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Thread: King's worst novel?

  1. #1301
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    We have a lot of the same tastes. I did not care all that much for The Drawing of the Three (although the series picked up after that and I loved most of the rest). Pretty much hated Insomnia and didn't care for The Talisman at all. But loved Black House! Give it another try!

    (And, yes, Duma Key was excellent!)

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    How can Insomnia be hated? It's one of King's best and most beautifully written novels.

  3. #1303
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heather19 View Post
    I still need to try to give Black House a go since it's so well loved (started it a few times but don't think I got off the first chapter). But I fear it might be similar to Talisman.
    It is by no means like The Talisman. Just think: if it was, would bears love it so much?

    Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
    When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)

    bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. #1304
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    Quote Originally Posted by divemaster View Post
    We have a lot of the same tastes. I did not care all that much for The Drawing of the Three (although the series picked up after that and I loved most of the rest). Pretty much hated Insomnia and didn't care for The Talisman at all. But loved Black House! Give it another try!

    (And, yes, Duma Key was excellent!)
    Quote Originally Posted by Jean View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Heather19 View Post
    I still need to try to give Black House a go since it's so well loved (started it a few times but don't think I got off the first chapter). But I fear it might be similar to Talisman.
    It is by no means like The Talisman. Just think: if it was, would bears love it so much?
    I'll give it another try. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
    Only the gentle are ever really strong.

  5. #1305
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    It's crazy how diverse our tastes are. I absolutely love The Talisman. So much, that I've read it at least 3 times. Yet, I didn't really care for Black House.
    But, it seems like the general consensus around here is the complete opposite.





    This is some sort of bizarro world.

  6. #1306
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    And the few parts of Black House that are like The Talisman are the parts Jean doesn't care for. I like 'em both... though BH is certainly the better one.

  7. #1307
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jean View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle View Post
    I so wish I could explain what you missed in HiA and (ouch) Bag of Bones.
    And so wish you would! I've already tried to re-read Bag of Bones (not Hearts, that would be too much) with you in mind, trying to see what you see - and failed.
    Oh, you did? I didn't expect that. Okay, I'll work on it, as soon as I have time.

    Quote Originally Posted by cowboy_ed View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Iwritecode View Post

    Quote Originally Posted by cowboy_ed View Post
    and the ending was way too close to the DT7 ending, which wasn't any good to begin with.
    I don’t see this at all?
    In terms of the Patrick Danville drawing things to affect real life idea that is basically the crux of DT7, it felt way too familiar.
    Hm. I thought you meant that it was like the situation with the Crimson King, where the villain was built up and built up, but no real confrontation occurred. As far as the art powers, I didn't mind seeing them again, although that was indeed clunky in DT7. I felt it worked much better on the next attempt. As a metaphor for the thin veil between the reader and author, it's rather obvious, but I'd much rather see it as a direct device for a character coping with emotions from an accident in a book written by a writer coping with the same than as an easy short circuit to the resolution in his much larger epic. And it's really funny that I'm here defending DK left and right, because I am not at all the biggest fan. lol

  8. #1308
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    Ive been on this site a while now...
    I never posted on this thread because I just thought you were all hormonal! Never read a king novel I didnt like, each transports me to a new where and when.
    Especially LS I adored it... but now all has changed, I read elevation...

  9. #1309
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    Hmm. Tough one. A toss up between The Tommyknockers and From a Buick 8.
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  11. #1311
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    I'm sure I mentioned it somewhere in this thread in the past 10 years or so but for me it's Lisey's Story hands down.

    I struggled for weeks to even get through the first few chapters of that book. I finally forced myself to finish it and haven't picked it up since.
    Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?

  12. #1312
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hunchback Jack View Post
    Hmm. Tough one. A toss up between The Tommyknockers and From a Buick 8.
    I always had a soft spot for Tommyknockers... I loved the premise maybe more than the book? Not sure... so long ago!
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  13. #1313
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    Tommyknockers was great, and LS I fell in love with.

  14. #1314
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    Yeah, it’s been a while for me too, to be honest.

    I remember when I first read it that it seemed like it was an attempt to do a huge sprawling novel like IT, that went horribly wrong. It seemed to me like King started writing and kept adding characters and scenes in an attempt to create a vision of a town falling apart, but didn’t really have anywhere to go with it. Years later, when King described it as a coke-fueled mess, that made total sense to me.

    I think there might have been a good novel in there. But King just wasn’t able to pull it off. The result wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good. A huge sprawling mess of a novel that went nowhere. I think Needful Things might have been an attempt to revisit some of those ideas, and that novel worked, in my opinion.

    Buick 8 was a novel that should never have been written, in my opinion. It seems clear to me that the king had no clear idea of a story, as such, he just had a premise and tried to write a novel around it. But he didn’t have anywhere to go with it, and he knew it - he kept telling us that in the novel. So the result was a patchwork of forgettable characters, and some memorable scenes, but no novel.
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  15. #1315
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    I re-read Tommyknockers after PS did their edition and I liked it even more than when I originally read it. Theres a chapter that terrified me as a 15 year-old the first time I read it and still freaked me out as an adult over 30 years later.

    The only King book I didn't finish was Rose Madder.
    The only King book that I thought was pointless was Revival.
    The most annoyed I've ever been with a King work was with the Bill Hodge's trilogy. I like the books but Holly Gibney and Bill Hodge's girlfriend were the most annoying King characters I've ever read. The only ones I wouldn't want to have a beer with.
    I've either loved or really enjoyed almost everything else.

  16. #1316
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    Holly is a bit much to take. I'm not entirely sure if I like her or not but I was interested in her character in that she definitely wasn't boring.

    I think The Tommknockers suffers from it's length. Shorten that one by say 50 to 100 pages and it would be much, much better. As is, I still like it.

    Dreamcatcher is a slog.

  17. #1317
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    I have mixed feelings about Rose Madder, and almost added it to my list. I was a little ambivalent about it on the first reading. But I read it again years later, and saw things in it the second time that I appreciated more. But, it’s still far from his best work, I agree.

    I tend to listen to a lot of kings work on audio. And that definitely influences my opinion of the book itself. For example, insomnia and Dolores Claiborne are middling novels, but outstanding audiobooks. The performances really elevate the material, and they are among my favorite of kings work as a result.

    So I feel like that about the bill Hodges trilogy. I think Will Patton did a great job as a narrator – a wonderfully understated performance. So I think a lot of the things that people found irritating about the characters didn’t bother me so much, because of Patton’s performance. In general, I liked the trilogy just fine, although I was disappointed with the introduction of supernatural elements in the final volume.
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  18. #1318
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    1. From A Buick 8 not even close
    2. Regulators didn't even finish it
    3 Lisey's Story but I am going to give it a 3rd try this year, never made it past 100 pages
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  19. #1319
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    I really enjoy the diversity of opinions here. I agree that LS is the worst King book I have ever read, I absolutely hated it. That's why I only have 7 different copies of it, and the notebook.
    I liked THE TOMMYKNOCKERS, ROSE MADDER, loved the BILL HODGES trilogy (quartet?), did NOT like BUICK 8, etc., etc.
    I also highly disliked TGWLTG and TCK, and the last three Dark Tower novels, specifically TSOS.
    However, one of these days I must re-read the entire DT series over, back to back to back and see if that changes my opinion.
    I'm sure if there is intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe, they are wise enough to stay away from us.

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  20. #1320
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    I don't think there are any "bad" King books, but these are the ones I remember enjoying the least: The Tommyknockers, Wizard and Glass, The Dead Zone, and Sleeping Beauties.
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  21. #1321
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    Just After Sunset was a particularly god awful collection of short stories. Do people even acknowledge its existence anymore?

  22. #1322
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    N was a stellar short story. I can't remember any of the others.

  23. #1323
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    Blockade billy - total waste of time
    Girl who loved Tom Gordon
    Gwendy’s

    ..yes I know they’re not novels, but I really dislike these. 😑


    “The battle between good and evil is endlessly fascinating because we are participants every day.” - Stephen King

  24. #1324
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    Thinner- I have attempted to read this...book... three times and never made it past halfway. It's VERY "put downable" and quite the "cover turner."
    All that's left of what we were is what we have become.

  25. #1325
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    Quote Originally Posted by fernandito View Post
    Just After Sunset was a particularly god awful collection of short stories. Do people even acknowledge its existence anymore?
    I haven't read it for some time so I had to look up the stories in it but I remember enjoying most of them.

    Willa, The Gingerbread Girl, N., Stationary Bike, The Things They Left Behind, A Very Tight Place.

    All good short stories to me.
    Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?

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