King's worst novel?

[ratchet41]

yeah Fairy Tale was a struggle for awhile to get through but that was an extremely slow burn i think King got carried away on how slow the pace of that book was. the book didn't get better for me until he was captured but him being in that dungeon was too long i think. Finders Keepers i struggled with it for awhile and i forced myself to finish it and i ended up really enjoying it, but i have not picked up or started Holly Yet because i have not read The Outsider or finished it yet i started it a couple years back and i just never finished it i'll have to start it over i suppose. anyways i have not read "if it Bleeds' either i want to read them in order i'll get to them eventually i suppose i will say i'm reading End of watch at the moment i hope maybe to finish it tonight i'm only on page #265 at the moment but it is a fast read i gotta admit i've read 4 of his books counting that one in a row i've never done that before in my life normally i just read one of his books and move on to the next author. so it's quite nice to knock out 4 of his books off my list. those books are Fairy Tale, Doctor Sleep, Finders Keepers and End of Watch

[CyberGhostface]

I liked it when it was about the kid's relationship with his neighbor and the dog but once the fairy tale stuff actually started it felt kind of by the numbers.

[Girlystevedave]

I'm ashamed to say it, but there are a few King books I put down before being able to finish. Tommyknockers and From a Buick 8 were struggles for me. I recently tried to read Fairy Tale and ended up giving up. I won't say I wouldn't try it again one day, but I gave up this round.

[ratchet41]

Tommyknockers i love but i'll be the 1st to admit that it starts off strong than when it's switched to Gard and his drinking & his trek back to Bobby's that's quite Boring i get that but once he gets to Bobby's it picks up more. From a Buick 8 i read a few years ago with such a low bar and expecting to hate it and for some reason it really caught me off guard how much i loved it maybe it was because it was so different than his normal stuff? i dunno but i quite enjoyed that one but i can see why some may hate it. i can see why you gave up on Fairy Tale after the neighbor died it was a struggle i'm not gonna lie. one thing i did love though was i dunno how far you got in the book but there's a part where he Neighbor left a message on a cassette i believe? and on the audio book it's read by King himself & the way it's done on that is just like it would sound had it been on a Cassette back in the day it's really creative i think

[Girlystevedave]

Tommyknockers i love but i'll be the 1st to admit that it starts off strong than when it's switched to Gard and his drinking & his trek back to Bobby's that's quite Boring i get that but once he gets to Bobby's it picks up more. From a Buick 8 i read a few years ago with such a low bar and expecting to hate it and for some reason it really caught me off guard how much i loved it maybe it was because it was so different than his normal stuff? i dunno but i quite enjoyed that one but i can see why some may hate it. i can see why you gave up on Fairy Tale after the neighbor died it was a struggle i'm not gonna lie. one thing i did love though was i dunno how far you got in the book but there's a part where he Neighbor left a message on a cassette i believe? and on the audio book it's read by King himself & the way it's done on that is just like it would sound had it been on a Cassette back in the day it's really creative i think

I keep thinking I'd maybe like to try to revisit Tommyknockers one day. It's such a huge book and I feel like I'm cheating myself by not reading it. I also remember reading later that King himself realized how dense it was and that he was heavily using drugs when he wrote it. He said something along the lines of there being "a good book in there somewhere".
I do need to try to go back to From a Buick 8. I think I was just in a weird reading mood when I tried it.
Fairy Tale. Oh man. I wanted to like it so much. I read up to the part with the character who yelled everything in caps. I just couldn't do it.
That sounds like a very neat detail he did with the cassette element. I can't usually do audiobooks, but I'd almost want to just to hear that for myself.

[ratchet41]

if i recall The Tommyknockers i think was the last book he wrote before he got Clean he didn't write Misery clean though & i want to say The Dark Half (1989) is the 1st book he wrote Sober. King is like really any writer some of his own work he my not like kinda how like i've written my guess i've written close to #200 poems or over #200 poems i'm not sure on the number to be honest and there's certain poems i just don't care for but than there's certain ones i happen to fucking love.

i happen to love The Tommyknockers for example much like i loved the book Dreamcatcher & yet he doesn't like that one either and many fans hated that one i loved it my only gripe with Dreamcatcher was 2 things 1. he killed Beaver at all and if he was gonna kill him he was the 1st to go and he was easily the Best character in the entire book. & 2. The Introduction chapter to Colonel Kurtz i think his name was? that was to fucking long and it slows the book to a crawl than when you get through it than the book picks back up. as for Fairy Tale when i first read you type that i could not figure out what you were talking about i remember now though & that's a character that i get why she could be annoying but i enjoyed Fairy Tale i don't think it's among his best books like some seem to but it was a good one that really needed a boost with how fucking slow it was for the longest time. as for From a Buick 8 (2002) that's a book that some again really hate and detest and think it's among his worst books i went in really expecting to hate it since it's gotten so much hate since it came out back in (2002) because i thought it was another Christine and i figured why is he doing this? but it's not it's a Science Fiction book more

or less and shit i read that in just a few days it was the fastest i read a book in quite a long time i didn't want it to end to be honest. i'm Currently Reading Duma Key (2008) this is a book i've tried reading off and on for years but just never was

able to finish it and it's not because i thought it was bad i just lost interest that's all & i just Started it Monday Night & as of this typing i'm only #125 pages into it already and so far i'm Enjoying it thus far. if you've read it where i am he just Met Wireman and they've had their 1st drink at the beach.

[Ricky]

I read up to the part with the character who yelled everything in caps. I just couldn't do it.

Oh God, now I'm having flashbacks. OR SHOULD I SAY FLASHBACKS!

[ratchet41]

for me she really wasn't an issue i just didn't think about how it bugged me she screamed in caps

[Girlystevedave]

if i recall The Tommyknockers i think was the last book he wrote before he got Clean he didn't write Misery clean though & i want to say The Dark Half (1989) is the 1st book he wrote Sober. King is like really any writer some of his own work he my not like kinda how like i've written my guess i've written close to #200 poems or over #200 poems i'm not sure on the number to be honest and there's certain poems i just don't care for but than there's certain ones i happen to fucking love.

i happen to love The Tommyknockers for example much like i loved the book Dreamcatcher & yet he doesn't like that one either and many fans hated that one i loved it my only gripe with Dreamcatcher was 2 things 1. he killed Beaver at all and if he was gonna kill him he was the 1st to go and he was easily the Best character in the entire book. & 2. The Introduction chapter to Colonel Kurtz i think his name was? that was to fucking long and it slows the book to a crawl than when you get through it than the book picks back up. as for Fairy Tale when i first read you type that i could not figure out what you were talking about i remember now though & that's a character that i get why she could be annoying but i enjoyed Fairy Tale i don't think it's among his best books like some seem to but it was a good one that really needed a boost with how fucking slow it was for the longest time. as for From a Buick 8 (2002) that's a book that some again really hate and detest and think it's among his worst books i went in really expecting to hate it since it's gotten so much hate since it came out back in (2002) because i thought it was another Christine and i figured why is he doing this? but it's not it's a Science Fiction book more

or less and shit i read that in just a few days it was the fastest i read a book in quite a long time i didn't want it to end to be honest. i'm Currently Reading Duma Key (2008) this is a book i've tried reading off and on for years but just never was

able to finish it and it's not because i thought it was bad i just lost interest that's all & i just Started it Monday Night & as of this typing i'm only #125 pages into it already and so far i'm Enjoying it thus far. if you've read it where i am he just Met Wireman and they've had their 1st drink at the beach.

I forgot that Dreamcatcher was another I wasn't able to get through. I think the problem was that I saw the movie first and that usually kills my momentum when trying to revisit a story.

I haven't read Duma Key in a really long time, but I do remember enjoying it. Good luck finishing this time.

[Girlystevedave]

I read up to the part with the character who yelled everything in caps. I just couldn't do it.

Oh God, now I'm having flashbacks. OR SHOULD I SAY FLASHBACKS!

WHAT'S WRONG, RICKY? DOES READING LIKE THIS TRIGGER YOU OR SOMETHING?!

[RichardX]

Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, and Lisey's Story are the consensus duds. King's praise for Lisey's Story probably keeps that one from the bottom. Sleeping Beauties was awful but King only gets half the responsibility for that one. I liked Thinner with its implausible Swedish speaking gypsies. King must have been on the sauce big time to come up with that. Too bad that he cut out the booze. Most of his novels over the last twenty years are average or eye rolling painful in their repetitive wokeness to prove that he is still "hep." Love all those "high fives" and teens who watch old TCM movies in King's time machine. 11/22/63 was the last classic novel.

[CyberGhostface]

lMost of his novels over the last twenty years are average or eye rolling painful in their repetitive wokeness to prove that he is still "hep." Love all those "high fives" and teens who watch old TCM movies in King's time machine. 11/22/63 was the last classic novel.

All ‘woke’ means is that you’re alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. Idk why anyone would take issue to that or think that the bulk of King’s recent novels have paid more than a passing glance to such things. (By these standards ‘IT’ would be the most ‘woke’ thing King has ever written.)

[St. Troy]

All ‘woke’ means is that you’re alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.

Ha ha ha - not even close to true (but you are far from alone in drinking this kool-aid).

[St. Troy]

I still say Lisey's Story is very good.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Just to put my totally worthless opinion in, I agree with your first statement, Mister R., but not the second.

[CyberGhostface]

All ‘woke’ means is that you’re alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.

Ha ha ha - not even close to true (but you are far from alone in drinking this kool-aid).

That’s been the definition since the 1930s. I know the Fox News crowd has been trying to vaguely redefine it but even then the terminology has been incredibly broad, I.e. the existence of LGBT characters in any capacity is ‘woke’. Even here it’s being lumped in with King trying to be ‘hep’ with teens watching TCM which is a first.

Maybe you could give me the new definition and how it applies to the bulk of King’s work over the past twenty years, though.

[St. Troy]

Since the 1930s, no less - the revisionism is strong with this one.

[CyberGhostface]

‘Stay woke’ has been in play since the 1930s, yes. That’s not ‘revisionist’, it’s well documented.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210716.../appeals/woke/

Are you going to answer the question or not? What does it actually mean and how does it apply to King’s output over the past two decades?

[St. Troy]

‘Stay woke’ has been in play since the 1930s, yes. That’s not ‘revisionist’, it’s well documented.

The existence of a term does not imply unchanging meaning and usage over a period of decades; given your stated sympathies (as a "wokie") with the marginalized, you might know this from the euphemism treadmill associated with American black people.

What does it actually mean...

Those that request definitions in conversation are either stalling due to an inability to generate a response (since you continue to generate chatter, this is clearly not you) or disingenuous (it's not credible that one holding forth on matters "woke" would simultaneously be unaware of the nature of that conversation's recent arrival and role in present day society).

[I suppose that took longer than just offering the definition you requested, but I'm not here to feed a semantic troll, I'm here to laugh at it.]

...how does it apply to King’s output over the past two decades?

That was RichardX's contention - you might see if he has an interest in entertaining some "oh gosh whatever might you mean" pageantry.

[CyberGhostface]

That’s been the meaning for the bulk of its duration, the Fox crowd trying to rewrite it to mean anything from a black person being cast as Ariel to a trans person appearing in an advertisement was only a very recent addition as a blowback against the BLM movement using it to signify an awareness of prejudice. Now Richardx is apparently indicating it means an old guy (King) not being in with what teens find ‘hep’.

I’m not surprised you can’t give a concrete answer, that’s fairly common whenever someone is pressed on it. But if you are disputing the accepted definition of ‘woke’ then you should at least have a response other than “nuh uh”.

[ratchet41]

i think people are so used to hear it that they don't know what it really means, what's even funnier if anyone in the senate especially Republicans are asked what woke truly means they right way give what they either think it means or just change the subject. but thank you for posting what it really means as for his last classic in the past decade? i dunno i haven't read them all just yet to be fair, King has written books from any era where some are better than others you will have that with any author it's not always age either. I loved Dreamcatcher for example and many really really hate that book.