The parts of Dreamcatcher I enjoyed the most were the ones dealing with the character stuck inside his own mind while another entity controlled his physical body. Like with Suze and her Dogan, or the brief switch between Oy & Jake, I like the way King envisions the way our minds and memories work.
For me comparing the children stories in Dreamcatcher to It is like comparing McIntosh's to Delicious's. They are similar but not by much, I appreciate both story lines, but the childhood element is much more pronounced and developed in It because of the kind of story it is.
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
I read this book whilst on holiday.
I felt it was one of the worst things I have ever read.
It had no cohesion. Nothing made sense. Elements like the butt weasels were crude and not worthy of SK.
I actually doubted, and still doubt SK wrote it himself.
It in now way compares to 99% of his work.
Well it seems as if I've never posted in this thread. I actually really enjoyed this book. It's one that I've been wanting to go back and read for quite some time.
Just don't get me started on the film version, because I don't have very nice things to say about it.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
The sequences of Jonesy being trapped inside his own mind sounded very much like King to me. It read similarly to.
Ok, I'll admit there is a echo there.
I'm sure SK did write it, but, I still profoundly disliked this novel.
For me it felt half hearted, going through the motions, not as passionate or well crafted as Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone or The Shining to name but three.
I quite enjoyed Dreamcatcher. Not one of the best King books, of course, but it certainly suffiuced in the entertainment department. I think he may have killed Beaver off a little too early - I liked his character.
As I said, not one of my favourites, but definitely worth the read.
Time spent with cats is never wasted.
I finished this book today and decided to watch the film. Big mistake on my part. The first 30 minutes were in line with the book but the remaining hour and a half felt like something you'd see on the Sci-Fi channel. Yes, it was that bad which reminds me...
Spoiler:
I enjoyed the book but the ending seemed rushed and there were parts which were in no way cohesive. I also felt that the dreamcatcher theme was just inserted at the eleventh hour due to his wife not agreeing with the original title of Cancer.
I loved this book. The "disease" was so gross and scary. I love any scary story with the "something in the water" theme though.
I agree Beaver was killed off to soon.
I haven't re-read it since it came out. I think I'll try it again soon though to get the bad taste of the movie out of my mouth.
Another thing that sucked in the movie. What was that place called that was like a library in his mind?
That didn't translate well into film.
I haven't finished it yet, but it's really starting to slow down for me - Mr Gray is in Jonesy's mind, the military is shooting animals, etc etc. The Beav was killed off way too early, I think he was the only character I really wanted to read about
I have the movie at home, just waiting for me to wish I didn't watch it
So much you did and so much more you would have done, aye, and all without a check or qualm, and so will the world end, I think, a victim of love rather than hate. For love's ever been the more destructive weapon, sure.
Without spoilers, if possible, can someone tell me what Stephen King meant when he said this book was a "mean book in a lot of ways"?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0lofwQTWKk"]YouTube - Stephen King on Early Show 2001[/ame]
It's towards the middle/end. Can someone explain what it means to write a book that is "mean"? This is to satiate the writerly concerns I have. :-/
King's most recent epic imo
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I loved this novel. I remember my stepfather bringing it home one day and i thought he had bought it for himself (as a SK fan himself), but instead of reading it, he just handed it to me like i had asked for it. it wasn't my birthday or christmas or anything and i hadn't even known there was a new King book out. i remember (17 years old at the time) sitting in my bedroom with some good rock on the CD player and watching these characters develop. i had no idea what it was about when i started reading it and i almost put it down when i found out it was about aliens (never have been a big fan), but i'm so glad i didn't i finished it in a week and it's one of my top 20 books. certainly one of my top ten favorites of SK. when people ask me, "What are you up to today man?"
"Oh, you know; SSDD."
that is so cool what your step father did, i love randomly getting books
It doesn't happen now i am older, as i have quite a collection so people prefer to get me vouchers, but i love that story
I also loved the book, not on a first read when i just thought it was pretty gross, but on a re-read i found myself quite warming to it
(This is why i can never understand some of the people that i know in RL, saying they don't understand how i can read a book more than once??? strange critters )
What's not to love about a book that introduced s%*t weasel to my vocabulary?
I enjoyed everything about this book until the end. That whole we are Duddits, Duddits is us mumbo jumbo just made me want to puke.
People love frozen yogurt. I don't know what to tell you.
I'm about halfway through this right now.
I've just gotten to the part where we learn that the gray men can make telepathy possible. I'm excited to see what happens with that. I'm also anxious to see where they're going with the whole Duddits thing, in relation to present time.
While reading this, there have been many times I've been reminded of The Dark Tower. For instance, the number nineteen kept making an appearance in one part of the story, low men were referred to at one point, which made me think of Ted Brautigan. I'm sure there were more than just those two that I can remember right now.
I love how King inserts little bits of other stories like that.
1stly according to IMDB the dvd has a different ending with duddits or however that's spelled? not an alien, than you have the theatrical cut where he is. i forget which version i saw when i 1st caught it on tv some years ago. i enjoy the film to be honest, but than this is one book i've never read the whole thing, so i'm trying it again as of yesterday. i'm not that far into it just about 45 or so pages into it so far. i hope it's a good one. but than i always hope that to be honest with any SK book or any book for that matter. i also don't get how some people don't read books more than once, i don't get that and i never will but oh well. and SSDD may be an old saying that was around when my parents were around in the 60's. and no doubt older than that but i think i 1st heard it was from this book and i to this day have used it since.
I quite enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book. The last 1/3 not so much. Pretty far out stuff there at the end.
fair enough man, i ended up buying this sucker on paperback and the reason is mainly cause i don't have to lug the hardback around anymore. and i was on page 208 in the hardback and page 288 in the paperback when i searched for the spot i left off. anyways, i'm now 340 pages into it. hence the paperback version, i said this elsewhere and i will say it here, i find it funny as hell how a book that is 620 pages in the hardback is over 200 pages longer in the paperback version. and your answer will be well the print is smaller and you would be correct i just find that funny that's all. this is a book i've tried reading a few times but i never finished it for some reason. and i think i am not further in it than i was than but i honestly don't remember where the hell i left off anyways? as for the film i enjoy the film a lot. i posted on IMDB the forum over there,
on how this is one story that regardless who makes it, since it's not really one his better known books as far as i'm aware. and since it's a book that's got like 4 different stories in it, 4 friends, a monster movie, counting the film i mean, and action book/movie and an alien story that would be 4. as i said there with King it's normally just one thing mainly in his books.
leaving out the dark tower books where that's pretty much all over the place. so i get why the film flopped but hell i enjoy it and that's all that matters to me i guess. and so far i'm enjoying the book too. though they did kill beaver far far far too damn early.
reading past posts just now i was seeing people say that the book is always better, uh no it's not ALWAYS better, yes 9 times out of 10 it is i'm not going to deny that, but honestly i can think of a couple examples where the film was loads better, 1st book, well there's Carrie, the book is terrible at least i think it is, yet the original (1976) film is fucking perfect. Dolores Clairborne or however you spell it, sorry about my shitty spelling folks, this one isn't a bad book at all but i love the film more than i do the actual novel to be honest, and than there's the book the godfather the book is medicore in my opinion and is really nothing to be desired but it's not a bad book at all, but the film is also another one that's just perfect.
in short the book is NOT always better than the film. like i said most of the time yes it can be but there are times when it's not. i'm still reading Dreamcatcher and i'm in the paperback version of it that i've since bought last week on page 614 and i'm enjoying the hell out of it. i'm also watching a little of the movie as well just to see what's different. and so far i still like the film for what it is. some things are changed yes but so far i'm still enjoying the film as well.