It's so weird to keep saying, "this is the first time I've read this in almost 30 years"...because with the King books, it really doesn't seem that long ago.

Apparently it really is. I dove into this the same way I did the last time, reading the Bachman novel first, before moving to the mirror novel. The last time, I chose the Bachman book first because, when I lined up the covers, it was the first one, on the left. This time, I did it because I remember liking the King novel more than the Bachman one, so I figured I'd end (hopefully) on the same high.

I've got to say, last time I read this one, I won't say I was underwhelmed, but I didn't love it. I guess you could say I was simply...whelmed.

This time around, I will say that, overall, I actually quite enjoyed it. It was a bit overwritten for my taste, which is interesting because, while I know this tends to be a common complaint with King, it's not one I typically voice. I love his writing, and if he digs down into a particular detail or plot point or tangent, I'm usually completely fine to go along with him.

But I found a lot of the descriptive passages and character intros toward the front half of this novel seemed a bit too much. And it was actually surprising how much King inserted mentions of a sexual nature. I'm not used to that with him, and I found it constantly surprising.

Here's the big thing I found this time around: While I usually enjoy a "big cast" King story, this one felt overcrowded. I more enjoyed the side note sections—the diary entries, the letters, etc.—that gave a bit more context to what was happening on Poplar Street, than I did the portions with all the other characters.

I found myself wishing that King had just focused tighter on Seth and especially Audrey, with smaller side trips to that large cast of characters and what they were going through.

Again, overall, the novel was more enjoyable the second time around. And I will say, there's parts of this story that I think hold some of King's best writing. But overall, there's a fair amount of miss for me too. ( )

This is apparently a companion volume to a Stephen King novel, Desperation which I have not read. It is a fast paced action packed read - basically about a bloodbath which takes place in a suburban street which is highjacked into the Twilight Zone - the mass shootings being carried out by brought to life characters from a) old Western TV and films and b) a made up cartoon series of the Power Rangers/Masters of the Universe type. Because a malevolent entity has possessed a young autistic boy and uses his love for both of the above into creating a vehicle for mayhem.

Found the explanation rather odd - I get that a malevolent entity might want to cause a bloodbath but it seemed odd that it was apparently trapped into doing it this way, though maybe that is meant to suggest how strong the autistic child's influence is over it. However, with the characters falling like flies and a lot of them not well differentiated, it soon became quite hard to keep tabs on who was who. People also joked and acted in extremely odd ways while under heavy fire. OK, stress affects different people in different ways, but some of it seemed downright peculiar. Not the greatest Stephen King novel in my opinion, and only a 2 star for me. ( )

As much as it pains me to say anything unflattering about a Stephen King novel, I just didn’t care for this one. I’m sure it’s me and not the author. I couldn’t get into it. So many characters and so much weird, frantic activity. ( )

Leggi la mia....
InstaRecensione!
Metti mi piace e aggiungimi se ti fa piacere!

Come prima lettura di questo Halloween come non buttarsi sul re? Avendo già letto in tenera età l’attualissimo IT ho deciso di scoprire la famosa duologia che mi ero lasciato indietro da tempo. Tuttavia non credo che leggerò Desperation in tempi brevi.
Non mi ha certo deluso ma questo libro è un accozzaglia di caos frenetico e violenza gratuita che mi ha fatto ripiombare nel cinema horror di serie B degli anni 80.
Prevedibilissimo e assurdo ma allo zio Steve si perdona tutto.
Consiglio di non perdersi dietro ogni singolo personaggio tra i millemila che si presentano perché... va beh dire perché sarebbe spoiler... ( )

Book 61 of Stephen King. Enjoyed reading the novel, having read Desperation a little while ago this book was recommended by LibraryThing for me. Not his best work but worth the read none-the-less. For me being a constant reader I enjoyed my fix of plugging back into the matrix of Kings world. Enjoyed the similarities, overlap and differences between Desperation and there was also some references to the Overlook Hotel from the Shining and Doctor Sleep Easter eggs to enjoy. ( )