Cell (spoilers involved)

[Ageless Stranger]

It really didn't seem all that bad to me. Maybe I'm easily entertained.

[Hannah]

I liked it too. :shrugs: Each to their own I guess.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I don't know. I don't think I would turn into a zombie unless it was someone I know calling me. Because I won't answer the phone if the number is not programmed into my phone.

[Mrs. Underwood]

Ha! It's funny I should finally come over to see what the Cell thread is like after having a conversation about what I'd do in just such an occasion last night. A friend and I both agreed that if ever we're in the vicinity of other folks with cell phones and more than one starts ringing at the same time, we'll start backing slowly away, maybe looking for something to bludgeon people with if need be. So yeah, I guess that's what I'd do. And thanks goes to Uncle Steve for preparing me mentally for that an eventuality.

At any rate, I've seen this book get a lot of bad reviews, but I personally loved it. Out of his more recent set of novels, as in the past ten years, it was kind of nice to see him return to something so unabashedly violent and scary. I love almost all of his books, the quieter ones as well, but it seems books like Cell capture my attention and hold it a lot more easily. Especially with a beginning like this one had. How can you not read more after that?

[TCCBodhi]

Cell is the book that brings this up for me, but it also relate to how he has depicted gay characters or events throughout his body of work. I've read SK nearly constantly since my teen years, but when I came out in my 20s I was seeing that almost mention of a gay character was universally derisive depiction. It bothered me even more because that was also around the time that I heard the rumor that Naomi was gay, and I thought he wasn't being very understanding of his daughter.

Cell seems to be the first time that I can think of where he's had a major gay character and where it hasn't been treated in a cruel or dark fashion. I nearly quit reading SK because of the tone that I was consistently seeing. I'm now in my 40s, and I've mellowed in that because I'm recognizing that his time-frames and settings are all consistent with gay harassment/bullying/etc. I was really bothered by it for a long time though.

I don't normally pick apart the literature that I read, but it's been such a part of my life through varying stages I've often wondered if this was noticeable to other people. Has anyone else that might just happen to be straight notice this trend, or is it just me because it was so close to me?

[mae]

The Losers Club podcast episode on the novel:

https://bloody-disgusting.com/podcas...e-losers-club/