Bag of Bones was first published in 1998, shortly before my 10th birthday. It has a lot in common with Rebecca, another book I read a few years ago, although it treats the core elements differently.
This is one of the many novels in which the main character is a writer. If I recall correctly, this was the book where I first found out that King’s novels weren’t published in written order, though it might have been Lisey's Story; sometimes, he wrote too prolifically and would stash a few, as the character Mike Noonan does. When I started this project I did consider making the effort to find out the order in which the novels were actually written and to read them in that order, but I came to the conclusion that that would be unreasonably difficult.
The other day I thought about the fact that Shakespeare’s plays begin to have happier, more optimistic endings as he got older. That was one of the reasons I wanted to read an author’s work in chronological order; to see how it changed as they aged. When I did this with Lisa Jewell a few years ago there were a number of changes. What stood out most was her concern about children, after she had her own.
King’s writing is so prolific that I actually find it harder to step back and see trends. It’s like trying to watch a plant growing by staring at it for every hour of the day. There are trends; for instance, Rage and Carrie, both about teenagers, were written when King was younger – although The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which focuses on a young girl, was published in 1999, when King was 52 and presumably written when he was at least in his 40s. His children make a difference as well; many characters are openly based on King’s family, and he does have a gift for observation.
I remembered Bag of Bones wrong; the first time I read it, it felt like it was a lot more about Sara and a lot less about Maddie. This time, I was waiting for the whole bit with Maddie to get out of the way so we could get to the main story about Sara. I was about three hours from the end – audiobook – when I finally twigged that Maddie was part of the main story.
The audiobook includes an interview with King on the topic of audiobooks. When he first wanted to listen to them, very few unabridged recordings were available, so he would pay his children $18 for each ninety-minute tape recording of a book he wanted to have read. It really is no wonder that King’s two sons, Owen King and Joe Hill, both grew up to be authors.
What is interesting is that relatively few of King’s characters are LGBT, despite the fact that his daughter Naomi is openly gay. Naomi’s life is less open than her brothers’, as she is less of a public figure. Perhaps King also considers her life to be private. I didn't realise, until I read this article, that she's a wheelchair user. I'm not sure at which point in her life she began using a wheelchair, but it would be interesting to see if King's characters start using them more after that point. So far, I think it's only been Paul Sheldon in Misery.
The next work of King’s is The Storm of the Century, a TV series for which he wrote the script. I’ve decided that while I will try to watch the series, I won’t try to hunt down the script to read it. I’ll be moving on to The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – another book I’ve read before.
Showing posts with label Owen King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owen King. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 September 2016
Thursday, 3 December 2015
In Which We Discuss Nightmares in the Sky
Nightmares in the Sky is a collection of photographs of gargoyles by F.Stop Fitzgerald (sic) (not the photographs on this post - those are mine). The only text in the volume is a long essay by Stephen King on the subject of gargoyles - "nightmares in the sky". Stephen King talks about how he was astonished to learn that there were a number of gargoyles on buildings in New York City which he'd never noticed. He didn't believe it until he went and looked for himself and found that there were dozens on streets where he would have sworn there wasn't one.He also observed that gargoyles are always looking down.
I did go on a little hunt of my own, hoping to have a similar revelation. I didn't find quite as many and most were on the buildings you'd expect - churchs. The ones on the costa coffee surprised me.
It's actually quite a fun hobby, looking for gargoyles and I intend to continue with it.
Stephen King also mentions a horror movie which scared Joe Hill as a child. He let him watch it again with the idea that another viewing would show the strings and Joe Hill wouldn't build it up in his mind. It worked. A sweet story. In 1988, when this book was released and I was born, Joe Hill was sixteen. Owen King was eleven, and their elder sister, Naomi, was eighteen. Stephen King himself was the same age as my grandmother - thirty-nine, going on forty. Naomi King is actually the same age as my mother.During this entire period, since the death of his mother in 1979, Stephen King was depressed, suicidal, and drunk. It was in when Owen King was ten, in 1987, that Tabitha King threatened to leave him and he began to sober up. According to another article I've read, Stephen King's depression was made worse by the savaging the critics gave Tommyknockers, which was the catalyst for Stephen King finally cutting back. One of the stories I've heard most often about this period was that Stephen King cannot recall writing Cujo (1981) at all.
It's interesting that Stephen King has such a healthy relationship with his family when his issues with addiction and depression would have covered such a large part of their childhoods. As far as I know he was never abusive towards his family, which is the trait that typically marks the child of an alcoholic, so I guess it's that that made the difference. In the article I've linked to it's claimed that Stephen King believed whatever he wrote about wouldn't happen - hence The Shining. I suppose that also explains Pet Semetary.I've just started reading The Dark Half again, which I've read before. It's one that I find quite interesting because the main character is a chimera; he contains cells and DNA from his dead twin.
It's theorized that as many as one in ten pregnancies begin as twins, with the weaker one being absorbed. Sometimes their cells stick around, like in the case of Lydia Fairchild who gave birth to her dead sister's children.
That's one of the things that makes me want to study genetics. How often does it happen? Why? There are lots of creatures that are able to absorb foetuses when a pregnancy would not be welcome, such as rabbits, and having the little bit of competition amongst two embryos might give us a better chance of stronger descendants, so that might be a good theory to start from. There are also strains of yeast which make use of chimerism as an alternative to mutation - so maybe humans get a similar benefit?I'll write more about that one after this read through. I'm excited to get on with the Dark Tower series after the second one finally hooked me. After The Dark Half I'll need to reread Four After Midnight and then I can finally read The Dark Tower III: The Wasteland.
After that, there's a string of seven books I've read before. Although I'd read maybe one third to one half of Stephen King's bibliography before starting this project that's the longest string. I wonder why those appealed to me? It wasn't intentional. Looking over the list of the seven it looks like three of them are about women, which might be the linking factor.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
In Which We Discuss Creepshow and Different Seasons
I've been reading so fast I've gotten a little behind, so here, have two in one.
Creepshow was the first screenplay Stephen King wrote, if I recall correctly. Directed by George Romero, it consists of three short stories and a framework. Stephen King's son, author Joe Hill stars in the framing story while King himself plays the main character in one of the shorts.
Joe Hill is the little boy with the voodoo doll, and King is the one you can see in the thumbnail, behind the doctor. While we're looking at Stephen and Joe, here's Tabitha at around the same time.
And a 2103 interview with Owen King and Joe Hill on being the children of authors and their own new novels. And Joe's children, which I didn't realise he had, because I'm a reader, not a stalker.
My favourite extract from the interview;
Back to Creepshow. It's pretty silly. Creepy at times, very eighties, very camp. There's also a comic book, but it's ridiculously expensive.
Now for Different Seasons.
Some people like Apt Pupil. Some like The Body - or Stand By Me, as they called the movie. And some just love Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. But me, I like The Breathing Method and Sandra Stansfield the best.
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014
- 06/13 to 17/8/14 - 9
Roadwork - 1981 - 23rd August 2014
Danse Macabre - 1981 - 7th September 2014
- BONUS: Small World (Tabitha King) - 10th September 2014
Cujo - 1981 - 20th September 2014
The Running Man - 1982- 22nd September 2014
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982 - 30th September 2014
Creepshow - 1982 - 1st October 2014
Different Seasons - 1982 - 24th October 2014
- 17/8/14 to 25/10/14 - 7 (16)
Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983
The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984
Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987
The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989
Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992
Nightmares & Dreamscapes - 1993
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996
The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Bag of Bones - 1998
Storm of the Century - 1999
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
The New Lieutenant's Rap - 1999
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999
"Riding the Bullet" - 2000
On Writing - 2000
Secret Windows - 2000
The Plant - 2000
Dreamcatcher - 2001
Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001
Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004
Faithful - 2004
- BONUS: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill) - Jan 2005
- BONUS: Josie & Jack (Kelly Braffet) - Feb 2005
- BONUS: We're All in This Together (Owen King) - 2005
The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007
Duma Key - 2008
Just After Sunset - 2008
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009
Under the Dome - 2009
Blockade Billy - 2010
Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011
"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013
Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014
Revival - November 2014
Finders Keepers - 2015
I've now read 16 out of 86 books, which is a big jump from the 9 I'd read last time. It's 18.6%, which feels a lot more respectable. It's helped that I made a rule about reading at least 25 pages a day, and once I'd hit that, I'd often carry on for quite a bit longer.
There's a lot of rereads coming up. Christine and Pet Semetary, neither of which I remember particularly enjoying. Especially not Christine, which I've described as 300 pages worth of plot in a 700+ page novel. I'm going to see if the library has it; don't feel like buying a copy.
Creepshow was the first screenplay Stephen King wrote, if I recall correctly. Directed by George Romero, it consists of three short stories and a framework. Stephen King's son, author Joe Hill stars in the framing story while King himself plays the main character in one of the shorts.
Joe Hill is the little boy with the voodoo doll, and King is the one you can see in the thumbnail, behind the doctor. While we're looking at Stephen and Joe, here's Tabitha at around the same time.
And a 2103 interview with Owen King and Joe Hill on being the children of authors and their own new novels. And Joe's children, which I didn't realise he had, because I'm a reader, not a stalker.
My favourite extract from the interview;
How did you decide to spend your life writing fiction?
OK: I hope Joe has a good answer, because it was never like I read a book and said, “That’s what I wanna do.” It was more like I loved to read, I liked to tell stories, I practiced; eventually, it started to seem viable.
JH: I don’t think there was exactly one aha moment. But you’d come home from school and Mom would be in her room clattering away on this tomato-colored typewriter and my dad would be up in his office working on a word processor with the glowing green letters on the black screen, and they’d both be making stuff up. So for myself, by the time I was 11, 12, I’d kind of absorbed the idea that you should spend a little time each afternoon making stuff up and eventually you’d be paid really well for it.
Back to Creepshow. It's pretty silly. Creepy at times, very eighties, very camp. There's also a comic book, but it's ridiculously expensive.
Now for Different Seasons.
Some people like Apt Pupil. Some like The Body - or Stand By Me, as they called the movie. And some just love Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. But me, I like The Breathing Method and Sandra Stansfield the best.
Sandra is a woman in the mould of Irene Adler. Not Sherlock's lover Irene, but someone closer to the original. A determined, intelligent, strong woman who runs rings around the men in her life. And, like Irene's appearance in A Scandel in Bohemia, we see her through the eyes of a man watching the man who admires her. Not loves in a romantic way, but admires. Looks up to.
It's Different Seasons that contains the anecdote where King's editor worries about him being typecast. It's when they decide to publish 'salem's Lot after Carrie. Well King is typecast, but he doesn't seem to mind. I get the idea that you can sum up his philosophy of writing with the idea 'you take what you've got and you do what you can. And if you can pay the bills with it, so much the better'. He writes the kinds of books he likes. In the epilogue of Different Seasons, he acknowledges that he isn't a great literary writer, but also that he doesn't make a habit of reading great literature. Which sounds fair enough to me.
As we all know, Shawshank became a very successful movie. Apt Pupil was also filmed, with Sir Ian McKellen as Kurt Dussander.
James Smythe agrees with my feelings on The Breathing Method. He skipped Creepshow, also fair.
Now for another checkpoint, just because. I last updated this list on the 17th of August. The ones in red I have read previously, while the ones in blue were new to me. I've also included the first published novels of Stephen King's wife, two sons, and daughter-in-law. I have not forgotten about Naomi King, but since she isn't a public figure in any sense it'd be kind of weird to go and look stuff up about her.
Owen King did contribute to a collection of baseball stories in 2003, but I've decided not to count that. Because I don't like baseball.
Carrie - 1974 - June 15th 2013It's Different Seasons that contains the anecdote where King's editor worries about him being typecast. It's when they decide to publish 'salem's Lot after Carrie. Well King is typecast, but he doesn't seem to mind. I get the idea that you can sum up his philosophy of writing with the idea 'you take what you've got and you do what you can. And if you can pay the bills with it, so much the better'. He writes the kinds of books he likes. In the epilogue of Different Seasons, he acknowledges that he isn't a great literary writer, but also that he doesn't make a habit of reading great literature. Which sounds fair enough to me.
As we all know, Shawshank became a very successful movie. Apt Pupil was also filmed, with Sir Ian McKellen as Kurt Dussander.
James Smythe agrees with my feelings on The Breathing Method. He skipped Creepshow, also fair.
Now for another checkpoint, just because. I last updated this list on the 17th of August. The ones in red I have read previously, while the ones in blue were new to me. I've also included the first published novels of Stephen King's wife, two sons, and daughter-in-law. I have not forgotten about Naomi King, but since she isn't a public figure in any sense it'd be kind of weird to go and look stuff up about her.
Owen King did contribute to a collection of baseball stories in 2003, but I've decided not to count that. Because I don't like baseball.
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014
- 06/13 to 17/8/14 - 9
Roadwork - 1981 - 23rd August 2014
Danse Macabre - 1981 - 7th September 2014
- BONUS: Small World (Tabitha King) - 10th September 2014
Cujo - 1981 - 20th September 2014
The Running Man - 1982- 22nd September 2014
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982 - 30th September 2014
Creepshow - 1982 - 1st October 2014
Different Seasons - 1982 - 24th October 2014
- 17/8/14 to 25/10/14 - 7 (16)
Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983
The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984
Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987
The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989
Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992
Nightmares & Dreamscapes - 1993
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996
The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Bag of Bones - 1998
Storm of the Century - 1999
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
The New Lieutenant's Rap - 1999
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999
"Riding the Bullet" - 2000
On Writing - 2000
Secret Windows - 2000
The Plant - 2000
Dreamcatcher - 2001
Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001
Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004
Faithful - 2004
- BONUS: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill) - Jan 2005
- BONUS: Josie & Jack (Kelly Braffet) - Feb 2005
- BONUS: We're All in This Together (Owen King) - 2005
The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007
Duma Key - 2008
Just After Sunset - 2008
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009
Under the Dome - 2009
Blockade Billy - 2010
Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011
"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013
Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014
Revival - November 2014
Finders Keepers - 2015
I've now read 16 out of 86 books, which is a big jump from the 9 I'd read last time. It's 18.6%, which feels a lot more respectable. It's helped that I made a rule about reading at least 25 pages a day, and once I'd hit that, I'd often carry on for quite a bit longer.
There's a lot of rereads coming up. Christine and Pet Semetary, neither of which I remember particularly enjoying. Especially not Christine, which I've described as 300 pages worth of plot in a 700+ page novel. I'm going to see if the library has it; don't feel like buying a copy.
Tuesday, 9 September 2014
In Which We Discuss Danse Macabre
As part of my quest to read all of Stephen King's novels, I've just finished Danse Macabre and I loved it. It's a non-fiction account of King's favourite horror movies and novels throughout the fifties to the eighties, and his thoughts on the horror genre as a whole. There's a long list of recommendations at the back, which I certainly intend to look at. I'm quite sold on Ira Levin - I've already read Stepford Wives, and King did a great job of pushing Rosemary's Baby.
King also devoted a brief paragraph to his wife's first novel, Small World which was newly released at the time of writing. He didn't say more, as he felt he would be slightly biased. However, that did remind me of the idea I had of reading his wife and childrens' novels at the appropriate points in the time line. So, here is Tabitha King's bibliography;
Considering what an effort this is turning out to be - I didn't expect it to take a year to get 10% through! - I don't think I will make the effort to seek out all of Tabitha, Joe or Owen King's novels, though I may read the first one of each when they appear.
I actually am reading Small World at the moment. It's pretty interesting. I'll give it its own post when I'm done. Oh, and I've got Rosemary's Baby and Cujo reserved at the library.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that King frequently mentioned his son Joe Hill in Danse Macabre. Joe Hill was born in 1972, so he would have been nine-years-old when this was published. Naomi King and Owen King were born in 1970 and 1977 respectively, so they were eleven and four at the time. When Carrie was first published in 1973 Naomi would have been three while Joe was a year old. Owen would have been born a month before The Shining was published, a he would have been a months old when Rage was released.
King also devoted a brief paragraph to his wife's first novel, Small World which was newly released at the time of writing. He didn't say more, as he felt he would be slightly biased. However, that did remind me of the idea I had of reading his wife and childrens' novels at the appropriate points in the time line. So, here is Tabitha King's bibliography;
- (1981) Small World
- (1983) Caretakers
- (1985) The Trap (also published as Wolves at the Door)
- (1988) Pearl
- (1993) One on One
- (1994) The Book of Reuben
- (1997) Survivor
- (2006) Candles Burning (with Michael McDowell)
Considering what an effort this is turning out to be - I didn't expect it to take a year to get 10% through! - I don't think I will make the effort to seek out all of Tabitha, Joe or Owen King's novels, though I may read the first one of each when they appear.
I actually am reading Small World at the moment. It's pretty interesting. I'll give it its own post when I'm done. Oh, and I've got Rosemary's Baby and Cujo reserved at the library.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that King frequently mentioned his son Joe Hill in Danse Macabre. Joe Hill was born in 1972, so he would have been nine-years-old when this was published. Naomi King and Owen King were born in 1970 and 1977 respectively, so they were eleven and four at the time. When Carrie was first published in 1973 Naomi would have been three while Joe was a year old. Owen would have been born a month before The Shining was published, a he would have been a months old when Rage was released.
Monday, 17 June 2013
In Which We Discuss Carrie
Carrie was Stephen King's first published novel, written while he was at university. It's not his first published work; to my knowledge, that would be Graveyard Shift, a short story which appears in Night Shift, if I recall correctly.
The story (as relayed in the introduction) goes that Stephen King, newly married to Tabitha, was writing short stories to sell to magazines for extra money. He started Carrie, wrote the shower scene, and decided his time would be better spent writing short stories to sell than a novel which nobody might want. Tabitha fished the pages out of the bin, read them, and suggested that he finish them.
Incidentally, Tabitha King is a writer too. In one of the most romantic things I've heard, Stephen King has said that Tabitha is one of his favourite writers. I have her first novel, Small World, which was published in 1981. I might slip that into my experiment, between Roadwork and Danse Macabre. It would actually be pretty interesting to read both Stephen and Tabitha King's work in published order together, to see if they were thinking on similar themes, if they inspired each other, if they both worked out the same issue through writing, etc.
Carrie was published in 1974, at which point Stephen and Tabitha had been married for three years and had two children, Naomi and Joe. Joe is also a writer, under the monicker of Joe Hill. He and his father have collaborated on a few recent short stories. One is available on the Kindle store, and I gather that the others are available as eBooks, but haven't researched where yet. Joe Hill has published three novels and a collection of short stories; I've read Heart-Shaped Box and intend to read NOS4A2. So including him is also a possibility. I don't need to commit to that right now, since his collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, wasn't published till 2005.
Owen Phillips King, who was born quite a bit after Carrie, in 1977, is also a writer. He's published a collection of three short stories and a novella and one novel, starting in 2005. He's also married to a writer, Kelly Braffet, and they are cute together, but, honestly, this is getting absurd. According to Goodreads, Kelly Braffet has published four novels, starting in 2005. I wonder what happened in 2005; did the King family propose a writing competition in 2004 or something?
I'm kidding, I'm sure that year is a coincidence.
Naomi King is not a writer, doesn't even have her own wikipedia page, and probably enjoys her privacy. And if she or Joe turns out to be married to a writer, I am throwing in the towel right now.
Anyway, Carrie. In short, it's about a telekinetic teenage girl, who has horrible things done to her, and makes things explode in return. Apparently, King was inspired to start writing it because someone had told him he couldn't write women, and he wanted to prove them wrong. So, he began with menarche, and the theme of menstruation and blood continues throughout the novel. It's a lot more apparent in the book than the film (I saw the film at thirteen, and it scared the bejeesus out of me).
I first read Carrie at fifteen, possibly sixteen, and since I experienced menarche at the age of eleven, it was old news to me by that point. My grandmother experienced it at eight. That was a terrifying experience for her. Her 1950s father conducted himself well; he was the only one in the house, so he tootled off down to the shops to buy her some towels.
The book is semi-epistolary, with newspaper clippings and excerpts from books within the fictional universe discussing the event. There are also third person segments which offer a more unbiased viewpoint. It's pretty short, especially for Stephen King. In my paperback edition, only 242 pages in total. Purely based on wrist strength, it's a lot easier to read than the brick that is the illustrated edition of 'Salem's Lot, which I'm working through now.
I like Carrie, and I think that Stephen King does write quite good women. I don't like Carrie as much as Rose Madder or Dolores Claibourne, but it's pretty good. The film is a pretty faithful adaptation, too.
Part of what inspired me to do this in the first place was this flow chart, which lists the links each of Stephen King's books has with the others. In Carrie's case, it references Castle Rock. Later, Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone mentions the prom night fire, and Ray Bower, the infamous body of The Body (filmed as Stand By Me) was from Chamberlain, where Carrie is set. Finally, Dinky Earnshaw of the Dark Tower #7 says he doesn't want to be like Carrie.
The story (as relayed in the introduction) goes that Stephen King, newly married to Tabitha, was writing short stories to sell to magazines for extra money. He started Carrie, wrote the shower scene, and decided his time would be better spent writing short stories to sell than a novel which nobody might want. Tabitha fished the pages out of the bin, read them, and suggested that he finish them.
Incidentally, Tabitha King is a writer too. In one of the most romantic things I've heard, Stephen King has said that Tabitha is one of his favourite writers. I have her first novel, Small World, which was published in 1981. I might slip that into my experiment, between Roadwork and Danse Macabre. It would actually be pretty interesting to read both Stephen and Tabitha King's work in published order together, to see if they were thinking on similar themes, if they inspired each other, if they both worked out the same issue through writing, etc.
Carrie was published in 1974, at which point Stephen and Tabitha had been married for three years and had two children, Naomi and Joe. Joe is also a writer, under the monicker of Joe Hill. He and his father have collaborated on a few recent short stories. One is available on the Kindle store, and I gather that the others are available as eBooks, but haven't researched where yet. Joe Hill has published three novels and a collection of short stories; I've read Heart-Shaped Box and intend to read NOS4A2. So including him is also a possibility. I don't need to commit to that right now, since his collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, wasn't published till 2005.
Owen Phillips King, who was born quite a bit after Carrie, in 1977, is also a writer. He's published a collection of three short stories and a novella and one novel, starting in 2005. He's also married to a writer, Kelly Braffet, and they are cute together, but, honestly, this is getting absurd. According to Goodreads, Kelly Braffet has published four novels, starting in 2005. I wonder what happened in 2005; did the King family propose a writing competition in 2004 or something?
I'm kidding, I'm sure that year is a coincidence.
Naomi King is not a writer, doesn't even have her own wikipedia page, and probably enjoys her privacy. And if she or Joe turns out to be married to a writer, I am throwing in the towel right now.
Anyway, Carrie. In short, it's about a telekinetic teenage girl, who has horrible things done to her, and makes things explode in return. Apparently, King was inspired to start writing it because someone had told him he couldn't write women, and he wanted to prove them wrong. So, he began with menarche, and the theme of menstruation and blood continues throughout the novel. It's a lot more apparent in the book than the film (I saw the film at thirteen, and it scared the bejeesus out of me).
I first read Carrie at fifteen, possibly sixteen, and since I experienced menarche at the age of eleven, it was old news to me by that point. My grandmother experienced it at eight. That was a terrifying experience for her. Her 1950s father conducted himself well; he was the only one in the house, so he tootled off down to the shops to buy her some towels.
The book is semi-epistolary, with newspaper clippings and excerpts from books within the fictional universe discussing the event. There are also third person segments which offer a more unbiased viewpoint. It's pretty short, especially for Stephen King. In my paperback edition, only 242 pages in total. Purely based on wrist strength, it's a lot easier to read than the brick that is the illustrated edition of 'Salem's Lot, which I'm working through now.
I like Carrie, and I think that Stephen King does write quite good women. I don't like Carrie as much as Rose Madder or Dolores Claibourne, but it's pretty good. The film is a pretty faithful adaptation, too.
Part of what inspired me to do this in the first place was this flow chart, which lists the links each of Stephen King's books has with the others. In Carrie's case, it references Castle Rock. Later, Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone mentions the prom night fire, and Ray Bower, the infamous body of The Body (filmed as Stand By Me) was from Chamberlain, where Carrie is set. Finally, Dinky Earnshaw of the Dark Tower #7 says he doesn't want to be like Carrie.
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