8 minute read
The Last Word
Revisting the King of ‘Bump, Eek, and Ook’ of the Night
Since o cially beginning his career with a short story sold in 1967, the extraordinarily proli c author Stephen King has written more than 60 novels, not to mention multiple screenplays, ve non- ction books, and approximately 200 short stories. His rst published book, Carrie, was released in 1973 when he was in his twenties, giving him enough money to write full-time. Since then, he’s le a legacy inextricably intertwined with pop culture in books and movies. His writing comprises horror, science ction, fantasy, and straight ction genres, with those genres o en overlapping. He has referred to himself as the writer’s equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries, which does not tell even part of the story of his enduring popularity, despite showing that he understands his common-man touch.
Even as an omnivorous reader, I put King aside for a long time. What I did read I found to be propulsive and very engaging, but I do not like horror as a genre, and perhaps unfairly stayed away. Also, I read e Shining when I was eleven, and stayed up all night long as a result. In my early teens Cujo had me closing my closet doors at night. erefore, I moved on to other authors.
Yet even I dabbled my toes in the King paddling pool, if not the deep end, in my later teens. Written under his then-pseudonym, Richard Bachman, e Bachman Books, comprising four novellas, intrigued me in high school. ey were not horror, albeit o en horri c. Two tales stood out for me then. In Rage, a high-school student kills his teacher and holds the class hostage. As a high school student, I could understand and feel in my gut, as many teenagers might, the feelings of alienation in the main character. (A er several school shooters were found to have referenced Rage or used it as inspiration, King let its copyright expire and wrote an essay on gun violence.) In e Long Walk, teenage boys submit their names in a lottery. A hundred names are drawn, and each contestant must keep walking to the death until only one is le , granted anything in life he desires from an authoritarian, rightwing government. I see echoes of it in e Hunger Games trilogy released by Suzanne Collins, although that is postapocalyptic action-adventure.
Another tale that struck me forcefully in high school was Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the story of Andy Dufresne, an unjustly convicted man sent to Shawshank Prison in Maine. e Shawshank Redemption, one of the most highly respected and beloved lms ever made, has maintained the highest overall rating on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) for many years, above even e Godfather and e Godfather II. It is a classic story of perseverance and redemption that anyone might nd worthwhile.
I have had no way to even begin to review the stories, novellas, and novels that have shot from King’s imaginationfueled ngertips on to the typed page. In the past month, however, I did a deep dive into some of his recent and classic works, one that kept going as I grabbed a box of Chicken McNuggets here, a Big Mac there, or a QuarterPounder with Cheese, depending on my appetite. I read more of his books than ever before. I needed all that reading to escape during the month before the inauguration, taking a particular break from the outrageous events that took place on January 6 at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. In the process, I took a dri ing, scattershot approach.
One that o en comes up on the “Ten Best Stephen King Books” lists is e Stand, a novel about a postapocalyptic America in which most people have died from a government-engineered super u. It drew my eye because we are still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. At approximately 1300 pages, it was a commitment, but one I was willing to make. I zoomed through it as fast as I could. is cinematic story features violence and cringe-worthy moments aplenty.
A King characteristic I noticed in this book rst released in 1978 was to display violence with cartoonish glee and sometimes have characters emit sounds like “RAT-A-TAT!” or “POW!” to bring a slightly surreal edge to an already surreal story. His onomatopoeia is a touch gonzo, as his style of writing can o en be. King released his own “Writer’s Cut” of the novel ten years later, since he had been asked to edit down the pages to keep the published book a reasonable price. By then it was a classic, but the longer 1988 version is now considered the standard.
In e Stand the few human survivors divide into camps of good and evil, separated by the Rocky
From the Vault: I have read a number of Stephen King’s compulsively readable books since this column: Firestarter, e Dead Zone, e Shining, Rose Madder, e Eyes of the Dragon, Joyland, and e Outsider. ey all touch on the wide-ranging variety of interests and subject matter I detailed below in my original column. e Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is the most recent. e tale of Trisha, a young girl who gets lost in the woods o the Appalachian Trail, is an older publication but a compelling page turner. She keeps herself going by listening to Red Sox baseball games starring her favorite player, Tom Gordon, on her Walkman. In the process she forages for food and seeks shelter while sensing a lurking presence watching and following her. I look forward to King’s next publication, Fairy Tale, which comes out in early September.
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THE LAST WORD | FROM PAGE 12
Mountains, as they defend themselves on their long trek from other parts of the United States. e larger-than-life Satanic gure of Randall Flagg musters forces in the Western half of the former United States to attack forces east of the Rockies. If you’re looking for an absorbing, quick, escapist read, look no further. Is this the best Stephen King book written? Perhaps not for me, although I enjoyed it.
Iread Dolores Claiborne some years ago. It is a gripping, straightforward ction story about a woman, her deadbeat husband, and her trial for his murder. I would recommend it for its absorbing and satisfying examination of the relationship between mother and daughter, employer and employee, and abusive husband and wife. e lm, starring Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and David Strathairn, is also well worth watching.
In this swoop through King’s oeuvre, I went through some of his most recent ction. I perused the Bill Hodges trilogy, comprising Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch. He introduces a number of recurring characters, including Bill Hodges, a retired police detective brought back into action by a working-class serial killer, Brady Harts eld; Holly Gibney, a neurotic, OCD, lm-loving computer guru; and two middle-class African American teens, Jerome and Barbara Robinson. Together they make up a team that vehemently combats the real, gruesome, and increasingly paranormal serial killers they nd along the way.
Holly Gibney, owner of the skip-tracing rm Finders Keepers, a de facto private investigator, appears in two more tales. Among the characters in my recent reads, she is one of the more fully realized and endearing. She appears also in the recent novel e Outsider. At the beginning of the Outsider, a man is arrested for murdering and sexually assaulting a boy. e police have found enough concrete forensic proof to convict him. en they discover a perfect alibi corroborated by others, with the man even caught on camera at the time of the murder.
In reconciling the two, the element of the supernatural begins to creep in, making this a uniquely King type of mystery. Detective Ralph Andersen must nd who is committing these murders and inducing suicides in roughly the same way as Brady Harts eld, the murderer Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney had pitted themselves against earlier.
King’s most recent story collection, Let It Bleed, is a quick-reading collection of stories that features Holly Gibney in identifying another murderer with supernatural powers who feeds o violence and misery, along with other paranormally touched stories.
Perhaps my favorite recent Stephen King read is a fast-paced thriller, e Institute. A red police detective, Tim Jamieson, hitches his way up the East Coast on a whim and decides to stop in the small town of Dupray, South Carolina, to become a night knocker, walking the street at night to check on its security. In
A grade school picture of the future author.
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