stephen king book reviews new york times

ARMAGEDDON, COMPLETE AND UNCUT Date: May 13, 1990, Sunday, Late Edition - Final Section 7; Page 3, Column 1; Book Review Desk Byline: By ROBERT KIELY; Robert Kiely is a professor of English at Harvard University. Lead: LEAD: THE STAND The Complete and Uncut Edition. By Stephen King . Illustrated. 1,153 pp. New York: Doubleday. $24.95. Text: THE STAND The Complete and Uncut Edition. By Stephen King. Illustrated. 1,153 pp. New York: Doubleday. $24.95. What is longer than ''Moby-Dick,'' ''War and Peace'' or ''Ulysses''? If you guessed the Bible or the Manhattan telephone book, you would not be wrong (though there are small-print Bibles that are under a thousand pages). There are, of course, other longer books, but not many are novels and few of those have been able to sustain a hold on the popular imagination. ''The Stand ,'' unabridged and 1,153 pages long, may prove the exception. In 1978, Stephen King, the author of ''Carrie'' and ''The Shining,'' published ''The Stand '' and almost immediately added thousands of new readers to his already huge following. At that time, Mr. King's publishers thought the book would be better and certainly more salable if it were cut - in fact, cut by 500 pages, nearly half of its original length. Now the novel has been reissued with the missing 150,000 words reinstated, plus a preface by the author and 12 black-and-white illustrations by Bernie Wrightson. It might seem unfair or irrelevant to dwell on size when assessing a novel, yet in this case it is impossible to do otherwise. One simply cannot ignore the bulk of this volume. Besides, a preoccupation with size and weight, particularly an American preoccupation with size and weight, is, as Mr. King insists, central to ''The Stand .'' As it is linked with images of the land, of the spaciousness and diversity and opportunity of the nation, this is a familiar American theme. Mr. King has not only read his Melville but also his Whitman and Dos Passos. Like his predecessors, Mr. King is aware that there is menace as well as promise in the immensity of the United States. What appears modern (or post-modern) in Mr. King is that both the menace and the promise have been tainted by a cheap tedium, a repetition of bravado and monotony of violence. This is not another book about a still raw, untried, half-hidden America, but a nation exposed over and over to itself, as in an enormous mirror, part trite situation comedy, part science fiction, part cop show. In ''The Stand ,'' Mr. King comes across as the people's Thomas Pynchon. His characters are ''toilers in the vinyl vineyards,'' just plain folks who drink Gatorade and V8 but who also may happen to have jobs on top secret Government installations in the barren recesses of Nevada. The general outline of the plot is fairly simple. An accident occurs in an Army lab doing research on biological warfare. A virus breaks through the isolation barrier and rapidly causes the death of nearly everyone working in the plant. There is one survivor, however, who walks past the failed security apparatus, races home to his wife and child, bundles them into the car and speeds toward the Texas border. By the time they reach a gas station in Texas, he is very ill and his wife and daughter have died a horrible death that leaves their bodies bloated, blackened and stinking. Of course, the handful of people at the gas station are also contaminated and they, in turn, pass on the virus to others in a macabre chain of association that is described in loving detail, like a parody of the circulation of money (the perennial bad penny) or a mammoth game of pin the tail on the donkey. From Texas to Maine, Los Angeles to New York, in a gruesome variation on the refrain of ''This Land Is Your Land,'' the superflu spreads, causing its victims at first merely to sniffle and sneeze but soon after to expire in paroxysms of pain and burning fever. (The AIDS epidemic had not been identified when Mr. King originally wrote this book. What in 1978 might have looked like a fantastic exaggeration, in 1990 still appears statistically exaggerated but, sadly, not so fantastic.) Hundreds of pages of text are devoted to vignettes - some poignant, nearly all disgusting - of Americans in all regions and walks of life being stopped in the tracks of their ordinary existence by the dread and incurable disease. Two things make Mr. King's rendering of this phenomenon peculiar, one might almost say original. The first is the sheer number of cases reported and described. At first, you read along expecting things to change, a cure to be found, an escape to be discovered, but after 300 or more pages it becomes clear that variations on one theme - not progress - are the novelist's plan. The second thing that makes these vignettes, and indeed the entire novel, peculiar is that the characters and situations are virtually all reproductions of American cultural icons. ''L.A. Law'' meets ''The Wizard of Oz''; ''On the Road'' meets ''The Grapes of Wrath''; ''Rebel Without a Cause'' meets ''Walden''; Li'l Abner gets lost in the House of Usher; Huck Finn finds Rambo. The New England we see is Norman Rockwell's; the West is John Wayne's. They are often pointed out, lest the reader miss them. ''She looked like a woman from an Irwin Shaw novel'' or ''It's like Bonnie and Clyde'' are common interjections from the narrator and the characters. At the same time, neither comic parody nor a Joycean complexity is at work here. The reproduction of the familiar seems instead a kind of corporate raid, a literary equivalent of a megamonopoly in which the new owner parades brand names to show off the extent and importance of the newly purchased domain. Everything is processed through a gigantic American meat grinder. Just as foreign monuments become a ''Leaning Tower of Pizza'' or ''the Forbidden City Cafe,'' so the names and words of writers from other parts of the world are reproduced, respelled and repronounced. An admiring general turns Yeats into Yeets: ''He said that things fall apart. He said the center doesn't hold. I believe he meant that things get flaky. . . . That's what I believe he meant. Yeets knew that sooner or later things get . . . flaky around the edges even if he didn't know anything else.'' The few healthy characters seem not just to have survived the plague; they have also survived a rough-and-tumble translation from another medium. There is a Woody Allen look- and sound-alike: a New York songwriter with a sassy mother, who nags and pampers her successful and neurotic son during one of his rare visits home. There is a Jane Fonda character from Maine who is gutsy, beautiful, bursting with aerobic energy and slightly pregnant. And there is the hero, a strong, silent Texan, an amalgam of Gary Cooper and Kevin Costner. When the virus eventually peters out, after having done away with what appears to be most of the population, these and a few others gradually converge on the road, with their battered motorcycles, jalopies, slick sports cars and stolen bicycles, or just tramp exhaustedly from empty town to empty town in search of life and some place to start over. Boulder, Colo., turns out to be the point of convergence for these friendly and cinematically familiar survivors and some dozens of others like them. No sooner do they find one another than they begin planning a government. Someone suggests a meeting in which they all ratify the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Another objects that this is unnecessary since ''we're all Americans.'' But, it is quickly explained, government is really an ''idea,'' and the reality of a democracy no longer exists: ''The President is dead, the Pentagon is for rent, nobody is debating anything in the House or the Senate except maybe for the termites and the cockroaches.'' It is all too shockingly and heavy-handedly clear that such statements - literally accurate within the plot of the novel - could (like the deadly virus) serve as metaphors for the dangerous and deplorable state of things in this country. However, rather than analysis or narrative development, there is a prophetic and programmatic explanation: a satanic figure, who has gathered his evil forces in Las Vegas, Nev. (where else?), has been haunting the American dream with fearful nightmares. He must be stopped. A few handpicked heroes, macho males from ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' or ''The Longest Day,'' scramble over dangerous, desolate terrain to get him, but are saved the trouble when he and his minions melt, like the Wicked Witch of the West, in a nuclear accident. In short (well, not so short), this is the book that has everything - adventure, romance, prophecy, allegory, satire, fantasy, realism, apocalypse, etc., etc. Even Roger Rabbit gets mentioned. ''The Stand '' does have some great moments and some great lines. A desperate character trying to save his mother reaches an answering machine: ''This is a recording made at Mercy General Hospital. Right now all of our circuits are busy.'' And there is a wonderful description of ''mankind's final traffic jam.'' But the overall effect is more oppressive than imposing. In many ways, this is a book for the 1990's, when America is beginning to see itself less and less in the tall image of Lincoln or even the robust one of Johnny Appleseed and more and more as a dazed behemoth with padded shoulders. Americans seemed delighted but in an odd way humiliated when Vaclav Havel, a tiny man from a small country, entered the great halls of Congress and delivered an uninflated Jeffersonian address. ''The Stand ,'' complete and uncut, is about the padded shoulders and the behemoth and the humiliation. Unfortunately, it also reproduces at length all the empty excesses that it appears to deplore.

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Stephen king , the art of fiction no. 189, issue 178, fall 2006.

Stephen King began this interview in the summer of 2001, two years after he was struck by a minivan while walking near his home in Center Lovell, Maine. He was lucky to have survived the accident, in which he suffered scalp lacerations, a collapsed right lung, and multiple fractures of his right hip and leg. Six pounds of metal that had been implanted in King’s body during the initial surgery were removed shortly before the author spoke to  The Paris Review , and he was still in constant pain. “The orthopedist found all this infected tissue and outraged flesh,” said King. “The bursas were sticking right out, like little eyes.” The interview was held in Boston, where King, an avid Red Sox fan, had taken up temporary residence to watch his team make its pennant run. Although he was still frail, he was back to writing every day, and by night he would take his manuscript to Fenway Park so that he could edit between innings and during pitching changes.

A second interview session with King was conducted early this year at his winter home in Florida, which happens to be within easy driving distance of the Red Sox’s spring training compound in Fort Myers. The house lies at the end of a sandy key, and looks—by virtue of a high vaulted ceiling—something like an overturned sailboat. It was a hot, sunny morning and King sat on his front steps in blue jeans, white sneakers, and a Tabasco hot sauce T-shirt, reading the local newspaper. The day before, the same paper had printed his home address in its business section, and fans had been driving by all morning to get a peek at the world-famous author. “People forget,” he said, “I’m a real person.”

King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. His father abandoned his family when King was very young, and his mother moved around the country before settling back in Maine—this time in the small inland town of Durham. King’s first published story, “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber,” appeared in 1965 in a fan magazine called  Comics Review . Around that time he received a scholarship to attend the University of Maine in Orono, where he met his wife, Tabitha, a novelist with whom he has three children and to whom he is still married. For several years he struggled to support his young family by washing motel linens at a laundry, teaching high-school English, and occasionally selling short stories to men’s magazines. Then, in 1973, he sold his novel  Carrie , which quickly became a best seller. Since then, King has sold over three hundred million books.

In addition to forty-three novels, King has written eight collections of short stories, eleven screenplays, and two books on the craft of writing, and he is a co-author with Stewart O’Nan of  Faithful , a day-by-day account of the Red Sox’s 2004 championship season. Virtually all of his novels and most of his short stories have been adapted for film or television. Although he was dismissed by critics for much of his career—one  New York Times  review called King “a writer of fairly engaging and preposterous claptrap”—his writing has received greater recognition in recent years, and in 2003 he won the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. King has also been honored for his devoted efforts to support and promote the work of other authors. In 1997 he received the Writers for Writers Award from  Poets & Writers  magazine, and he was recently selected to edit the 2007 edition of Best American Short Stories.

In person, King has a gracious, funny, sincere manner and speaks with great enthusiasm and candor. He is also a generous host. Halfway through the interview he served lunch: a roasted chicken—which he proceeded to hack at with a frighteningly sharp knife—potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, and, for dessert, key lime pie. When asked what he was currently working on, he stood up and led the way to the beach that runs along his property. He explained that two other houses once stood at the end of the key. One of them collapsed during a storm five years earlier, and bits of wall, furniture, and personal effects still wash ashore at high tide. King is setting his next novel in the other house. It is still standing, though it is abandoned and, undoubtedly, haunted.

INTERVIEWER

How old were you when you started writing?

STEPHEN KING

Believe it or not, I was about six or seven, just copying panels out of comic books and then making up my own stories. I can remember being home from school with tonsillitis and writing stories in bed to pass the time. Film was also a major influence. I loved the movies from the start. I can remember my mother taking me to Radio City Music Hall to see  Bambi . Whoa, the size of the place, and the forest fire in the movie—it made a big impression. So when I started to write, I had a tendency to write in images because that was all I knew at the time.

When did you begin reading adult fiction?

In 1959 probably, after we had moved back to Maine. I would have been twelve, and I was going to this little one-room schoolhouse just up the street from my house. All the grades were in one room, and there was a shithouse out back, which stank. There was no library in town, but every week the state sent a big green van called the bookmobile. You could get three books from the bookmobile and they didn’t care which ones—you didn’t have to take out kid books. Up until then what I had been reading was Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and things like that. The first books I picked out were these Ed McBain 87th Precinct novels. In the one I read first, the cops go up to question a woman in this tenement apartment and she is standing there in her slip. The cops tell her to put some clothes on, and she grabs her breast through her slip and squeezes it at them and says, “In your eye, cop!” And I went, Shit! Immediately something clicked in my head. I thought, That’s real, that could really happen. That was the end of the Hardy Boys. That was the end of all juvenile fiction for me. It was like, See ya!

But you didn’t read popular fiction exclusively.

I didn’t know what popular fiction was, and nobody told me at the time. I read a wide range of books. I read  The Call of the Wild  and  The Sea-Wolf  one week, and then  Peyton Place  the next week, and then a week later  The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit . Whatever came to mind, whatever came to hand, I would read. When I read  The Sea-Wolf , I didn’t understand that it was Jack London’s critique of Nietzsche, and when I read  McTeague , I didn’t know that was naturalism, that it was Frank Norris saying, You can never win, the system always beats you. But I did understand them on another level. When I read  Tess of the d’Urbervilles , I said to myself two things. Number one, if she didn’t wake up when that guy fucked her, she must have really been asleep. And number two, a woman couldn’t catch a break at that time. That was my introduction to women’s lit. I loved that book, so I read a whole bunch of Hardy. But when I read  Jude the Obscure , that was the end of my Hardy phase. I thought, This is fucking ridiculous. Nobody’s life is this bad. Give me a break, you know?

In  On Writing , you mention how the idea for your first novel,  Carrie , came to you when you connected two unrelated subjects: adolescent cruelty and telekinesis. Are such unlikely connections often a starting point for you?

Yes, that’s happened a lot. When I wrote  Cujo —about a rabid dog—I was having trouble with my motorcycle, and I heard about a place I could get it fixed. We were living in Bridgton, Maine, which is a resort-type town—a lake community in the western part of the state—but over in the northern part of Bridgton, it’s really rough country. There are a lot of farmers just making their own way in the old style. The mechanic had a farmhouse and an auto shop across the road. So I took my motorcycle up there, and when I got it into the yard, it quit entirely. And the biggest Saint Bernard I ever saw in my life came out of that garage, and it came toward me. 

Those dogs look horrible anyway, particularly in summer. They’ve got the dewlaps, and they’ve got the runny eyes. They don’t look like they’re well. He started growling at me, way down in his throat: arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh. At that time I weighed about two hundred and twenty pounds, so I outweighed the dog by maybe ten pounds. The mechanic came out of the garage and said to me, Oh, that’s Bowser, or whatever the dog’s name was. It wasn’t Cujo. He said, Don’t worry about him. He does that to everybody. So I put my hand out to the dog, and the dog went for my hand. The guy had one of those socket wrenches in his hand, and he brought it down on the dog’s hindquarters. A steel wrench. It sounded like a rug beater hitting a rug. The dog just yelped once and sat down. And the guy said something to me like, Bowser usually doesn’t do this, he must not have liked your face. Right away it’s my fault.

I remember how scared I was because there was no place to hide. I was on my bike but it was dead, and I couldn’t outrun him. If the man wasn’t there with the wrench and the dog decided to attack . . . But that was not a story, it was just a piece of something. A couple of weeks later I was thinking about this Ford Pinto that my wife and I had. It was the first new car we ever owned. We bought it with the Doubleday advance for  Carrie , twenty-five hundred dollars. We had problems with it right away because there was something wrong with the needle valve in the carburetor. It would stick, the carburetor would flood, and the car wouldn’t start. I was worried about my wife getting stuck in that Pinto, and I thought, What if she took that car to get fixed like I did my motorcycle and the needle valve stuck and she couldn’t get it going—but instead of the dog just being a mean dog, what if the dog was really crazy?

Then I thought, Maybe it’s rabid. That’s when something really fired over in my mind. Once you’ve got that much, you start to see all the ramifications of the story. You say to yourself, Well, why didn’t somebody come and rescue her? People live there. It’s a farmhouse. Where are they? Well, you say, I don’t know, that’s the story. Where is her husband? Why didn’t her husband come rescue her? I don’t know, that’s part of the story. What happens if she gets bitten by this dog? And that was going to be part of the story. What if she starts to get rabid? After I got about seventy or eighty pages into the book I found out the incubation period for rabies was too long, so her becoming rabid ceased to be a factor. That’s one of the places where the real world intruded on the story. But it’s always that way. You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it’s going to happen.

Are there other sources for your material besides experience?

Sometimes it’s other stories. A few years ago I was listening to a book on tape by John Toland called The  Dillinger Days . One of the stories is about John Dillinger and his friends Homer Van Meter and Jack Hamilton fleeing Little Bohemia, and Jack Hamilton being shot in the back by a cop after crossing the Mississippi River. Then all this other stuff happens to him that Toland doesn’t really go into. And I thought, I don’t need Toland to tell me what happens, and I don’t need to be tied to the truth. These people have legitimately entered the area of American mythology. I’ll make up my own shit. So I wrote a story called “The Death of Jack Hamilton.”

Or sometimes I’ll use film. In  Wolves of the Calla , one of the seven books in the Dark Tower series, I decided to see if I couldn’t retell  Seven Samura i, that Kurosawa film, and  The Magnificent Seven . The story is the same, of course, in both cases. It’s about these farmers who hire gunslingers to defend their town against bandits, who keep coming to steal their crops. But I wanted to up the ante a little bit. So in my version, instead of crops, the bandits steal children.

What happens when the real world intrudes, as with the incubation period of rabies in  Cujo ? Do you go back?

You can never bend reality to serve the fiction. You have to bend the fiction to serve reality when you find those things out.

Cujo  is unusual in that the entire novel is a single chapter. Did you plan that from the start?

No,  Cujo  was a standard novel in chapters when it was created. But I can remember thinking that I wanted the book to feel like a brick that was heaved through your window at you. I’ve always thought that the sort of book that I do—and I’ve got enough ego to think that every novelist should do this—should be a kind of personal assault. It ought to be somebody lunging right across the table and grabbing you and messing you up. It should get in your face. It should upset you, disturb you. And not just because you get grossed out. I mean, if I get a letter from somebody saying, I couldn’t eat my dinner, my attitude is, Terrific!

What do you think it is that we’re afraid of?

I don’t think there’s anything that I’m not afraid of, on some level. But if you mean, What are  we  afraid of, as humans? Chaos. The outsider. We’re afraid of change. We’re afraid of disruption, and that is what I’m interested in. I mean, there are a lot of people whose writing I really love—one of them is the American poet Philip Booth—who write about ordinary life straight up, but I just can’t do that.

I once wrote a short novel called “The Mist.” It’s about this mist that rolls in and covers a town, and the story follows a number of people who are trapped in a supermarket. There’s a woman in the checkout line who’s got this box of mushrooms. When she walks to the window to see the mist coming in, the manager takes them from her. And she tells him, “Give me back my mushies.”

We’re terrified of disruption. We’re afraid that somebody’s going to steal our mushrooms in the checkout line.

Would you say then that this fear is the main subject of your fiction?

I’d say that what I do is like a crack in the mirror. If you go back over the books from  Carrie  on up, what you see is an observation of ordinary middle-class American life as it’s lived at the time that particular book was written. In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that’s inexplicable to you, whether it’s the doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we’re still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts.

In  On Writing , that’s how you define popular fiction: fiction in which readers recognize aspects of their own experience—behavior, place, relationships, and speech. In your work, do you consciously set out to capture a specific moment in time?

No, but I don’t try to avoid it. Take  Cell . The idea came about this way: I came out of a hotel in New York and I saw this woman talking on her cell phone. And I thought to myself, What if she got a message over the cell phone that she couldn’t resist, and she had to kill people until somebody killed her? All the possible ramifications started bouncing around in my head like pinballs. If everybody got the same message, then everybody who had a cell phone would go crazy. Normal people would see this, and the first thing they would do would be to call their friends and families on their cell phones. So the epidemic would spread like poison ivy. Then, later, I was walking down the street and I see some guy who is apparently a crazy person yelling to himself. And I want to cross the street to get away from him. Except he’s not a bum; he’s dressed in a suit. Then I see he’s got one of these plugs in his ear and he’s talking into his cell phone. And I thought to myself, I really want to write this story.

It was an instant concept. Then I read a lot about the cell-phone business and started to look at the cell-phone towers. So it’s a very current book, but it came out of a concern about the way we talk to each other today.

Do you think  Cell , because of its timeliness, might look dated in ten years?

It might. I’m sure other books, like  Firestarter  for instance, look antique now. But that doesn’t bother me. One hopes that the stories and the characters stand out. And even the antique things have a certain value.

Do you think about which of your books will last? 

It’s a crapshoot. You never know who’s going to be popular in fifty years. Who is going to be in, in a literary sense, and who’s not. If I had to predict which of my books people will pick up a hundred years from now, if they pick up any, I’d begin with  The Stand  and  The Shining . And  ’Salem’s Lot —because people like vampire stories, and its premise is the classic vampire story. It doesn’t have any particular bells or whistles. It’s not fancy, it’s just scary. So I think people will pick that up for a while.

When you look back on your novels, do you group them in any way?

I do two different kinds of books. I think of books like  The Stand ,  Desperation , and the Dark Tower series as books that go out. Then there are books like  Pet Sematary ,  Misery ,  The Shining , and  Dolores Claiborne  that go in. Fans usually will either like the outies or they’ll like the innies. But they won’t like both.

But even in the more supernatural books the horror is psychological, right? It’s not just the bogeyman jumping out from behind a corner. So couldn’t they all be characterized as innies?

Well, my categorization is also about character, and the number of characters. Innies tend to be about one person and go deeper and deeper into a single character.  Lisey’s Story , my new novel, is an innie, for instance, because it’s a long book and there are only a few characters, but a book like  Cell  is an outie because there are a lot of people and it’s about friendship and it’s kind of a road story.  Gerald’s Game  is the innie-est of all the innie books. It’s about only one person, Jessie, who’s been handcuffed naked to her bed. The little things all get so big—the glass of water, and her trying to get the shelf above the bed to tip up so she can escape. Going into that book, I remember thinking that Jessie would have been some sort of gymnast at school, and at the end of it she would simply put her feet back over her head, over the bedstead, and wind up standing up. About forty pages into writing it, I said to myself, I’d better see if this works. So I got my son—I think it was Joe because he’s the more limber of the two boys—and I took him into our bedroom. I tied him with scarves to the bedposts. My wife came in and said, What are you doing? And I said, I’m doing an experiment, never mind.

Joe tried to do it, but he couldn’t. He said, My joints don’t work that way. And again, it’s what I was talking about with the rabies in  Cujo . I’m saying, Jesus Christ! This isn’t going to work! And the only thing you can do at that point is say, Well, I could make her double-jointed. Then you go, Yeah, right, that’s not fair.

Misery  was just two characters in a bedroom, but  Gerald’s Game  goes that one better—one character in a bedroom. I was thinking that eventually there’s going to be another book that will just be called “Bedroom.” There won’t be any characters at all.

Mark Singer wrote in  The New Yorker  that you lost part of your audience with  Cujo  and  Pet Sematary  and  Gerald’s Game  because those novels were too painful for readers to bear. Do you think that’s actually the case?

I think that I lost some readers at various points. It was just a natural process of attrition, that’s all. People go on, they find other things. Though I also think that I have changed as a writer over the years, in the sense that I’m not providing exactly the same level of escape that  ’Salem’s Lot ,  The Shining , or even  The Stand  does. There are people out there who would have been perfectly happy had I died in 1978, the people who come to me and say, Oh, you never wrote a book as good as  The Stand . I usually tell them how depressing it is to hear them say that something you wrote twenty-eight years ago was your best book. Dylan probably hears the same thing about  Blonde on Blonde . But you try to grow as a writer and not just do the same thing over and over again, because there’s absolutely no point to that.

And I can afford to lose fans. That sounds totally conceited, but I don’t mean it that way: I can lose half of my fan base and still have enough to live on very comfortably. I’ve had the freedom to follow my own course, which is great. I might have lost some fans, but I might’ve gained some too.

You have written a lot about children. Why is that? 

I wrote a lot about children for a couple of reasons. I was fortunate to sell my writing fairly young, and I married young and had children young. Naomi was born in 1971, Joe was born in 1972, and Owen was born in 1977—a six-year spread between three kids. So I had a chance to observe them at a time when a lot of my contemporaries were out dancing to KC and the Sunshine Band. I feel that I got the better part of that deal. Raising the kids was a lot more rewarding than pop culture in the seventies. 

So I didn’t know KC and the Sunshine Band, but I did know my kids inside out. I was in touch with the anger and exhaustion that you can feel. And those things went into the books because they were what I knew at that time. What has found its way into a lot of the recent books is pain, and people who have injuries, because that’s what I know right now. Ten years from now maybe it will be something else, if I’m still around.

Bad things happen to children in  Pet Sematary . Where did that come from?

That book was pretty personal. Everything in it—up to the point where the little boy is killed in the road—everything is true. We moved into that house by the road. It was Orrington instead of Ludlow, but the big trucks did go by, and the old guy across the street did say, You just want to watch ’em around the road. We did go out in the field. We flew kites. We did go up and look at the pet cemetery. I did find my daughter’s cat, Smucky, dead in the road, run over. We buried him up in the pet cemetery, and I did hear Naomi out in the garage the night after we buried him. I heard all these popping noises—she was jumping up and down on packing material. She was crying and saying, Give me my cat back! Let God have his own cat! I just dumped that right into the book. And Owen really did go charging for the road. He was this little guy, probably two years old. I’m yelling, Don’t do that! And of course he runs faster and laughs, because that’s what they do at that age. I ran after him and gave him a flying tackle and pulled him down on the shoulder of the road, and a truck just thundered by him. So all of that went into the book. 

And then you say to yourself, You have to go a little bit further. If you’re going to take on this grieving process—what happens when you lose a kid—you ought to go all the way through it. And I did. I’m proud of that because I followed it all the way through, but it was so gruesome by the end of it, and so awful. I mean, there’s no hope for anybody at the end of that book. Usually I give my drafts to my wife Tabby to read, but I didn’t give it to her. When I finished I put it in the desk and just left it there. I worked on  Christine , which I liked a lot better, and which was published before  Pet Sematary .

Was  The Shining  also based on personal experience? Did you ever stay in that hotel?

Yes, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. My wife and I went up there in October. It was their last weekend of the season, so the hotel was almost completely empty. They asked me if I could pay cash because they were taking the credit card receipts back down to Denver. I went past the first sign that said, Roads may be closed after November 1, and I said, Jeez, there’s a story up here.

What did you think of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the book?

Too cold. No sense of emotional investment in the family whatsoever on his part. I felt that the treatment of Shelley Duvall as Wendy—I mean, talk about insulting to women. She’s basically a scream machine. There’s no sense of her involvement in the family dynamic at all. And Kubrick didn’t seem to have any idea that Jack Nicholson was playing the same motorcycle psycho that he played in all those biker films he did— Hells Angels on Wheels ,  The Wild Ride ,  The Rebel Rousers , and  Easy Rider . The guy is crazy. So where is the tragedy if the guy shows up for his job interview and he’s already bonkers? No, I hated what Kubrick did with that.

Did you work with him on the movie?

No. My screenplay for  The Shining  became the basis for the television miniseries later on. But I doubt Kubrick ever read it before making his film. He knew what he wanted to do with the story, and he hired the novelist Diane Johnson to write a draft of the screenplay based on what he wanted to emphasize. Then he redid it himself. I was really disappointed.

It’s certainly beautiful to look at: gorgeous sets, all those Steadicam shots. I used to call it a Cadillac with no engine in it. You can’t do anything with it except admire it as sculpture. You’ve taken away its primary purpose, which is to tell a story. The basic difference that tells you all you need to know is the ending. Near the end of the novel, Jack Torrance tells his son that he loves him, and then he blows up with the hotel. It’s a very passionate climax. In Kubrick’s movie, he freezes to death.

Many of your earlier books ended with explosions, which allowed you to tie various plot strands together. But in recent stories and novels, like “Riding the Bullet” and  Cell , you seem to have moved away from this. Your endings leave many questions unanswered.

There is a pretty big bang at the end of  Cell . But it’s true, I get a lot of angry letters from readers about it. They want to know what happens next. My response now is to tell people, You guys sound like Teddy and Vern in  Stand by Me , after Gordie tells them the story about Lardass and the pie-eating contest and how it was the best revenge a kid ever had. Teddy says, “Then what happened?” And Gordie says, “What do you mean, what happened? That’s the end.” And Teddy says, “Why don’t you make it so that Lardass goes and he shoots his father, then he runs away and he joins the Texas Rangers?” Gordie says, “Ah, I don’t know.” So with  Cell , the end is the end. But so many people wrote me about it that I finally had to write on my Web site, “It seems pretty obvious to me that things turned out well for Clay’s son, Johnny.” Actually, it never crossed my mind that Johnny wouldn’t be OK.

Really? I wasn’t sure the kid was OK.

Yeah, I actually believe that, man. I’m a fucking optimist!

It’s amazing that, in the introduction or afterword to many of your books, you regularly solicit feedback from your readers. Why do you ask for more letters?

I’m always interested in what my readers think, and I’m aware that many of them want to participate in the story. I don’t have a problem with that, just so long as they understand that what they think isn’t necessarily going to change what I do. That is, I’m never going to say, I’ve got this story, here it is. Now here’s a poll. How do you think I should end it?

How important are your surroundings when you write?

It’s nice to have a desk, a comfortable chair so you’re not shifting around all the time, and enough light. Wherever you write is supposed to be a little bit of a refuge, a place where you can get away from the world. The more closed in you are, the more you’re forced back on your own imagination. I mean, if I were near a window, I’d be OK for a while, but then I’d be checking out the girls on the street and who’s getting in and out of the cars and, you know, just the little street-side stories that are going on all the time: what’s this one up to, what’s that one selling?

My study is basically just a room where I work. I have a filing system. It’s very complex, very orderly. With “Duma Key”—the novel I’m working on now—I’ve actually codified the notes to make sure I remember the different plot strands. I write down birth dates to figure out how old characters are at certain times. Remember to put a rose tattoo on this one’s breast, remember to give Edgar a big workbench by the end of February. Because if I do something wrong now, it becomes such a pain in the ass to fix later.

You mentioned wanting your study to feel like a refuge, but don’t you also like to listen to loud music when you work?

Not anymore. When I sit down to write, my job is to move the story. If there is such a thing as pace in writing, and if people read me because they’re getting a story that’s paced a certain way, it’s because they sense I want to get to where I’m going. I don’t want to dawdle around and look at the scenery. To achieve that pace I used to listen to music. But I was younger then, and frankly my brains used to work better than they do now. Now I’ll only listen to music at the end of a day’s work, when I roll back to the beginning of what I did that day and go over it on the screen. A lot of times the music will drive my wife crazy because it will be the same thing over and over and over again. I used to have a dance mix of that song “Mambo No. 5,” by Lou Bega, that goes, “A little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erica”—deega, deega, deega. It’s a cheerful, calypso kind of thing, and my wife came upstairs one day and said, Steve, one more time . . . you die! So I’m not really listening to the music—it’s just something there in the background.

But even more than place, I think it’s important to try to work every day that you possibly can.

Did you write this morning?

I did. I wrote four pages. That’s what it’s come to. I used to write two thousand words a day and sometimes even more. But now it’s just a paltry thousand words a day.

You use a computer?

Yes, but I’ve occasionally gone back to longhand—with  Dreamcatcher  and with  Bag of Bones —because I wanted to see what would happen. It changed some things. Most of all, it made me slow down because it takes a long time. Every time I started to write something, some guy up here, some lazybones is saying, Aw, do we have to do that? I’ve still got a little bit of that scholar’s bump on my finger from doing all that longhand. But it made the rewriting process a lot more felicitous. It seemed to me that my first draft was more polished, just because it wasn’t possible to go so fast. You can only drive your hand along at a certain speed. It felt like the difference between, say, rolling along in a powered scooter and actually hiking the countryside.

What do you do once you finish a first draft?

It’s good to give the thing at least six weeks to sit and breathe. But I don’t always have that luxury. I didn’t have it with  Cell . The publisher had two manuscripts of mine. One of them was  Lisey’s Story , which I had been working on exclusively for a long time, and the other was  Cell , which I had been thinking about for a long time, and it just sort of announced itself: It’s time, you have to do it now. When that happens, you have to do it or let it go, so  Cell  was like my unplanned pregnancy.

You mean you wrote  Cell  in the middle of writing  Lisey’s Story ?

I was carrying both of them at the same time for a while. I had finished a first draft of  Lisey , so I revised it at night and worked on  Cell during the day. I used to work that way when I was drinking. During the day I would work on whatever was fresh and new, and I was pretty much straight as an arrow. Hung over a lot of the time, but straight. At night I’d be looped, and that’s when I would revise. It was fun, it was great, and it seemed to work for me for a long time, but I can’t sustain that anymore.

I wanted to publish  Lisey  first, but Susan Moldow, Scribner’s publisher, wanted to lead with  Cell  because she thought the attention it would receive would benefit the sale of  Lisey . So they put  Cell  on a fast track, and I had to go right to work on the rewrite. This is one thing publishers can do now, which isn’t always necessarily good for the book.

Can’t you tell them no?

Yes, but in this case it was actually the right thing to do, and it was a huge success.  Cell  was an unusual case though. You know, Graham Greene used to talk about books that were novels and books that were entertainments. Cell was an entertainment. I don’t want to say I didn’t care, because I did—I care about anything that goes out with my name on it. If you’re going to do the work and if someone is going to pay you for it, I think you ought to do the best job that you can. But after I finished the first draft of  Lisey , I gave myself six weeks. When you return to a novel after that amount of time, it seems almost as if a different person wrote it. You’re not quite as wedded to it. You find all sorts of horrible errors, but you also find passages that make you say, Jesus, that’s good!

Do you ever do extensive rewrites?

One of the ways the computer has changed the way I work is that I have a much greater tendency to edit “in the camera”—to make changes on the screen. With  Cell  that’s what I did. I read it over, I had editorial corrections, I was able to make my own corrections, and to me that’s like ice skating. It’s an OK way to do the work, but it isn’t optimal. With  Lisey  I had the copy beside the computer and I created blank documents and retyped the whole thing. To me that’s like swimming, and that’s preferable. It’s like you’re writing the book over again. It is literally a rewriting.

Every book is different each time you revise it. Because when you finish the book, you say to yourself, This isn’t what I meant to write at all. At some point, when you’re actually writing the book, you realize that. But if you try to steer it, you’re like a pitcher trying to steer a fastball, and you screw everything up. As the science-fiction writer Alfred Bester used to say, The book is the boss. You’ve got to let the book go where it wants to go, and you just follow along. If it doesn’t do that, it’s a bad book. And I’ve had bad books. I think  Rose Madder fits in that category, because it never really took off. I felt like I had to force that one.

Who edits your novels, and how much are they edited?

Chuck Verrill has edited a lot of the books, and he can be a very hard editor. At Scribner, Nan Graham edited  Lisey , and she gave me an entirely different look, partially because it’s about a woman, and she’s a woman, and also because she just came to the job fresh. She went over that book heavily. There’s a scene late in the book where Lisey goes to visit her sister, Amanda, at a nuthouse where she’s been committed. Originally there was a long scene in which Lisey stops at Amanda’s house on her way there, and then Lisey ends up coming back later with her sister. Nan said, You need to reconfigure this section, you need to take out this first stop at Amanda’s house because it slows down the narrative and it’s not necessary.

I don’t think it’s me, I don’t think it’s a best-seller thing, I think it’s a writer thing, and it goes across the board—it never changes—but my first thought was, She can’t tell me that. She doesn’t know. She’s not a writer. She doesn’t understand my genius! And then I say, Well, try it. And I say that especially loud, because I’ve reached a point in my career where I can have it any goddamn way I want to, if I want to. If you get popular enough, they give you all the rope you want. You can hang yourself in Times Square if you want to, and I’ve done it. Particularly in the days when I was doping and drinking all the time, I did what I wanted. And that included telling editors to go screw themselves.

So if Cell is an “entertainment,” which of your books would you put in the other category?

They should all be entertainments, you know. That is, in some ways, the nub of the problem. If a novel is not an entertainment, I don’t think it’s a successful book. But if you talk about the novels that work on more than one level, I would say  Misery ,  Dolores Claiborne , and  It . When I started to work on  It , which bounces back and forth between the characters’ lives as children and then as adults, I realized that I was writing about the way we use our imaginations at different points in our lives. I love that book, and it’s one of those books that sells steadily. People really respond to it. I get a lot of letters from people who say, I wish there were more of it. And I say, Oh my God, it’s so long as it is.

I think that  It  is the most Dickensian of my books because of its wide range of characters and intersecting stories. The novel manages a lot of complexity in an effortless way that I often wish I could rediscover.  Lisey’s Story  is that way. It’s very long. It has a number of interlocking stories that seem to be woven together effortlessly. But I’m shy talking about this, because I’m afraid people will laugh and say, Look at that barbarian trying to pretend he belongs in the palace. Whenever this subject comes up, I always cover up.

When you accepted the National Book Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, you gave a speech defending popular fiction, and you listed a number of authors who you felt were underappreciated by the literary establishment. Then Shirley Hazzard, that year’s award winner in fiction, got on stage and dismissed your argument pretty flatly.

What Shirley Hazzard said was, I don’t think we need a reading list from you. If I had a chance to say anything in rebuttal, I would have said, With all due respect, we do. I think that Shirley, in a way, has proven my point. The keepers of the idea of serious literature have a short list of authors who are going to be allowed inside, and too often that list is drawn from people who know people, who go to certain schools, who come up through certain channels of literature. And that’s a very bad idea—it’s constraining for the growth of literature. This is a critical time for American letters because it’s under attack from so many other media: TV, movies, the Internet, and all the different ways we have of getting nonprint input to feed the imagination. Books, that old way of transmitting stories, are under attack. So when someone like Shirley Hazzard says, I don’t need a reading list, the door slams shut on writers like George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane. And when that happens, when those people are left out in the cold, you are losing a whole area of imagination. Those people—and I’m not talking about James Patterson, we understand that—are doing important work. 

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“Throwing Yourself Into the Dark”: A Conversation with Anne Carson

“Just think about something and follow it down to where it gets true.”

The Art of Fiction No. 86

This interview with John Barth was conducted in the studios of KUHT in Houston, Texas, for a series entitled  The Writer in Society . The stage set was made up to resemble a writer’s den—the decor including a small globe of the world, bronze Remington-like animal statuary, a stand-up bookshelf with glass shelves on which were placed some potted plants and a haphazard collection of books, a few volumes of the Reader’s Digest condensed novel series among them. Large pots of plants were set about. Barth sat amongst them in a cane chair. He is a tall man with a domed forehead; a pair of very large-rimmed spectacles give him a professorial, owlish look. He is a caricaturist’s delight. He sports a very wide and straight mustache. Recently he had grown a beard. In manner, Barth has been described as a combination of British officer and Southern gentleman.

“We’ll have to stick to the channel,” he wrote in his first novel,  The Floating Opera , “and let the creeks and coves go by.” Every novel since then has been a refutation of this dictum of sticking to the main topic. He is especially influenced by the classical cyclical tales such as Burton’s  Thousand and One Nights  and the  Gesta Romanorum , and by the complexities of such modern masters as Nabokov, Borges, and Beckett. For novels distinguished by a wide range of erudition, invention, wit, historical references, whimsy, bawdiness, and a great richness of image and style, Barth has been described as an “ecologist of information.”

Of his working habits Barth has said that he rises at six in the morning and puts an electric percolator in the kitchen so that during the course of sitting for six hours at his desk he has an excuse for the exercise of walking back and forth from his study to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He speaks of measuring his work not by the day (as Hemingway did) but by the month and the year. “That way you don’t feel so terrible if you put in three days straight without turning up much of anything. You don’t feel blocked.”

This interview, being restricted to a half-hour’s conversation for a television audience, was thought to be a bit short by the usual standards of the magazine. It was assumed that Barth, being such a master of the prolix, would surely make some additions. Extra questions were sent him. The interview was returned to these offices with the questions unanswered, and the text of the interview edited and shortened. Perhaps Barth had not noticed the additional questions. This interview was sent back, this time with a small emolument attached for taking the trouble. The interview was returned once again, along with the uncashed check, with the following statement: “It doesn’t displease me to hear that our interview will be perhaps the shortest one you’ve run. In fact, it’s a bit shorter now than it was before (enclosed). Better not run it by me again!”

When were the first stirrings? When did you actually understand that writing was going to be your profession? Was there a moment?

It seems to happen later in the lives of American writers than Europeans. American boys and girls don’t grow up thinking, “I’m going to be a writer,” the way we’re told Flaubert did; at about age twelve he decided he would be a great French writer and, by George, he turned out to  be  one. Writers in this country, particularly novelists, are likely to come to the medium through some back door. Nearly every writer I know was going to be something else, and then found himself writing by a kind of  passionate default . In my case, I was going to be a musician. Then I found out that while I had an amateur’s flair, I did not have preprofessional talent. So I went on to Johns Hopkins University to find something else to do. There I found myself writing stories—making all the mistakes that new writers usually make. After I had written about a novel’s worth of bad pages, I understood that while I was not doing it well,  that  was the thing I was going to do. I don’t remember that realization coming as a swoop of insight, or as an exhilarating experience, but as a kind of absolute recognition that for well or for ill, that was the way I was going to spend my life. I had the advantage at Johns Hopkins of a splendid old Spanish poet-teacher, with whom I read  Don Quixote . I can’t remember a thing he said about  Don Quixote , but old Pedro Salinas, now dead, a refugee from Franco’s Spain, embodied to my innocent, ingenuous eyes, the possibility that a life devoted to the making of sentences and the telling of stories can be dignified and noble. Whether the works have turned out to be dignified and noble is another question, but I think that my experience is not uncommon: You decide to be a violinist, you decide to be a sculptor or a painter, but you find yourself being a novelist.

What was the musical instrument you started out with?

I played drums. What I hoped to be eventually was an orchestrator—what in those days was called an arranger. An arranger is a chap who takes someone else’s melody and turns it to his purpose. For better or worse, my career as a novelist has been that of an arranger. My imagination is most at ease with an old literary convention like the epistolary novel, or a classical myth—received melody lines, so to speak, which I then reorchestrate to my purpose.

What’s first when you sit down to begin a novel? Is it the form, as in the epistolary novel, or character, or plot? 

Different books start in different ways. I sometimes wish that I were the kind of writer who begins with a passionate interest in a character and then, as I’ve heard other writers say, just gives that character elbowroom and sees what he or she wants to do. I’m not that kind of writer. Much more often I start with a shape or form, maybe an image. The floating showboat, for example, which became the central image in  The Floating Opera , was a photograph of an actual showboat I remember seeing as a child. It happened to be named  Captain Adams’ Original Unparalleled Floating Opera , and when nature, in her heavy-handed way, gives you an image like that, the only honorable thing to do is to make a novel out of it. This may not be the most elevated of approaches. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, for example, comes to the medium of fiction with a high moral purpose; he wants, literally, to try to change the world through the medium of the novel. I honor and admire that intention, but just as often a great writer will come to his novel with a much less elevated purpose than wanting to undermine the Soviet government. Henry James wanted to write a book in the shape of an hourglass. Flaubert wanted to write a novel about  nothing . What I’ve learned is that the muses’ decision to sing or not to sing is not based on the elevation of your moral purpose—they will sing or not regardless. 

What was in your way that you had to get out of your way?

What was in my way? Chekhov makes a remark to his brother, the brother he was always hectoring in letters, “What the aristocrats take for granted, we pay for with our youth.” I had to pay my tuition in literature that way. I came from a fairly unsophisticated family from the rural, southern Eastern Shore of Maryland—which is very “deep South” in its ethos. I went to a mediocre public high school (which I enjoyed), fell into a good university on a scholarship, and then had to learn, from scratch, that civilization existed, that literature had been going on. That kind of innocence is the reverse of the exquisite sophistication with which a writer like Vladimir Nabokov comes to the medium—knowing it already, as if he’s been in on the conversation since it began. Yet the innocence that writers like myself have to overcome, if it doesn’t ruin us altogether, can become a sort of strength. You’re not intimidated by your distinguished predecessors, the great literary dead. You have a chutzpah in your approach to the medium that may carry you through those apprentice days when nobody’s telling you you’re any good because you aren’t yet. Everything is a discovery. I read Mark Twain’s  Huckleberry Finn  when I was about twenty-five. If I had read it when I was nineteen, I might have been intimidated; the same with Dickens and other great novelists. In my position I remained armed with a kind of “invincible innocence”—I think that’s what the Catholics call it—that with the best of fortune can survive even later experience and sophistication and carry you right to the end of the story.

From the Archive, Issue 95

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Book Review: Stephen King finds terror in the ordinary in new pandemic-set novel ‘Holly’

This cover image released by Scribner shows “Holly” by Stephen King. (Scribner via AP)

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“Holly” by Stephen King (Scribner)

In half a century of writing horror novels, Stephen King has created some remarkable villains. Who can forget the sing-song voice of Pennywise the clown, the devil incarnate Randall Flagg, or the drooling jaws of Cujo? The big bads in King’s latest novel, “Holly,” aren’t quite so memorable, but that’s part of what makes them terrifying.

Emily and Rodney Harris are retired professors of Bell College Arts and Sciences. Em, as her husband calls her, taught English and Em’s beloved “Roddy” taught life sciences and earned the nickname “Rowdy Roddy the Mad Nutritionist.” Bell is a generic “college on a hill” near a lake somewhere in Ohio. King doesn’t need to be more specific than that with his sense of place, because this is a story set during the COVID pandemic that uses common acts and things to create fear — abandoned bicycles, lost earrings, a twilight run through the park.

The novel begins with quick flashbacks to a series of abductions starting in 2012 that were perpetrated by the Harris’, and immediately we as readers know more than our title character. King fans will remember Holly Gibney from the “Mr. Mercedes” trilogy and a starring role in the title story of King’s collection “If It Bleeds.” It’s now 2021, and Holly is the only person working at her private investigation company, “Finders Keepers,” as her partner Pete quarantines. He pops into the story now and again during telephone calls, offering advice between coughing fits, but this is Holly’s case to solve.

When readers first met Holly in “Mr. Mercedes” she was awkward and reclusive, working behind the scenes to catch the killer. Now after getting a telephone call from Penny Dahl, whose daughter Bonnie has been missing for three weeks, she’s front and center, interviewing witnesses and suspects, while also dealing with the trauma of her past. Her mother, Charlotte, is a COVID statistic when the novel begins, dead after a “brutally short illness” precipitated by not masking and a refusal to get vaccinated. King goes fairly deep into Holly’s head, connecting her low self-esteem to her demeaning mother and the bullies who tortured her growing up. But it’s obvious he likes her — doggedness and common sense are traits to be admired. But will she exercise enough caution when it’s required?

Additional characters from King’s “Mr. Mercedes” books play key roles as well. Siblings Jerome and Barbara Robinson each have their own story arcs and it’s not hard to imagine that Jerome at least may pop up again in the Kingverse. The man who encouraged Holly to become a P.I., Bill Hodges, is gone from cancer, but never forgotten. His advice, in fact, serves as the novel’s epigraph — “Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.” The novel plays out according to that metaphor as Holly follows the rope all the way to a climactic confrontation with Emily and Rodney Harris, and sees for herself just how depraved college professors can be in the world of Stephen King.

The Shining

By stephen king.

'The Shining' is a must-read classic of the psychological horror genre. First published in 1977, the novel solidified Stephen King’s legacy as one of the most skilled authors of his generation.

About the Book

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

The novel features many of the themes and images that readers have come to love in Stephen King’s 40+ year career. This includes alcoholism, battles against evil, disembodied villains, corruption, and insanity.

Character Development 

Stephen King’s use of character development throughout this novel is what makes the book so thrilling and moving. When the novel begins, the Torrance family is teetering on the edge. Danny, although only five years old, is well-aware of the troubles his parents are dealing with. He fears the possibility of divorce more than anything else. This is, despite the fact that his father, Jack, recently broke his arm in a drunken accident.

Wendy Torrance is driven by a desire to improve her marriage but, beyond all, protect her son from any injuries that might come his way. This includes those that might be handed out by his own father. Wendy is well aware of the danger that her husband poses when he’s drunk.

Flashbacks also reveal that she has seen a marriage dissolve firsthand (her parents’) and fears that what happened to them is going to happen to her. King provides readers with just enough detail to make Wendy a well-rounded and interesting character. But, not so much where her story takes away from the main issue at hand—battling the Overlook Hotel. Here is a quote from the novel in which King is relaying Wendy’s opinion of Jack’s mental strength: 

Once, during the drinking phase, Wendy had accused him of desiring his own destruction but not possessing the necessary moral fiber to support a full-blown deathwish. So he manufactured ways in which other people could do it, lopping a piece at a time off himself and their family.

When the reader is introduced to Jack Torrance, they learn about his alcoholic past and the reasons why he decided to quit drinking. His newfound sobriety is less firmly established than his wife would like it to be. It is put to the ultimate test when the family is caught up in the corrupting powers of the Overlook Hotel. Before long, Wendy is blaming Jack for the injuries that Danny sustains (despite it being the hotel’s fault). The family has progressively torn apart as the hotel works to corrupt Jack Torrance’s mind.  

Mini stories and flashbacks included throughout the novel help readers better understand who Jack is and why the hotel is able to take hold of his mind. Particularly effective are the flashbacks to his father’s cruelty in his parent’s marriage. Jack remembers his father beating his mother and dealing with his own addiction to alcohol. He’s ashamed of who his father was, that is until he is firmly in the grasp of the hotel and has turned against his own family. In a particularly chilling moment, Jack expresses sympathy for his father. He feels as though he finally understands why his father had to hit his mother. Now, in his mind, his mother deserved it just as Wendy and Danny deserve to be punished. 

The Theme of Family 

The theme of family bonds is one of the most important in the novel. When the book begins and readers are introduced to the various issues that the Torrance family is facing, it is hard not to root for Jack and Wendy’s marriage and their relationship with their young son, Danny. All three are incredibly sympathetic characters. 

Through King’s skill with language, Jack’s descent into madness and violence is almost painful to read. Because readers know how much he cares about his wife and son through flashbacks and King’s use of free indirect style, it is even more, moving to hear of his intense personality change and desire to inflict harm upon his family.

Towards the end of the novel, Jack’s genuine love for his son allows him to break through the hotel’s corrupting influence on his mind. He tells Danny that he loves him and should run for his life. But Danny, who has always loved his father indiscriminately, refuses to. Here is the quote: 

Doc,” Jack Torrance said. “Run away. Quick. And remember how much I love you.” “No,” Danny said. “Oh Danny, for God’s sake—” “No,” Danny said. He took one of his father’s bloody hands and kissed it. “It’s almost over.

Foreshadowing 

King’s use of foreshadowing is one of the more effective literary devices at work in ‘ The Shining ‘. From the first pages, before Danny even steps foot into the hotel, it’s clear that the building will present the family with an evil that none of them can imagine. He experiences visions, given to him by his “imaginary friend” Tony, of the word “Redrum” and of a shadow figure wielding a weapon. Images like these make the novel so thrilling to read. It’s unclear what exactly is going to happen to the family, but King ensures that readers continue through the story and find out. 

Another wonderful example of foreshadowing in the book also comes from Danny’s “shine,” or ability to read minds and see into the future. Tony tells Danny that he is going to remember something that Jack forgot. It’s not until the final pages of the novel that he knows what that is— that Jack forgot to check the hotel’s boiler. In the above quote in which Jack pleads with his son to run away, Danny says that it is “almost over.” He’s aware that the end is near and that soon the horrors will cease. The novel ends with an immense explosion that takes the Overlook and Jack Torrance with it.

Is The Shining worth reading? 

Yes! ‘ The Shining ‘ is one of Stephen King’s best novels and a classic of the horror and psychological thriller genres. If you enjoy the supernatural, haunted houses, battles with evil, and psychological torment, then this novel is for you. 

Is The Shining book scary?

‘ The Shining ‘ is filled with dark and terrifying images. But the book itself isn’t filled with jump scares or ghastly scenes of violence. Although there is darkness, readers aren’t likely to be haunted by King’s story. 

Is The Shining a true story?

No, ‘ The Shining ‘ is not a true story. But, it was inspired by Stephen King’s time at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. This notoriously haunted hotel inspired the author to create fictional characters dealing with a similar environment. 

The Shining Book Review: Stephen King's Horror Classic

Book Title: The Shining

Book Description: 'The Shining' by Stephen King is a thrilling and psychologically frightening novel about the Torrance family. Their lives are changed forever when they move into the Overlook Hotel for the winter season.

Book Author: Stephen King

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Doubleday

Date published: January 28, 1977

ISBN: 978-0-385-27503-3

Number Of Pages: 447

• Writing Style
• Lasting Effect on Reader

The Shining Review

‘The Shining’  by Stephen King was his third novel and is still regarded as one of his best. It is a classic of the horror genre and has inspired numerous authors and filmmakers since it was written. 

• Deep character development 
• Psychologically thrilling 
• Keeps readers on their toes
• Unresolved plot points
• Limited characters
• Not super scary

About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

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The 20 best books by Stephen King, according to Goodreads users

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• Stephen King is an author famous for his suspenseful horror novels.
• Some of his books have been turned into movies like " The Shining " and " It ."
• We used Goodreads to rank his most popular novels.

While some readers gravitate toward heartwarming love stories or informative nonfiction, others love the wide-eyed suspense and fear of a great horror story or thrilling mystery novel . Stephen King has become a legendary writer since his first book was published in 1974 and has garnered worldwide fans, earned countless awards, and topped bestseller lists with his horror, thriller, science-fiction, and crime reads.  

King has received nearly 17 million ratings from Goodreads reviewers across dozens of novels, so we turned to them to rank his best books. Goodreads is the world's largest platform for readers to rate, review, and recommend books so whether you love a great horror novel or crave a suspenseful book that keeps you up at night, here are the most popular Stephen King novels, as ranked by Goodreads reviewers.

The 20 best Stephen King books, according to Goodreads:

20. a supernatural, science fiction horror story.

"The Institute," available on Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.79

This 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards winner for Best Horror follows Luke Ellis as he wakes up in The Institute after his parents are murdered and he's taken from his home. At The Institute, Luke finds other kids with extranormal gifts like his own and a staff determined to extract them, with brutal punishment waiting for those who disobey. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 85,109

19. The third novel in a thrilling series

"The Waste Lands," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.98

In " The Dark Tower " series, readers follow Roland, the last in a knightly order, on his quest to reach the Dark Tower — the only hope for his world. This is the third book, where Roland experiences double memories as a result of saving a boy who had already died in a parallel universe. Roland and his new gang of fellow gunslingers must draw the boy into their world in order to reach the Dark Tower. This novel is full of important character development and genuine entertainment from the plot, one that solidifies readers' necessity to continue the series. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 91,599

18. A thrilling fantasy tale of a mysterious store

"Needful Things" available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.19

In his shop, Needful Things, Leland Gaunt knows that every customer will find the object of their heart's deepest desire. In exchange, Leland asks for a small prank to be carried out on his behalf, generating a novel of chaos in a small town. This story is fascinating as the characters are tempted and lured into complete obsession over possessions, blinded by greed and willing to do anything for the object they want — even murder. It's an intense novel, a thriller and fantasy that swirls with mayhem while still being the small-town horror that King writes so well.

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 77,940

17. An anticipated sequel to a modern classic

"Doctor Sleep," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $10.22

In this sequel, readers reunite with Dan Torrance, once the young boy from " The Shining ," but now a middle-aged man drifting through life. When Dan settles into a job at a nursing home in New Hampshire, he's coined "Doctor Sleep," using his paranormal abilities to help and comfort the dying. But there is a group of traveling, murderous paranormals who are deriving their energy from the "steam" given off by paranormal children as they're tortured and killed. When Dan meets 12-year-old Abra with the same gift he has, he knows he must try to save her. This is a psychological and gory sequel, hugely satisfying to readers who adored "The Shining." 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 90,138

16. A not-so-sweet story about a Saint Bernard

"Cujo," available on Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.97

" Cujo " is a 1981 psychological horror read about a Saint Bernard named Cujo who gets bitten by a bat while chasing a rabbit and is quickly overcome by a sickness that has turned him uncontrollably towards murder. As Cujo creates a flurry of fear and madness, everyone in their small town fears for their safety in this gruesome and nail-biting read. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 71,244

15. A new suspenseful and haunting horror novel

"The Outsider," available on Amazon and Bookshop , from $8.16

This bone-chilling Stephen King horror won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller in 2018 for its unsettling plot and page-turning investigation. When a young boy's body is found in a park, copious DNA evidence immediately points investigators towards Terry Maitland, a local Little League coach and teacher. Yet after a swift arrest, their investigation slowly brings new and horrifying answers to light.  

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 78,651

14. The second installment of a beloved series

"The Drawing of the Three," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.99

This is the second book of " The Dark Tower " series, which follows Roland, The Last Gunslinger, on his quest to reach the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes that his world desperately needs to survive. In this sequel, Roland navigates a world that is a nightmarish mirror of our own to encounter a beach with three doors. Each is a gateway to a person living in New York with whom Roland must collaborate to fight evil forces. This book is a plot-driven horror story mixed with magical realism, a page-turning novel that demonstrates some of the best of King's cross-genre writing. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 106,370

13. A psychological sci-fi novel

"Under the Dome," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.42

On an otherwise normal day, the residents in Chester's Mill, Maine find themselves trapped under an invisible dome, a forcefield separating them from the rest of the world. Told through multiple perspectives, a group of citizens comes together to fight their new enemies in this strange and unprecedented dystopia. There is a large cast of characters in this story, but King writes each one as a prominent individual so readers can easily follow each story. " Under the Dome " is definitely a violent science-fiction thriller, but also comes peppered with dark humor and strong characters, making it a rich read with profound messages about contemporary society. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 91,933

12. A suspenseful true crime mystery thriller

"Mr. Mercedes," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $9.29

The opening of this book is emotional but quickly turns gruesome, as a man driving a Mercedes plows into a line of innocent people waiting at a job fair. After killing eight and injuring 15, the man gets away and retired detective Bill Hodges is left haunted by the crime. On the verge of suicide, Bill receives a message from the murderer, spurring a mission to catch the killer before he strikes again. The juxtaposition between the conniving and manipulative Mr. Mercedes and the tired but determined Hodges is what makes this King novel such an invigorating read. It continues on to create the " Bill Hodges " trilogy, a fast-paced supernatural series featuring this detective-turned-hero.

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 93,372

11. An autobiographical self-help book about writing

"On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.99

In a book that is part-memoir and part-advice, Stephen King uses his personal anecdotes to inspire budding and aspiring writers. While his guidance is not always sparkling with encouragement, it's always realistic: imploring that those who wish to be writers must be constantly learning, reading, and writing every day. King is honest about his own struggles and setbacks and offers insight into his methods and inspirations which culminate in a master class from one of the most successful writers of this generation. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 134,058

10. A dramatic and emotional book

"The Green Mile," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $9.29

" The Green Mile " is a series that was released one volume at a time in 1996, with each installment landing on the "New York Times" Best-Seller List. Now compiled as a single work, it follows Paul Edgecombe, a prison guard at Cold Mountain Penitentiary where convicted killers wait to walk "the green mile" to the electric chair. Though Paul has seen nearly everything, his experiences with inmate John Coffey are like no other. John is a strange inmate, convicted of a depraved crime despite appearing to have the mind of a child. This is a thought-provoking and emotional novel, an iconic and believable story that mixes in shocking elements consistent with King's horror style. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 167,629

9. A horrifying vampire story

"Salem's Lot," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $8.36

This was Stephen King's second published novel, the story of writer Ben Mears who returns to his childhood town of Jerusalem's Lot (nicknamed 'Salem's Lot) to confront the evil he once escaped. This unique vampire story is packed with more horror than most of King's other works and is inspired by classic vampire tales and films. King writes incredible small-town horrors and this one is no different, featuring a wonderful, quaint town with secrets of abuse, violence, and murder not far beneath the surface. This story is suspenseful and foreboding, a vampire horror for any reader who's ready to be scared. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 145,157

8. A paranormal novel with building horror

"Pet Sematary," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.99

In rural Maine, a picturesque family has moved into a perfect home to live a simple and happy life, just to find the town is haunted by horrors that should have remained dead — all seeming to originate from an evil and ominous nearby pet cemetery. This is a slow-burn horror, one that offers less gore but rather builds and builds on disturbing elements and skin-crawling feelings to scare readers in a way only Stephen King can. The developments in this novel are shocking and nightmarish, with even King admitting that this story scared him more than his others. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads:  189,058

7. A historical fiction, time travel thriller about JFK

"11/22/63," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $18.25

This is a time travel adventure novel that tells the story of Jake Epping, a high school English teacher who is introduced to a portal to 1958 and sets out on a mission to stop the JFK assassination. Jake adopts a new identity, tests the rules of time travel, and discovers what may wait in the present if he's to succeed. With very little (if any) horror in this novel, King fans get to experience a thrilling historical fiction story, one where the fascinating "what ifs" of history are explored through time travel. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 244,754

6. The first of a heroic fantasy series

"The Gunslinger," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $11.62

This is the first installment of King's hugely popular series " The Dark Tower ," of which there are eight books and a short story. Roland of Gilead is The Last Gunslinger — the final hero in a knightly order. With a mix of dark fantasy, horror, and Western themes, the story follows Roland as he sets off on his quest for the Dark Tower which holds all of existence together. On his journey, he pursues his arch-nemesis, develops a friendship, and meets a mysterious woman. An added excitement for regular King readers is the tie-ins to other novels: references and Easter eggs that expand and intertwine King's multiverse. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 213,445

5. A supernatural horror story centered on bullying

"Carrie," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $7.99

Stephen King's first published novel focuses on Carrie White, a telekinetic teenager who's able to move objects with her mind. Abused and bullied all her life, one particularly traumatic day unleashes a streak of revenge that cumulates with a famously terrifying prom night scene. This modern horror classic is also a powerful anti-bullying testament, offering the frightening combination of real and supernatural elements that makes it an exceptionally fast read.

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 210,851

4. An intense psychological thriller about an obsessive fan

"Misery," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.69

After celebrating the release of a new novel, Paul Sheldon gets in a car accident in the Rocky Mountains and is rescued by Anne Wilkes, his #1 fan. While nursing Paul back to health after he shattered both his legs, she compels him to write a new novel, furious that he killed off her favorite character. Fueled by obsession, Anne keeps Paul captive in a story of torture, psychological manipulation, and addiction. This is a gory and gruesome horror novel with a multi-dimensional villain, an intense and graphic tale of the struggle between prisoner and captor. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 267,279

3. A post-apocalyptic fantasy thriller

"The Stand," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.89

This book begins the day after 99% of the Earth's population is killed from a man-made flu that was accidentally released. The few remaining survivors are plagued with strange dreams and struggle with a society torn between two prevailing allegiances. At over 1,100 pages, this masterpiece combines King's classic supernatural and fantasy elements and combines them with an apocalyptic dystopia that addresses huge topics of survival, religion, and the ultimate compass of morality. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 386,896

2. An iconic creepy clown horror story

"It," available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.97

In Derry, Maine, seven teenagers first discovered the horror that they deemed "It" — often taking the form of Pennywise the Clown. Now adults, each with their own successes, one of the self-proclaimed "Losers Club" asks the gang to return and end the evil creature's reign once and for all. Stephen King uses dual timelines from 1958 and 1985 and chilling descriptions to develop unique characters and explore deep themes that extend far beyond the traditional horror genre. 

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 490,912

1. A modern horror classic

"The Shining," available on Amazon and Bookshop , from $8.36

It should hardly be a surprise that Stephen King's most popular book is also his first-ever bestseller: " The Shining ," a classic 1977 horror novel, spurred a cult-favorite movie and a sequel. It's a deeply suspenseful paranormal story about Jack Torrance, who starts a new job as a caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, hoping to spend more time with his family and work on his writing. During the off-season, a chilling winter storm confines Jack to the hotel — and sinister forces begin to emerge. It's a classic haunted house story that has been scaring readers for nearly 50 years.

Number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads: 652,896

• Main content

The New York Times Book Review

“A classic race-against-time story, one that benefits from King’s superb patience and pacing…King’s restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained...he played it pretty straight in ‘Mr. Mercedes,’ which just won the Edgar…now he’s toying with the form, batting it back and forth to see if it’s still alive…[the] final showdown is a high-stakes confrontation between good and evil.”

- Laura Lippman, The New York Times Book Review

Full Review

The Washington Post

“Stephen King’s superb new stay-up-all-night thriller, FINDERS KEEPERS, is a sly, often poignant tale of literary obsession that recalls the themes of his classic 1987 novel Misery …a love letter to the joys of reading and to American literature… wonderful, scary, moving.” - Elizabeth Hand, The Washington Post

The Portland Press Herald

“Stephen King still seems to be on a creative roll…King possesses a keen sense of the nuts-and-bolts of everyday American life, and he knows exactly how to infuse it with escalating menace… [FINDERS KEEPERS] delivers on what it promises: a gripping setup, a group of resourceful good guys, an antagonist capable of terrible violence. It also speaks to the powerful allure of fiction, of how a great story can capture someone’s imagination and make him or her see the world in a completely different way. Prolific and personable King seems to be the complete antithesis of the reclusive, withholding John Rothstein. That’s something for which his legions of adoring fans can be extremely thankful, as they await the wrap-up to this intriguing trilogy of hard-boiled thrillers.

- Mike Berry, the Portland Press Herald

“King continues to tweak the hard-boiled genre in spectacular ways in Finders Keepers , hints at a bit of the supernatural — he's pretty good at that if you hadn't heard — and touches on his own place as an American literary celebrity. King's had his share of diehard fanatics over the years, but the new book is so good, being at least mildly obsessed with it is understandable. The finest thing about it, however, is that the author has another story to tell before the finale of this excellent series.

- Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

The Miami Herald

“The thing that drives King’s success, and is the main attraction in his new novel Finders Keepers , is his knack for creating narratives that hurtle along at such a high speed, you can barely keep up…compulsively readable…That first chapter, which ends with a horrific bang, could easily stand alone as a short story…What ensues is the kind of cat-and-mouse game King excels at crafting… Finders Keepers is fueled by real-life issues of economic depression and marital strife, which makes the ensuing suspense and menace more palpable…That sense of contemporary despair — the constant struggle that so many wage daily in order to simply survive, and the sense of hope that follows when you get a glimpse of the end of the tunnel — is what gives Finders Keepers its substance…This is not to imply that King has gone all Cheever : The book is, first and foremost, a thrilling, taut read. But there’s something relatable about this one that extends beyond recognizing your own fears while reading about a doomed romance or an alcoholic clinging to sobriety or a group of kids stalked by a killer clown. The title of Finders Keepers could almost double as a commentary on how King views today’s social climate: What was yours is mine now, and too bad for you. That, King argues, is just as scary as being the target of a sadistic murderer who happens to know where you live.”

- Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

The Seattle Times

“[A] fast-paced sequel to [King’s] great 2014 detective novel Mr. Mercedes …King has remained such a renowned and popular author by tapping into basic human truths. We discover what sets Bellamy on his criminal course and the source of his capacity for violence. We follow young Peter as he acquires his love of literature — from one of those memorable teachers who make it come alive — and is then torn between the love for his family and the way the world actually works. And what a delight to have Bill, Holly and Jerome back working on this new case.”

- Doug Knoop, The Seattle Times

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“For any other author, coming up with a sequel to a book that won the Edgar Award for best mystery novel might be a tall order. But Stephen King never seems to run short of intriguing plots, compelling characters and just enough gore and guts to bring in a vast audience of readers. So Finders Keepers , the follow-up to Mr. Mercedes , pulls together another tantalizing tale of a good guy facing some tough tests.”

- Amanda St. Amand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Minneapolis Star Tribune

“King is in fine form here, crafting a cool thriller packed with literary allusions and the theme that reading literature can change a reader’s heart – for good or bad.”

- Minneapolis Star Tribune

The New York Times

“One of the pleasures of Fin ders Keepers is watching Mr. King’s ways of making pages turn…[and] the very appealing trio of crime-solvers who joined forces in Mr. Mercedes …they’re still a great team throughout Finders Keepers . And Mr. Mercedes still lurks, ready for his curtain call.”

- Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

King is, above all, a master storyteller, building the story's tension — a slow burn throughout — to a near-unbearable level by the end. And, after giving readers a minute to catch their breath, he slyly tosses in a tease about the final chapter of the trilogy, The Suicide Prince , which suggests a move to darker, supernatural territory.

- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Geeks of Doom

"This book is fantastic, with King’s way of drawing you inside the story and you can’t quite leave until you are done. It’s his special talent for imagery that does this. You can see everything in your mind’s eye.

Now, Stephen King fans will love this book, no matter what. I don’t have to do a hard sell, a soft sell, or any sell. In fact, I might have to hide my book so no one steals it. If you are a Stephen King virgin, you could easily read this novel and fall in love, resulting in a rushed author study."

- Olympus Athens, Geeks of Doom

The Spectator

"King has the popular novelist’s gifts in spades — a flawless sense of pace, an ear for dialogue, an eye for the telling detail, a no-mess-no-fuss approach to characterisation."

- Keith Miller, The Spectator

The Guardian

"...an almost constant build of momentum, growing in pace and tension until it finally explodes… manages to thrill with every page..."

- James Smythe, The Guardian

The Mail on Sunday

"A classic cat-and-mouse tale, this is King at his rip-roaring best."

- The Mail on Sunday, Thriller of the Week

The Sunday Mirror

"Fantastic…In part a love letter to literature, this is vintage King – jaw droppingly brutal but full of heart and humanity. Roll on the last in the trilogy..."

- The Sunday Mirror

The Independent

"Just as intriguingly, King still seems to view his fanatical readers with amused contempt. While Bellamy's love of John Rothstein drives him to sociopathic rage, Paul's adoration causes him to break out in acne, retreat into solitude and commit well-intentioned crimes."

- Jame Kidd, The Independent

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"Shit ain't shit."

Stephen King

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1982

About the author

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Community reviews.

Love isn’t soft, like those poets say. Love has teeth which bite and the wounds never close.

" Chris didn't talk much about his dad, but we all knew he hated him like poison. Chris was marked up every two weeks or so, bruises on his cheeks and neck or one eye swelled up and as colorful as a sunset, and once he came to school with a big clumsy bandage on the back of his head. Other times he never got to school at all. His mom would call him in sick because he was too lamed up to come in. Chris was smart, really smart, but he played truant a lot, and Mr. Halliburton, the town truant officer, was always showing up at Chris's house, driving his old black Chevrolet with the NO RIDERS sticker in the corner of the windshield. If Chris was being truant and Bertie (as we called him - always behind his back, of course) caught him, he would haul him back to school and see that Chris got detention for a week. But if Bertie found out that Chris was home because his father had beaten the shit out of him, Bertie just went away and didn't say boo to a cuckoo bird. It never occurred to me to question this set of priorities until about twenty years later. "

" Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand. "

" But he said: "Your friends drag you down, Gordie. Don't you know that? [...] Your friends do. They're like drowning guys that are holding onto your legs. You can't save them. You can only drown with them. "

" You always know the truth, because when you cut yourself or someone else with it, there's always a bloody show. "

" But it was only survival. We were clinging to each other in deep water. I've explained about Chris, I think; my reasons for clinging to him were less definable. His desire to get away from Castle Rock and out of the mill's shadow seemed to me to be my best part, and I could not just leave him to sink or swim on his own. If he had drowned, that part of me would have drowned with him, I think. "

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" The most important things are hardest to say, because words diminish them. "

I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are things you get ashamed of because words make them smaller. When they were in your head they were limitless, but when they come out they seem to be no bigger than normal things. But that's not all. The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried; they are clues that could guide your enemies to a prize they would love to steal. It's hard and painful for you to talk about these things ... and then people just look at you strangely. They haven't understood what you've said at all, or why you almost cried while you were saying it.

Even if I'd known the right thing to say, I probably couldn't have said it. Speech destroys the function of love, I think - that's a hell of a thing for a writer to say, I guess, but I believe it to be true. The word is the harm. Love has teeth; they bite; the wounds never close. No word, no combination of words, can close those lovebites.

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About The Book

About the author.

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker ,  Holly ,  Fairy Tale ,  Billy Summers ,  If It Bleeds ,  The Institute ,  Elevation ,  The Outsider ,  Sleeping Beauties  (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy:  End of Watch ,  Finders Keepers , and  Mr. Mercedes  (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel  11/22/63  was named a top ten book of 2011 by  The New York Times Book Review  and won the  Los Angeles Times  Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works  The Dark Tower ,  It ,  Pet Sematary ,  Doctor Sleep , and  Firestarter  are the basis for major motion pictures, with  It  now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

Product Details

• Publisher: Scribner (May 21, 2024)
• Length: 512 pages
• ISBN13: 9781668037713

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Praise for You Like it Darker “King does it again in this collection of stories… there’s no doubt that King is still a master.” —AARP "King is writing some of the best work of his long career. Could this collection of short stories continue his remarkable winning streak?" — Seattle Times “Readers will be thrilled by these tales. Some of the stories are darker and more poisonous than others, but they all have that King touch.” — Library Journal, STARRED review “A dozen tales from the master…King gives the reader a host of things to fear…Along the way, he also offers insights about, among other things, the fickleness of talent, the power and pathos of unrealized dreams, the pain and pleasure of relationships, and the meaning and meaninglessness of life and, of course, death… King’s conversational prose, relatable characters, and knack for knowing precisely what you are afraid of will draw you in—page by page, horror by horror—and hold you fast.” — Kirkus Reviews , STARRED review “Absolutely spellbinding stories about love, loss, tragedy, resilience, and—this is Stephen King, after all—unearthly creatures and the strange, unpredictable overlap between this world and another. A character from a classic early King novel makes a welcome return, too, in a beautifully imagined tale that will move readers to tears. This book features some of the author’s most engaging writing…King’s first book, Carrie, was published 50 years ago. He’s had a remarkable career, and You Like It Darker proves that he is still at the height of his powers. A triumph. With so many new and exceptional stories, this collection will have King's legions of fans clamoring.” — Booklist , STARRED review Praise for Stephen King's Short Fiction "As classic as King's novels are, his shorter fiction has been just as gripping over the years." — USA Today "For a writer whose books need a big stage, Stephen King also can turn out shorter stories just as gripping as his epic novels." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Holly demonstrates that one of the last true rock stars of fiction can continue to grow as a writer, and doesn’t define success solely as a continuation of what’s worked for him before.” —The Washington Post “Stephen King does something amazing in his new novel, HOLLY… King’s storytelling skills are not dimming one bit.” —Tampa Bay Times “Hugely successful… Holly surely deserves further episodes in the spotlight.” — Portland Press Herald “Holly has a thrilling finish, in which our heroine looks horror in the face. The outcome is most satisfying.” —St Louis Post-Dispatch “What makes King’s work so much more frightening than that of most other suspense writers, what elevates it to night-terror levels, isn’t his cruelty to his characters: It’s his kindness.” —Flynn Berry, New York Times Book Review “Both intimate and sprawling in its ambitions… Holly is the imperfect but determined angel among all those demons...” —Brian Truitt, USA Today “Holly is the heart of the narrative. Her growth from a shy, muttering mess in Mr. Mercedes to the smart, strong, smoking, slightly better, and much richer woman we see in Holly is tremendous. Please, Mr. King, give us more Holly soon.” —Gabino Iglesias, NPR.org “In half a century of writing horror novels, Stephen King has created some remarkable villains. Who can forget the sing-song voice of Pennywise the clown, the devil incarnate Randall Flagg, or the drooling jaws of Cujo? The big bads in King’s latest novel, Holly, aren’t quite so memorable, but that’s part of what makes them terrifying.” —Rob Merrill, Associated Press “A deadly folie a deux… Holly pursues this case to the gates of hell, figuratively—there’s no supernatural element in this powerful exploration of grief and delusion, just pure, undistilled evil.” —New York Magazine

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UNDER THE DOME

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2009

It hardly matters that, after 1,000-plus pages, the yarn doesn’t quite add up. It’s vintage King: wonderfully written, good,...

Maine. Check. Strange doings. Check. Alien/demon presence. Check. Unlikely heroes. Check.

An early scene in King’s latest ( Just After Sunset , 2008, etc.) takes us past Shawshank Prison, if only in the mind of a character—and there are dozens of characters, large and small, whose minds we enter. One of them, a leading citizen in the quiet town of Chester’s Mill, is crooked, conniving wheeler-dealer Big Jim Rennie, whose son, a specialist in taking wrong forks in the road, is the local terror but has apparently surrendered his power to awe to larger forces—in this case, the ones who have very gradually sealed off Chester’s Mill from the rest of the world. Why? It’s the kind of hamlet where a big night of fun involves driving with a six-pack and a shotgun, hardly the sort of place where the overlords seem likely to land. But these overlords, they’re a strange bunch: They walk among us, and they might even be us. King runs riot with players, including a newshound who numbers among his ordinary worries “the inexplicable decay of the town’s sewer system and waste treatment plant”; a curious chap named Sea Dogs; some weekend warriors; and the lyrically named Romeo Burpee, who “survived a childhood of merciless taunts…to become the richest man in town.” Evil is omnipresent here, but organized religion is suspect, useful only for those who would bleat, “The Dome is God’s will.” The woods are full of malevolent possibilities. Civic and military leaders are usually incompetent. And it’s the brave loner who has bothered to do a little research who saves everyone’s bacon. Or not.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4391-4850-1

Page Count: 1120

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009

SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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BOOK REVIEW

by Stephen King

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

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by Max Brooks

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BOOK TO SCREEN

A CONSPIRACY OF BONES

by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection , 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2

Page Count: 352

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER

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by Kathy Reichs

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Book Review: Becoming The Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

By john valeri.

New York Times bestselling author Richard Chizmar, like his occasional collaborator Stephen King, has transcended the confines of the horror genre to reach a mainstream audience. Look no further than 2021’s Chasing the Boogeyman —the fictional yet highly self-referential tale of a serial killer stalking his real-life hometown—for proof. The book became a phenomenon among readers, who demanded more from the author than Chizmar initially intended to give. Thanks in large part to that response, October sees the publication of a continuation story, Becoming the Boogeyman .

For those who haven’t read the first book (or simply need a refresher), the novel opens with a brief “before” section that utilizes newspaper articles, interview transcripts, and email correspondence to establish backstory; this also introduces the author’s style of melding traditional narrative with epistolary elements (and memoir). Then comes the “now,” in which Chizmar—husband and father to two grown sons, as he is today—has become a cult figure of sorts based on his bestselling Boogeyman book and continued contact with the incarcerated killer. It’s while mowing the lawn of his sedately suburban home that Chizmar makes a horrifying discovery that leads to one inescapable conclusion: It’s happening again. 

With the original Boogeyman behind bars, authorities suspect a copycat—and some people even point the finger of blame at Chizmar himself; after all, there are those who believe he is perpetuating the myth—or maybe even contributing to it—by keeping the story alive. His wife, too, has grown tired of the jailhouse visits (despite their probative value to an ongoing investigation), and their marital discord comes to the forefront as it becomes clear that somebody is finishing what the Boogeyman began—and the entire Chizmar family is at risk. Torn between protecting his loved ones and catching a killer (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive), the author must put it all on the line. Will sacrifice beget salvation?

Chizmar utilizes first person (often autobiographical) narration, which evokes strong feelings of familiarity and nostalgia—particularly for those who know what it’s like to grow up in a small town. The story is interspersed with the aforementioned multimedia components, including assorted crime scene and related photographs, that enhance the book’s realism. Consequently, the line between fact and fiction is (again) a murky one, made more so by the author’s questioning of his obsession with true crime (and thereby our own) and how it may play a part in the sensationalizing of violence, victimization, and the veneration of predators.  

Becoming the Boogeyman is sure to be this season’s macabre must-read, guaranteed to provoke terror even as it inspires thought. Satisfying as a sequel and sufficient as a standalone, it offers a multitude of jump scares and visceral thrills, but not at the expense of deeper engagement. Indeed, for all its creepy charms, Chizmar doesn’t shy away from the big questions: Who is the Boogeyman, really —and what is our role in his (or her) making?

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Cooking the Books: A Catered Quilting Bee by Isis Crawford

Book review: how to solve your own murder by kristen perrin, book review: a deadly walk in devon by nicholas george, book review: the dredge by brendan flaherty, john valeri.

7 Stephen King Books That Should Be Movies, Ranked

S tephen King is, as his name suggests, the king of horror fiction (while occasionally delving into other genres). The combination of his vivid writing style, characters with unique personalities and special abilities, and epic stories that unfurl with riveting suspense make his work rife for cinematic interpretation. Within these spine-chilling stories, King infuses keen observations on the human condition, and how evil — both supernatural and real — manifests in our society. Stephen King's literary works have produced some of the greatest films of all time including Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining, " Brian De Palma's "Carrie," and Rob Reiner's "Stand By Me." Over 70 of his novels and short stories have been adapted into films or television shows, but since he is such a prolific writer — often churning out several books each year — there are countless that have yet to be adapted. This list ranks seven of Stephen King's engrossing page-turners that would be incredible to see on screen.

Read more: The 15 Best Horror Movie Directors Of All Time

"Later," Stephen King's version of "The Sixth Sense," features a teenage boy named Jamie Conklin with the ability to communicate with ghosts who cannot tell a lie.  Blumhouse was set to produce it as a miniseries starring Lucy Liu, but there have been no updates on the project since 2022. Similar to M. Night Shyamalan's acclaimed film, "Later" blends poignant moments of sadness, chilling gore of the ghosts' gruesome deaths, and thoughtful contemplation of our mortality and connection to dearly departed loved ones. "Later" also uses the gritty backdrop of New York City, with its corners and shadows rich in history and hidden mysteries, to foreground a story that juxtaposes Jamie's coming-of-age with the contemplation of mortality. But what would make a film adaptation of "Later" so exciting is its balance of different genres, specifically the intense emotion of bildungsroman narratives with the intrigue of a crime thriller.

Not to be confused with  Christopher Nolan's compelling Alaskan mystery "Insomnia," Stephen King's novel of the same name employs the disease as a catalyst for his protagonist's connection to the supernatural. After the death of his wife, Ralph Roberts begins having bizarre and unsettling visions and wandering on the street in the middle of the night. The use of strong visual effects could make the images of his nightmares really pop on screen. "Insomnia" takes place in Stephen King's renowned Derry, Maine, and features references to both "It" and "The Dark Tower." "Insomnia" could help expand the Derry Cinematic Universe! Much like his epic "It," the dense novel is over 800 pages, making film adaptation a challenge. Nevertheless, it would be fascinating to see how a filmmaker interprets the complex inner workings of Ralph's mind, especially the blurs between reality and hallucination.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" would be perfect for an indie filmmaker because the simple narrative takes place in the Appalachian wilderness and would require a very limited cast. Since the story centers on a nine-year-old girl named Trisha McFarland who separates from her mom and brother on a hike, a film adaptation would have to rely on a phenomenal, star-making child performance. 20 years ago, this certainly could have starred Dakota Fanning. Once Trisha's food and supplies dwindle, she begins to imagine having conversations with her idol, the baseball player Tom Gordon, and has strange visions of an evil lurking in the woods. A genre with roots dating back to "The Lord of the Flies," survival horror has often included younger children, allowing the audience to experience unsafe environments through the heartbreaking prism of their innocence. It would be fascinating to see a director frame the foreboding woods subjectively to reflect Trisha's growing blur between reality vs. her imagination as her hunger and thirst creep in. A film adaptation with Chris Romero serving as a producer was announced in 2019, but there's been no movement as of publication.

With Guillermo del Toro tackling "Frankenstein" and Maggie Gyllenhaal reimagining "Bride of Frankenstein," it seems the perfect time for a filmmaker to breathe life into Stephen King's electrifying version of this classic tale. While not directly taken from Mary Shelley's novel, "Revival" melds its existential questioning of our origins and the afterlife with a Lovecraftian finale of epic proportions and scathing religious critique. Much like the finale of "It" with the giant spider, there are large-scale visual nightmares that would be difficult to pull off, but very haunting if done well. "Revival" explores the lives of Jamie from his childhood in New England to his heroin addiction as an adult, and his stalker Charles Jacobs, a pastor who becomes a carnival husker and experiments with electricity after the death of his wife and child. Since the story spans the main characters' lives across decades, it would require a pair of heavyweight actors to give their intricate relationship the chilling tension it deserves.

One of the coolest aspects of "Duma Key" is the Florida setting; Stephen King uses the sweltering heat, jagged shells, abundant foliage, and haunted ghost ships to create a striking coastal atmosphere for his spooky story. It revolves around Edgar, a wealthy contractor who loses his arm and suffers a brain injury during a worksite accident. After his wife leaves him due to his psychological instability, he rents a bright pink beach house on the island of Duma Key. In another attempt to find some inner peace, he returns to his former hobby of making art. His paintings become supernatural windows into psychic visions and unleash an ominous force of evil. It's a really inventive concept, and the focus on such a visual medium makes the story ideal for cinematic interpretation, especially when combined with the vivid tropical setting and its labyrinthine mysteries of the shore and sea.

The Long Walk

It's been a while since we've seen a captivating dystopian thriller, and "The Long Walk" would make a excellent addition to the genre. However, it would take a skilled director to make what is, as the title implies, one long walk feel suspenseful and terrifying on screen. "The Long Walk" is set in a future America overruled by a totalitarian regime that hosts an annual event forcing teenage boys to walk four miles per hour without stopping. Three strikes, you're out. The last man standing wins. The prize? Whatever the winner wants for the rest of their life. "The Long Walk" brings to mind other popular movies such as "The Hunger Games" or "Squid Game." Audiences have a strange fascination with stories about life-and-death competitions for wealth and happiness. Perhaps it's because this era of economic and political instability has made it feel like even more of a dog-eat-dog kind of world. A film adaptation of "The Long Walk" could be a truly pulse-pounding and thought-provoking viewing experience. It's apparently going to get the live-action treatment thanks to "The Hunger Games" director Francis Lawrence , but things are still in pre-production.

Carnivals, depicted in films such as "Nightmare Alley" and "Freaks," have always been a mesmerizing cinematic backdrop, one that juxtaposes sparkling wonder with enigmatic oddities. It has always been a space for both joy and terror. Stephen King's "Joyland" is his pulpy homage to crime novels that follows a young carnival worker who hunts for the killer of a young girl brutally murdered on the haunted house ride. Her spirit still haunts the amusement park. Stephen King uses this setting to paint a colorful world with its own vernacular and cast of quirky characters. It would be interesting to see how a director would bring King's detailed rhythms of midway life onto the screen, juxtaposing the jovial iconography of cotton candy and puppy dog mascots with the twisted mystery of the funhouse or hall of mirrors — bringing to mind Jordan Peele's boardwalk sequence in "Us." "Joyland" blends nostalgic warmth, the supernatural, and the gritty underbelly of the fairground lifestyle. It has a thrilling climax that takes place on a swaying Ferris Wheel in the middle of a raging storm that would look amazing on screen.

Read the original article on SlashFilm .

Screen Rant

New stephen king sci-fi movie remake repeats 1 complaint he had with the 37-year-old original adaptation.

The new casting announcement for Edgar Wright's The Running Man remake repeats a complaint Stephen King had about the first movie adaptation.

• Glen Powell's casting as Ben Richards in The Running Man remake repeats a flaw with character description from the book.
• Powell's physical prowess takes away doubt in Richards' ability to survive, diverging from Stephen King's original vision.
• Wright's remake may benefit from staying faithful to King's novel, as departing from the book hurt the 1987 adaptation.

The new lead actor for Edgar Wright’s upcoming remake of The Running Man repeats one issue that author Stephen King had with the 1987 movie’s casting choice. Based on the 1982 Stephen King novel of the same name ( written under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman ), The Running Man was first adapted into a major film in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenneger in the lead role. The sci-fi thriller, set in a dystopian future, is centered around Ben Richards, who enters a TV game show in which convicted criminals, known as “runners,” fight for their lives while being hunted down by professional killers.

Over 37 years later, The Running Man is receiving a remake with Edgar Wright as the director, Michael Bacall as the screenwriter, and action star Glen Powell leading the cast as Ben Richards . Powell’s casting was recently announced at CinemaCon during Paramount’s panel, which arrived amid more teases for his upcoming movie Twisters , a sequel to the 1996 Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton-starring disaster film Twister . While The Running Man remake’s cast and crew make its prospects at the box office and with critics more promising than its predecessor, the movie also happens to commit the same potentially harmful book change as the 1987 original.

The Running Man remake has not received an official release date, but is expected to premiere in 2025.

Glen Powell's Casting Repeats 1 Problem Stephen King Had With Arnold Schwarzenegger's Ben Richards

Both oppose the "scrawny" description of stephen king's ben richards.

By casting Glen Powell as Ben Richards in The Running Man , the remake repeats a flaw in the 1987 movie’s translation of the Stephen King-created character from book to screen. In an introduction to his 1996 edition of The Bachman Books collection, Stephen King noted that the Ben Richards he wrote in the book was " as far from the Arnold Schwarzenegger character in the movie as you can get ." King’s version of Richards was described as scrawny and an average person one would pass by on the street, which certainly didn’t apply to former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenneger, and still isn’t representative of Top Gun: Maverick ’s Glen Powell.

10 Stephen King Adaptations That King Himself Criticized

Ben Richards’ potential to succeed in The Running Man ’s highly deadly TV game show must be doubted by the audiences in order for the suspense of the story to work, and his smaller physique in the book helped accomplish this. On the other hand, Glen Powell, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, brings a physical prowess to the table that takes away a great portion of doubt in his version of Ben Richards. In this way, it seems Glen Powell’s The Running Man is taking some significant inspiration from the 1987 movie for Ben Richards’ portrayal as opposed to his description in the book, as the former made his physical capacity an important part of his entry into the game.

Glen Powell, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, brings a physical prowess to the table that takes away a great portion of doubt in his version of Ben Richards.

The Running Man Remake Can Still Stay More Faithful To Stephen King's Book Than The 1987 Movie

The movie was hurt by departing so much from king's novel.

While still incredibly exciting, Glen Powell’s casting confirms a departure from The Running Man book in the upcoming movie remake. It’s unclear how much the movie will balance being faithful to the 1987 film’s depiction of the story of King’s original narrative, but the Schwarzenegger adaptation’s average 67% score on Rotten Tomatoes indicates that Wright’s remake may be better served by remaining faithful to the novel. Diverging so much from Stephen King’s book was a mistake by the 1987 movie , so despite some changes to Ben Richards’ portrayal, Wright’s adaptation of The Running Man will hopefully be more authentic to the main characterizations, relationships, and ending of King’s novel.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes , The Bachman Books (1996)

The Running Man

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