A friend suggested I read Salem’s Lot so I did, and I loved it.
Then I read the Dark Tower series, and yes I do mean I slogged through all seven books. I could probably write a whole separate post on that, but the long and the short of it is I thought some parts were fantastic and the storyline as a whole had a lot of promise; however, King’s editor could’ve condensed the good stuff down to two or three books at most (and probably should’ve advised him to lay off the crack).
After that, I made an attempt at Holly. Couldn’t get past the kidnapping scene. The narrative style was incredibly dull and flat.
So, I decided to give it one last shot, and here I am procrastinating finishing The Shining. Now I will admit, I found the story to be engrossing, but again, I don’t care for the narrative style, and on top of that the scary stuff just isn’t…scary. Like, at all. The only part where I felt the slightest twinge off suspense was when Hallorann was driving up the mountain in the middle of a snowstorm. Other than that, I’m left scratching my head as to why so many people consider this to be a masterpiece. To each their own, I guess.
Anyway, I’m done with King.

  • TheCervus@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    King is hit-or-miss for me. He’s written some of my all-time favorites (It, Misery, Pet Sematary, The Shining) and some absolute stinkers (The Green Mile, Needful Things, 11/22/63).

    I feel like I’m in a parallel universe when I see the latter so highly praised - I couldn’t stand 11/22/63 for a lot of specific reasons and consider it one of his worst. I also couldn’t get into the Dark Tower series at all, though and I tried multiple times because of how much I saw it praised. I also snoozed through Salem’s Lot, it was so boring. But I loved Duma Key, which a lot of fans seem to hate.

    The thing with King is that he’s so prolific you’re likely to come across something of his that you like, even if it’s a short story. (His short stories can be hit-or-miss too - some bored me and others still haunted me in a good way 25 years after I first read them.) His writing style has also changed dramatically over the decades, which is probably why some people love his later works and some prefer the early stuff.