Summer of Stephen
Title: “I Am the Doorway”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 10 pages Start Date: June 28, 2017 End Date: June 28, 2017 Something I didn’t realize when I started this challenge was just how many short stories Stephen King has written. I thought I would have to track down all of the anthologies and short story collections to find them, but so far I’ve been able to find PDF versions on Google, so I’ll stick with that as long as I can. King’s first short story was “I Am the Doorway.” Despite being only 10 pages long, he manages to pack a lot into the story. Unfortunately (and maybe it’s just me), not everything made sense. The story follows an astronaut who is now disabled after being infected by some type of extraterrestrial during a mission to Venus. He spends most of the story with his hands wrapped in bandages, and he complains about them constantly itching. I won’t tell you what’s under the bandages or how he deals with it, but it’s a bit weird, even for a King story. This is my least favorite bit of King’s writing so far. I haven’t read many of his shorter works yet, but so far they all feel like he’s trying to fit in too much. Considering how long most of his novels are, I’m actually kind of surprised he wanted to write short stories in the first place. In my opinion, “I Am the Doorway” doesn’t really showcase King’s talents as a writer, so I wouldn’t recommend it, especially if you aren’t already a fan.
0 Comments
Title: Rage
Publishing Date: 1976 Length: 131 pages Start Date: June 20, 2017 End Date: June 27, 2017 For those of you who didn’t know, Stephen King wrote a handful of books under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman.” The first of those books was Rage. It’s a short novel about Charlie, who has just been expelled from high school and decides to go out with a literal bang. Before he leaves, he gets a gun out of his locker, sets everything in the locker on fire, and then heads to a math classroom to find some victims. This book doesn’t follow King’s usual formula of horror or supernatural elements, which is likely why he chose to put Bachman’s name as the author. The insights into Charlie’s warped sense of justice are fascinating, and were easily my favorite parts of the book. However, the sections that involve him verbally abusing every adult who tries to defuse the situation turned him into the worst type of unlikable character (the kind with absolutely no redeeming qualities). While only a few characters besides Charlie are given any backstory, the interactions between Charlie and his fellow students feel horribly real, especially for someone who’s watched exchanges between teenagers in a classroom setting. In an introduction to the book, King mentions that several school shooters have cited Rage as one of their inspirations. This has led to parents, teachers, and administrators calling for it to be banned. Which, as King points out, is ridiculous. If these kids are contemplating taking a gun to school, a fictional novel that (PLOT SPOILER!) doesn’t end well for the shooter isn’t going to make the final decision for them. Despite this not being in King’s usual style, I enjoyed the brief departure from his horror novels. While I doubt Rage will make my top ten list of King’s books, it was a good read, and I recommend it. Title: The Shining
Publishing Date: 1976 Length: 450 pages Start Date: May 27, 2017 End Date: June 19, 2017 I read The Shining for the first time when I was a senior in high school. I was with my best friend and her mom on a shopping trip for Black Friday, and I read the majority of this novel in the hotel while I was waiting for them to wake up (I used to be an early riser). Let me tell you, reading a book about a creepy hotel while staying in a hotel makes for great atmospheric reading. I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, The Shining didn’t hold up for me on this second read. I don’t know if it’s because I already knew what was going to happen (“Redrum” just isn’t quite as creepy when you know ahead of time what it means), or because the Jack Nicholson movie is so ingrained in my head now that the book just doesn’t compare anymore. I’m not sure what did it, but the book took me way longer to get through than it should, because I just wasn’t interested in picking it up every day. Not to say that it’s not a good book. King is great at manipulating his characters and his readers with psychological tricks, and The Shining is a glowing testament to that. It’s difficult to trust the characters, because they’re never sure what to believe themselves, and I’m a huge fan of unreliable narrators. But, the book just seemed to move too slowly for my taste now. Maybe if I were reading it for the first time or hadn’t seen the movie so many times I’d have a different opinion. But I don’t think The Shining is one that I’ll ever go back and read again. |
Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
July 2019
Categories |