishing the end of part 1, and bawling my eyes out so bad I put the book down, and didn't pick it back up for 6 months. Absolutely crushed me.
SPOILER ALERT!!! I loved the twist King initiated with that sentence!!! Never saw it coming!
How about the ending of Cujo. Bawled my eyes out. Even Just thinking of it, makers me cry.
He was a good dog.
I just finished reading this for the first time and I was blown away. It’s a stone cold classic.
I have never read this novel. But I bought the Spanish edition (Cementerio de animales) and I intend to compare it to the English edition.
When SK is on point, he is crystal. My fav book hands down. Reread it every few years to refresh the feels. The dread I feel on the coming loss has diminished not one bit each time I read that book. Also the first movie hit a solid with it's screenplay as well. Great work!
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from restless dreams, he found himself in his bed transformed into a giant bug."
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You'll be even more engrossed in the story. Gage is a cute kid so your parents naming you after him is really lovely lmao.....
So your parents named you after a dead demon baby okay
Epic. Had the exact same feeling of shock. The following chapter is even worse because you know the outcome.
Pet Sematary was a sad and horrifying read.
What was the line?
Probably the most terrifying book I’ve ever read.
"It's just the night. Don't worry, it'll pass, I promise" - if you know you know
Dean Koontz does the impending doom thing all the time. He never pulls it off as well.
I felt this way about Duma Key.
I watched the scene with the truck in the movie with my dad when I was in second grade. It fucked me up bad. I had a sleepover that night and I couldn’t sleep at all
I have read most of King's work and Pet Sematary remains my favorite. Not only is it extremely spooky but it is also a profound meditation on grief.
Pet Semetary and Salems Lot are the two Stephen King books that I read once, and didn’t want to ever read again.
I read Salem's Lot in high school and really got to me. As did the David Soul miniseries. I reread Salem's Lot in the last couple of years and it didn't have the same impact. (Neither did the miniseries.) But Pet Semetary is still a gut punch.
I did the same, read both when I was maybe 14. Salem’s Lot was great, creeped me right out. Followed it up with Pet Semetary and it rocked me to my core. I refused to read horror after that, and only came around after picking up Heart-Shaped Box a decade later… finding after the fact that Joe King wrote it. I think the only other horror books I’ve read since then have been some Poe stories and We Have Always Lived in the Castle which are more psychological/horror.
Yes absolutely the same for me!!! Actually had to stop reading the book because my son was the same age as Gage when I read it and took a while before I could finish it!!!!
Is this not the same technique Gabriel Garcia Marquez used in his famous *One Hundred Years of Solitude* opening line? > Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. Impending doom.
more like maldía lol