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Cell

by Stephen King

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
11,748266572 (3.45)1 / 191
Civilization doesn't end with a bang or a whimper. It ends with a call on your cell phone. What happens on the afternoon of October 1 came to be known as the Pulse, a signal sent though every operating cell phone that turns its user into something...well, something less than human. Savage, murderous, unthinking-and on a wanton rampage. Terrorist act? Cyber prank gone haywire? It really doesn't matter, not to the people who avoided the technological attack. What matters to them is surviving the aftermath. Before long a band of them-"normies" is how they think of themselves-have gathered on the grounds of Gaiten Academy, where the headmaster and one remaining student have something awesome and terrifying to show them on the school's moonlit soccer field. Clearly there can be no escape. The only option is to take them on.… (more)
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  3. 02
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» See also 191 mentions

English (243)  Italian (4)  Danish (3)  French (3)  Dutch (3)  Spanish (2)  Finnish (2)  German (2)  Hebrew (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Portuguese (1)  All languages (265)
Showing 1-5 of 243 (next | show all)
Not my favorite Stephen King, did not like the ending, I was flipping the pages, "That's it??" ( )
  therestlessmouse | Jul 26, 2024 |
3.5 stars

Clay is in Boston from Maine when, on the street, people start going crazy and violent! Someone rips off a dog’s ear and people start attacking (and killing) one another. Initially not sure what is happening, after a bit, Clay realizes those who went “crazy” were all on their cell phones just before it happened. Clay doesn’t have a cell phone. He meets up with Tom, who seems ok, and 15(?) year old Alice, who ran after her mom was affected. Initially they hide out in Clay’s hotel lobby with one of the staff. But Clay wants to get home to Maine to check on his (estranged? ex?) wife and son, Johnny. Sharon doesn’t have a phone, but little Johnny does, though he doesn’t use it often… but sometimes Sharon uses it.

I thought this was good. A bit slow-moving, but good. I really liked the climax of the book, but the actual end itself… I’m not too sure. It was pretty open-ended. ( )
  LibraryCin | Jul 16, 2024 |
The Stand meets I Am Legend, but without the shitty endings. ( )
  capincus | Jul 13, 2024 |
This one was...just blah.

It was, for the most part, shockingly unmemorable. Yes, King went for the gore a few times, but I'm really not a gore fan. He also dove into the SF arena a little bit, and for the most part, he really shouldn't. TOMMYKNOCKERS and DREAMCATCHER are proof of that.

He had a few good moments when we lost one of the only two good characters in the novel. And the second good one? Yeah, he just kind of drifted away through most of the second half.

In fact, this novel's so forgettable that, literally 24 hours after having finished it, I'm having problems remembering most of it, because my mind continually drifted through the entire reading.

Not a hot mess like TOMMYKNOCKERS. Not a wandering mess like DREAMCATCHER. Just...dull. ( )
  TobinElliott | Jul 8, 2024 |
I really liked this book, even though I wasn't crazy about how it ended. It's definitely one I could read, and enjoy, again. ( )
  thatnerd | Mar 2, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 243 (next | show all)
If you have ever worried that using mobile phones might scramble your brain, Stephen King suggests you may just be right. It all happens at 3.02pm one afternoon, when everyone in the world using a cellphone suddenly becomes a violent maniac.
added by stephmo | editThe Guardian, Matthew Lewin (Feb 25, 2006)
 
Stephen King is supposed to have retired. A year ago, he published the final part of his seven-book Dark Tower saga with the book of the same name - a novel so crushingly disappointing that, reluctantly, all but King's most ardent fans were forced to agree with the author himself that it was probably time for him to stop and enjoy the royalties from his 40 or so bestsellers.
 
Cell is Stephen King's first full-length novel since his threatened retirement in 2003. Of course, this most prolific of authors has not been idle during this period, penning a collaborative non-fiction book about baseball, a regular column for the popular US magazine Entertainment Weekly, several short stories, and even a short (and slightly puzzling) noir novel, The Colorado Kid, for small publisher Hard Case Crime. This is the first of two new novels to be published this year, with Lisey's Story to follow in October.
added by stephmo | editThe Independent, Matt Thorne (Feb 12, 2006)
 
This is the way the world ends... not with a bang, but a whimper.
— T. S. Elliot


Actually, it ends with a "pulse" -- an errant cell phone signal that wipes away the user's humanity, 'rebooting' their brain back to something basic... primordial... and evil. Even those within earshot of the gray matter draining signal suffer a kind of evolutionary epilepsy, reverting to a state of pure impulse and mental confusion. As the feeling consumes its host, madness takes over, and there is only one way to satisfy this cruel craving. The insanity must be met with violence, quelling the instinctual bloodlust that lay dormant inside every person's DNA. Thus the world ends, and it's the very people who protected and prospered upon it who are now intent on taking it down.
added by stephmo | editPop Matters, Bill Gibron (Feb 9, 2006)
 
If the stretch of years between Sept. 11 and last fall's Kashmir earthquake has reminded us of anything, it's that history can take a drastic turn in one day. Stephen King jumps into the middle of one such day on the opening pages of Cell, his first full-length novel since he came off what has to be the shortest-ever retirement not involving professional boxing. Happily wandering Boston after selling a comic-book pitch, artist Clay Riddell watches as the world goes mad when a mind-wiping electronic pulse turns everyone using a cell phone into a violent zombie.
 

» Add other authors (16 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
King, Stephenprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Rekiaro, IlkkaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Scott, CampbellNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
The id will not stand for a delay in gratification. It always feels the tension of the unfulfilled urge. - Sigmund Freud
Human aggression is instinctual. Humans have not evolved any ritualized aggression-inhibiting mechanisms to ensure the survival of the species. For this reason man is considered a very dangerous animal. - Konrad Lorenz
Can you hear me now? - Verizon
Dedication
For Richard Matheson and George Romero
First words
The event that came to be known as The Pulse began at 3:03 p.m., eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Civilization doesn't end with a bang or a whimper. It ends with a call on your cell phone. What happens on the afternoon of October 1 came to be known as the Pulse, a signal sent though every operating cell phone that turns its user into something...well, something less than human. Savage, murderous, unthinking-and on a wanton rampage. Terrorist act? Cyber prank gone haywire? It really doesn't matter, not to the people who avoided the technological attack. What matters to them is surviving the aftermath. Before long a band of them-"normies" is how they think of themselves-have gathered on the grounds of Gaiten Academy, where the headmaster and one remaining student have something awesome and terrifying to show them on the school's moonlit soccer field. Clearly there can be no escape. The only option is to take them on.

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Book description
Cell is an apocalyptic horror novel concerning a New England artist struggling to reunite with his young son after a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell-phone network turns masses of his fellow humans into zombies.
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Average: (3.45)
0.5 9
1 102
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