Just After Sunset *possible spoilers*

[Sam]

I wouldn't make a decision like that based on what one person said jude. I found this to be one of King's best collections. Far, far better than Night Shift and Skeleton Crew if only because all of the stories were enjoyable for me. And more than half of them were Grand Slams for me. I would really put it up against Everything's Eventual any day. I actually liked this better than EE, and that book had some GREAT tales to tell. Second only to Different Seasons, and DS only had four stories in it.

Give it a chance.

[obscurejude]

Well if you were in grad school and had little time for pleasure reading you might change your mind Sam. No time for mediocrity. Besides, I was half joking, but me and Jayson are pretty good friends and if he finds it less than compelling the chances are that I will as well.

You seem like a smart guy, so I might give it a chance when I'm old and sipping lemonade in my wicker chair on the porch complaining about the youngsters driving by to my cat.

[Sam]

Actually, this is the type of book I DID gravitate toward when I was in college. Short stories are just that, short. I didn't realize you were sorta joking though. I do understand how things are though. When my wife was in grad school she barely had ten dollars left to get her through the rest of the month after paying her utilites and rent at the beginning of the month. She lived on crackers and fish sticks. I myself did the crackers and Ramen noodle soup thing.

[jayson]

I agree with Sam that no book necessarily strikes any two people the same way, though I suspect we all know that.

I disagree with Sam that this is among the best of the King short story collections. I have always enjoyed the short story collections, and having finished the last of the stories in J.A.S. last night, I can say that not only do I not find this to be among the best, I find it to be the single worst. Aside from "N" (which was quite good) the rest of it was, at best, mediocre and predictable and that would be a generous appraisal for some of the other stories. For me, it certainly doesn't compare to Different Seasons. Those stories will stay with me my entire life. With any luck, I'll have forgotten most of the stories in J.A.S. by the end of this year. I wanted to like these stories, but it wasn't happening.

[Sam]

I think in this instance it simply has more to do with our experiences in life Jayson (congrats on the new position and have fun). Some of the stories I really identified with for one reason or another. Another part of it is I simply love the new voice that King has found. It is resulting in stories that more fully develope the characters than he used to. The stories end up a little longer, but the characters live more brightly to me. And it simply could be the fact that I will forever equate this particular tome with the fact that I got to meet one of the heroes of my childhood at the reading he did in Massachusettes. I freely admit that my vision may be clouded by that, BUT I had read many of the stories prior to this book's publication and already knew that I enjoyed them.

I am sorry you did not find them as good as I did. I found the stories better in this one and Everythings Eventual than in his other collections. (I'm not counting Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons since they had only four stories each or Hearts in Atlantis as I see that as one big story, not a collection.) I rather think it comes from his growth as a writer, but as you say, different opinions is what makes this place work. (Though I disagree. It would be soooo much better if everyone held MY opinion, IMO.)

[jayson]

I'm glad you enjoyed them Sam, it's good to know someone does. I know I wanted to. It certainly won't turn me off to reading further publications from King. He's more than earned benefit of my doubts at this point to at least give all of his new works a read (except Faithful, that one is not allowed in my home).

And thanks for congrats. I appreciate it.

[theyspunaweb]

I don't get it. I started a thread about this before but no one made any comments, do you have to be a higher rank or something to start such threads?

[jayson]

I don't get it. I started a thread about this before but no one made any comments, do you have to be a higher rank or something to start such threads?

I looked everywhere for a thread on this book. I'm so sorry if I missed yours because I'd have just added to that one if I'd have found it.

[Jean]

Sorry friends, it's entirely my fault, I overlooked it that there was already such a thread when this one was started. I'll merge them now.

[ManOfWesternesse]

....I started a thread about this before but no one ....?

It may simply have been too early, with people still reading it & trying to avoid spoilers?
(I know my copy sat for a week or so while I finished another Book, then I took my time reading Sunset and avoided any threads until I finished.)
... and no, you don't have to be any 'rank'.


ps. That Av you have is infectious - you can't help but smile when you look at it!

[obscurejude]

Actually, this is the type of book I DID gravitate toward when I was in college. Short stories are just that, short. I didn't realize you were sorta joking though. I do understand how things are though. When my wife was in grad school she barely had ten dollars left to get her through the rest of the month after paying her utilites and rent at the beginning of the month. She lived on crackers and fish sticks. I myself did the crackers and Ramen noodle soup thing.

Good points Sam. I'm sorry if I came off dismissive. When I see it at the used bookstore later in the year, I'll pick it up and give it a try. I appreciate you taking the time to explain why you liked the stories so much. Like I said, I was sort of joking in regards to Jayson.

[Brice]

I don't get it. I started a thread about this before but no one made any comments, do you have to be a higher rank or something to start such threads?

Hey! There are no ranks at all. It's a big site. Sometimes threads get overlooked. It happens. I assure you it was nothing personal, nor was it due to ranks...as there are none.

[theyspunaweb]

You guys are all so nice, sorry I bugged out. Besides I seem to log on this website once every week (or just whenever I start a new SK book), so that could have just as well been enough of a case.

I am really excited to start this book, or for at least some of these stories with what most of you have said. I haven't read any of the the stories in it that have been previously released. I'm excited to read the short ones, since I've been reading series books for a long time now.

[JQ The Gunslinger]

I finished JAS. It was deffinetly just alright. "N" was a good story, but the rest are just ok.

[Patrick19]

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I can't say that it's my favorite short story collection by a long shot (Everything's Eventual is my fav). I really enjoyed N, even though I had already seen the web-comic thing and knew everything that was going to happen.
Very Tight Place... wow that grossed me out. Typically King doesn't really do that to me - I just found it too disgusting and couldn't read it all the way through in one sitting. Maybe I just have too vivid of an imagination, but I just felt it was a bit much.
I'd have to say that the story I liked the most was 'Stationary Bike'. It kinda made me want to make a painting of my own like the character in the story so that I'm not so damn bored on my treadmill. But I'm not sure if I really liked how that turned out for him haha.

[theyspunaweb]

I just read the first story and am in the middle of Gingerbread Girl. Pretty dissapointed with the first one...it seemed pretty boring to me.

I also skipped ahead and read The Cat from Hell or whatever. I thought for sure I knew the end of the story the whole time:

here's my idea

I thought the cat was really making the "hits" for the man in the house...killing people off and would just kill the hit man off also. I was wrong, and it just ended and then I felt pretty unclever, for thinking I was clever.

[ManOfWesternesse]

...I'd have to say that the story I liked the most was 'Stationary Bike'. ...

Yes, I really enjoyed that one, though the ending came a bit abruptly I thought?

I just read the first story and am in the middle of Gingerbread Girl. Pretty dissapointed with the first one...it seemed pretty boring to me.

Gingerbread girl was one of my favourites in the collection.
Agree on the first story (Willa) - I know it was a major disapointment at the time - and already I can't even remember what the story was about!

[theyspunaweb]

...I'd have to say that the story I liked the most was 'Stationary Bike'. ...

Yes, I really enjoyed that one, though the ending came a bit abruptly I thought?

I just read the first story and am in the middle of Gingerbread Girl. Pretty dissapointed with the first one...it seemed pretty boring to me.

Gingerbread girl was one of my favourites in the collection.
Agree on the first story (Willa) - I know it was a major disapointment at the time - and already I can't even remember what the story was about!

Yes just finished Gingerbread Girl and Harvey's Dream. I really enjoyed Gingerbread girl. My boyfriend and I thought the pase was so crazy in that story, the background was pretty long and then it just jumps right into everything.

[Tiffany]

I just finished "The Things They Left Behind" and enjoyed it enough. Enjoyed sounds like too happy a word...like I was singing and dancing while reading it but y'all know what I mean.

So far the only one that I wasn't crazy about was "Rest Stop."

Sort of off-topic:
I guess it's just that it's been a while since reading a newer King book, but I gotta say I really love his intros. I can't say that I've read every single one but the ones I have, I haven't been bored with. What I love the most is how sincere it feels when he's talking to me or you or whomever. To Constant Reader.

[Jean]

Have just finished reading N., and was very unimpressed. It reads like a cross between Flexible Bullet and Crouch End, both of which I like a lot, but recognition kills a lot of effect... plus many other sources, both King and non-King, echo there and I couldn't help feeling some prevailing second-handedness of what I was reading; let alone that the story was monotonous like hell, - worse, it was totally predictable.

[theyspunaweb]

Have just finished reading N., and was very unimpressed. It reads like a cross between Flexible Bullet and Crouch End, both of which I like a lot, but recognition kills a lot of effect... plus many other sources, both King and non-King, echo there and I couldn't help feeling some prevailing second-handedness of what I was reading; let alone that the story was monotonous like hell, - worse, it was totally predictable.

Predictable...yeah, but wasn't that a total giveaway because of how king started the story? It was started off with a disclaimer practically...so that's why it was a giveaway. I felt like almost told us how it was going to end, if you didn't get it, then it shouldn't surprise you all that much to see that fate of all charecters invloved were linked. Hope that was not spoilerish, I tried to say it without having to put behind a cut.

I enjoyed this story a lot because I wanted to find out more, but I too felt like I had heard a lot of it before. Maybe parts of that are why I enjoyed the story too...It definitely felt like King was revisiting areas or relms which he was firmiliar with. I couldn't help but be reminded of

Dark Tower reference

Susannah and the demon having sex in the ring to try and pull jake through another world...and this ring of stones to another world full of evilness. Weren't there stones surrounding in the DT scene also?

Also I loved that he linked the OCD to the story, I thought that was original and pretty cool. I have epilepsy, and acutally the first time I had a seizure, I didn't know what it was, I almost thought there could be something evil inside me! (this is embarressing, but I hurt myself sort of badly and didn't know what the first one could be) so I think that those areas are a great place to explore in story telling, because in real life, people can seriously believe the scariest of things.

[Jean]

I understand that the predictability was a means he used on purpose; the problem is, I find this means dubious, just as well as the whole idea of "revisiting". It might work, or it might not; in my case it didn't. I also understand that

Spoiler:

the personal moment might make this story for you much more interesting than it was; it's also a matter of perception, because this here bear, being disturbed in various ways, still doesn't find anything original in the way King treated it in this particular case.

Also, it's not only the ending which I meant when I said "predictable" - it's the whole development of the story, step by step and every step known in advance; not from the inner logic of the novella, but alas, from other literature.

[jayson]

Interesting thoughts from both Jean and theyspunaweb.

I also take predictability on a case by case basis. King is often purposely predictable and sometimes it works for me, but sometimes it doesn't. "N" still worked for me because of the way it played out through the OCD's progression. I actually give King credit for writing a story that held my attention despite being nearly completely predictable.

[Jean]

You know Jayson... maybe the order of the reading played prominent part in your impression... I mean, I started with N., and now am slowly trying to make it through the rest of the stories, starting with the first of them... I have to say that on their background N. really does stand out, and if I had read after those preceding it, I might think of it a little better - but it would be a deceptive feeling anyway.

(for example, Gingerbread Girl nearly killed me with its utter pointlessness... others were at least shorter... So far I - marginally - liked only Rest Stop)

[jayson]

Perhaps that plays a role. I did read them in the printed order and "N" was the first one that I cared for at all so it stood out to me.

"Rest Stop" struck me as a bit of "the writer as tough guy" fantasy. I suppose many of us have thought about something like that at some point or another. I'm just not sure it made for something I wanted to read about. On the plus side, it was set in a part of Florida I know and I was thus able to picture the whole thing a little better than places I have never been in Maine. He got it a little more correct than he did parts of Tampa which were in Duma Key which he got quite wrong.