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Thinner (1984)

by Stephen King

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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7,463881,207 (3.44)109
Fiction. Horror. HTML:

Curse of the Old Gypsy Man...

Billy Halleck, good husband, loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American Good Life: he has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer. But he is also fifty pounds overweight and, as his doctor keeps reminding him, heading into heart attack country.

Then, in a moment of carelessness, Billy sideswipes an old gypsy woman as she is crossing the streetā??and her ancient father passes a bizarre and terrible judgment on him.

"Thinner," the old gypsy man whispers, and caresses his cheeks like a lover. Just one word...but six weeks later and ninety-three pounds lighter, Billy Halleck is more than worried. He's terrified. And desperate enough for one last gamble...that will lead him to a nightmare showdown with the forces of evil melting his flesh away.
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English (81)  Italian (2)  French (2)  Spanish (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (87)
Showing 1-5 of 81 (next | show all)
Warning, this review is full of spoilers, and I didn't feel like trying to figure out where they all were and hiding them individually. So don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.

I was disappointed when I read this book for the first time, not long after its publication. I was still a very sheltered teenager and expected my books to have likeable (or at least empathizable) protagonists and relatively hopeful endings. This is not that kind of book. Itā€™s unrelentingly grim. Absolutely humorless. I did not enjoy reading it, then or now. But this time, reading it as an adult with decades more experience in life, it surprised me with its social commentary - its sort of, well what do you expect is going to happen when people have finally Had Enough?

ā€œā€™All his life heā€™s been on the move, busted out of a place as soon as the ā€˜good folksā€™ have got all the maryjane or hashish they want, as soon as theyā€™ve lost all the dimes they want on the wheel of chance. All his life heā€™s heard a bad deal called a dirty gyp. The ā€˜good folksā€™ got roots; you got none. This guy, Halleck, heā€™s seen canvas tents burned for a joke back in the thirties and forties, and maybe there were babies and old people that burned up in some of those tents. Heā€™s seen his daughters or his friendsā€™ daughters attacked, maybe raped, because all those ā€˜good folksā€™ know that gypsies fuck like rabbits and a little more wonā€™t matter, and even if it does, who gives a fuck. To coin a phrase. Heā€™s maybe seen his sons, or his friendsā€™ sons, beaten with in an inch of their livesā€¦ and why? Because the fathers of the kids who did the beating lost some money on the games of chance. Always the same: you come into town, the ā€˜good folksā€™ take what they want, and then you get busted out of town. Sometimes they give you a week on the local pea farm or a month on the local road crew for good measure. And then, Halleck, on top of everything, the final crack of the whip comes. This hotshot lawyer with three chins and bulldog jowls runs your wife down in the street. Sheā€™s seventy, seventy-five, half-blind, maybe she only steps out too quick because she wants to get back to her place before she wets herself, and old bones break easy, old bones are like glass, and you hang around thinking maybe just this once, just this once, thereā€™s going to be a little justiceā€¦ an instant of justice to make up for a lifetime of crap ā€“ ā€˜ā€

This rant is by the chief of police, who knows these things and yet still actively participates in the injustice, because thatā€™s the way things are and too bad if youā€™re on the losing end. Halleck, the ā€œprotagonistā€, knows these things and feels bad about them, he winces inside when his boss tells n****r jokes but laughs along, heā€™s disgusted by the pillar of the community treating patients while coked up but doesnā€™t intervene, he cries at this assessment of the situation but is still unmoved in his resolution to regain the status quo.

And in the end, nobody wins. There is no redemption, not for anyone. I still donā€™t like this book, I haven't even really touched on all its flaws, but it was interesting, and I dislike it less.

One last note: I wonder if later editions (maybe after the movie adaptation?) changed the ending, because the reviews Iā€™ve read indicate a different, slightly more redemptive ending for Halleck, where he doesnā€™t give his wife the pie, but instead just falls asleep and wakes to find she and their daughter have found it and eaten it. My version, copyright 1984 and with a 1991 bookplate inside the cover, has Halleck giving her the pie as a ā€œpeace offeringā€ and falling peacefully into sleep while listening to her eating the pie down in the kitchen.

I read this book for the Booklikes Halloween Bingo 2019, for the square Cryptozoologist: Any book with a cover that has a lot black or has the word black on the cover, in the title, author or as a character name, or involves rock and roll in some way. My edition has a solid black cover with large red handprint and the title and author in thin (ha ha) white block print.
( )
  Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |
Signed. First edition
  RCornell | Oct 26, 2023 |
No wonder bachman was discovered after this novel. It is pure Stephen King through and through. Only he can tell such a crazy story in a believable way and make a strawberry pie terrifying ( )
  Crystal199 | Sep 29, 2023 |
Took a while to get going but the third act was a lot of fun. I thought I had read this before but apparently had only seen the movie. As is almost always the case, the book is so much better. The characterization was good though not up to the high level as in the novels he writes as King; it seems the Bachman books lack some of the depth that make characters so memorable. Not entirely a bad thing but just something I feel differentiates the works under the names. Quick and fun read though I don't see myself revisiting this one anytime soon. ( )
  mindrot | Aug 22, 2023 |
This was my first King book. I read it when I was a teenager. I was hooked ever since. Loved this story. Still think about it. ( )
  leahorr | Jul 12, 2023 |
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» Add other authors (14 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
King, Stephenprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Edwards, LesCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edwards, LesIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lasquin, FranƧoisTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Miller, EdwardIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Miller, EdwardCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
To my wife, Claudia Inez Bachman
First words
"Thinner," the old gypsy man with the rotting nose whispers to William Halleck as Halleck and his wife, Heidi, come out of the courthouse.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Fiction. Horror. HTML:

Curse of the Old Gypsy Man...

Billy Halleck, good husband, loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American Good Life: he has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer. But he is also fifty pounds overweight and, as his doctor keeps reminding him, heading into heart attack country.

Then, in a moment of carelessness, Billy sideswipes an old gypsy woman as she is crossing the streetā??and her ancient father passes a bizarre and terrible judgment on him.

"Thinner," the old gypsy man whispers, and caresses his cheeks like a lover. Just one word...but six weeks later and ninety-three pounds lighter, Billy Halleck is more than worried. He's terrified. And desperate enough for one last gamble...that will lead him to a nightmare showdown with the forces of evil melting his flesh away.

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Billy Halleck, good husband, loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American Good Life: he has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer...but he is also fifty pounds overweight and, as his doctor keeps reminding him, edging into heart attack country.

Then, in a moment of criminal carelessness, Billy sideswipes an old gypsy woman as she is crossing the street - and her ancient father passes a bizarre and terrible judgment on him.

"Thinner," the old gypsy man whispers, and caresses his cheek, like a lover. Just one word...but six weeks later and ninety-three pounds lighter, Billy Halleck is more than worried. He's terrified. and desperate enough for one last gamble...that will lead him to a nightmare...
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