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View Full Version : Bracket #11: Cell (2006)



Jean
02-16-2012, 09:31 AM
Cell, 2006
http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/510/medium/Cell_face.jpg

Please vote for Cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(novel)) using the following scale:

5: I loved it
4: It was good
3: Average
2: Only so-so
1: I didn't like it

If you haven't read this book yet, please vote Never Read. Feel free to discuss your votes in this thread.

Jean
02-16-2012, 09:43 AM
a good strong 4, and could even be a 5 minus if the first quarter or so wasn't so excruciatingly boring

Garrell
02-16-2012, 09:57 AM
5, one of my favorite newer ones. Zombies for the win!

pathoftheturtle
02-16-2012, 10:44 AM
a good strong 4, and could even be a 5 minus if the first quarter or so wasn't so excruciatingly boringThat would make it a 3 minus for me. *sigh* So odd, so odd -- you and I agree greatly about what SK does best, why can't we agree on any example of his worst?

Jean
02-16-2012, 11:03 AM
this is really very interesting. Logically, what we both find the best appeals to what we have in common, while those other books have to do mainly with our differences.

thought we agreed on W&G, though?

fernandito
02-16-2012, 11:08 AM
A solid 4.

pathoftheturtle
02-16-2012, 11:33 AM
thought we agreed on W&G, though?Ah yes, so we did, more or less. :cool:

For the rest, I guess you're right, and it's great that, therefore, we still (even after so long) should have some very interesting discussion yet to come. :)

Jean
02-16-2012, 11:53 AM
er... still? I thought we were only warming up?..

(seriously, I know how lazy I've been recently - very busy elsewhere, which is not a valid excuse. Now my recent problems are slowly developing into an every-day routine, which must enable me to free some time for what bears love so mudh)

Iwritecode
02-16-2012, 01:46 PM
4 from me.

I thought it was interesting that when I bought this book, I had a cell phone that looked almost exactly like the one on the cover.

Minus the cracked screen with blood pouring out of it of course...

Heather19
02-16-2012, 02:31 PM
5, loved it. This book had one of the best openings.

blavigne
02-16-2012, 03:19 PM
4...I liked the main character and enjoyed the zombies. I thought it was one of the better endings by SK and the opening was great but it got a 4 because of some of the dragged out parts in between. Cell could have been shorter and just as good or maybe better.

divemaster
02-16-2012, 04:47 PM
Hmmmm, 3 or 4? 3 or 4?

Maybe 3 because the first half or so was really good and the second half...was not. Plus it seemed a bit derivative.

But maybe 4 b/c it kicked off with a bang and zombies are always cool. Plus, King really knows how to bring you into his story-world.

Went with the 4.

Shannon
02-16-2012, 05:39 PM
Hey, I read this one! :) I gave it a 4. LOVED LOVED LOVED the zombies and characters and scenes, DIDN'T love that King tried to go that extra step and make things a little unique/different/weird. Radio mouths, anyone? lol

Merlin1958
02-16-2012, 06:42 PM
Hey, I read this one! :) I gave it a 4. LOVED LOVED LOVED the zombies and characters and scenes, DIDN'T love that King tried to go that extra step and make things a little unique/different/weird. Radio mouths, anyone? lol

Well, you have a point, but it was kinda "creepy"!! Nevertheless, I see what you mean!!!


God Bless you, for reading this one!!!! You're getting there my friend!!!

Jean
02-16-2012, 09:56 PM
is there anyone around who, like bears, liked the second half more than the first?

frik
02-17-2012, 06:02 AM
4

sk

DoctorDodge
02-17-2012, 07:39 AM
Never read, but I do have it. It sounds like a bit of an easy read, if anything. I'll try and remember to read it soon. (After Desperation, at least, anyway.)

BROWNINGS CHILDE
02-17-2012, 07:40 AM
I liked the second half better....but then with apocalyptic novels, I am always more interested in the post-apocalyptic society that with the apocalypse itself. The disaster, whether it be a vampiritic virus, pandemic plague, or apocalyptic asteroid is only a literary means to an end. (pun intended)

Jean
02-17-2012, 07:47 AM
I liked the second half better....but then with apocalyptic novels, I am always more interested in the post-apocalyptic society that with the apocalypse itself. The disaster, whether it be a vampiritic virus, pandemic plague, or apocalyptic asteroid is only a literary means to an end. (pun intended)perfectly stated! bears like

BROWNINGS CHILDE
02-17-2012, 07:49 AM
I knew we shared this Jean. I suspect that you liked the second half of The Stand better too, after you get past the global annihalation you can settle in for some interesting material.

Jean
02-17-2012, 07:54 AM
I knew we shared this Jean. I suspect that you liked the second half of The Stand better too, after you get past the global annihalation you can settle in for some interesting material.I got to think about this. I remember loving the Stand from the first page - wait, I think I know. It's because in The Stand, from the very start, he - as is his forte - operates with destinies rather than with events even when describing the catastrophe itself.

pathoftheturtle
02-17-2012, 10:42 AM
I knew we shared this Jean. I suspect that you liked the second half of The Stand better too, after you get past the global annihalation you can settle in for some interesting material.I got to think about this. I remember loving the Stand from the first page - wait, I think I know. It's because in The Stand, from the very start, he - as is his forte - operates with destinies rather than with events even when describing the catastrophe itself.Yes, but it is not until those destinies intersect that we see The Stand is --

... what King is the real king of - a community that lives through crucial changes, the interaction between those people ...... Cell, not so much.

... Cell could have been shorter and just as good or maybe better.Certainly. Or, theoretically, a second part could have made it longer and better... but it would have to have been a pretty amazing Book Two!


... King really knows how to bring you into his story-world. ...Often. And I can buy that as reason to lift the books where he does to 3. Speaking of SK-style storytelling, I also like the ambiguous ending of Cell. But regardless, I really can't buy zombie action as reason to go above 3. Still only so-so for me.

Anyway, another possibly noteworthy viewpoint -- if The Colorado Kid's publication had an ulterior message for me, ("Stephen King is not retired!") then this book was the one that really said "The Crimson King ain't retired either!"

Plus one more perception I must confess, to do with perspective as a collector: It seems like every bookstore I have visited for the last couple of years has two or three copies of this novel, even if they have no other SK items. And I already have an extra that was given to me which I don't know what to do with. This builds up a maybe unfair gag reflex when I regard it. Maybe unfair. I don't know why it is that this one is so easy to find.
:orely: I have this anecdote of plainer circumstances applying the principle I'm trying to describe -- One time, I was watching TV with a friend and the movie Armageddon came on. He's all, "How about this? You like it?" and I'm like "Not really." So then he wanted to know why not, and I didn't want to get into it; I just say, "Well, I've just seen it before with different friends too many times." Then he says, "That just means that it's good."
Oh, if only that were true!

Jean
02-25-2012, 04:47 AM
last chance to vote! the poll is closing!

candy
02-25-2012, 08:32 AM
... Cell could have been shorter and just as good or maybe better.Certainly. Or, theoretically, a second part could have made it longer and better... but it would have to have been a pretty amazing Book Two!


I was going to say I didn't like the second part because it reminded me too much of the Stand, but then I read this, and thought actually this is more apt. If the second half had been longer and possibley more of its own book I would have loved it.

What a lot of people hated, (family etc) and which has not been mentioned yet, was the end. I actually quite liked it, it made me think instead of being spoon fed. However, my dad actually threw the book across the room in a fit of pique!!!! :wtf:

Heather19
02-25-2012, 08:43 AM
The very end was perfect. I don't understand why alot of people were upset by it. I like that he didn't tell us how it started. That's not what the story was about, and we didn't need to know that.

mae
02-25-2012, 05:40 PM
The poll has closed. Cell has earned a FAS (final average score) of 4.133333333 or 82.67%, placing 2nd (runner-up) in this bracket. It will be moving on to Round 2.

mae
02-25-2012, 06:05 PM
Third time's the charm. Cell makes it to the second round for the first time in three CRAs.

Jean
02-25-2012, 10:07 PM
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Messages/congratsbear_s.jpg

Garrell
02-26-2012, 12:21 AM
:excited: