Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I tend to agree with this statement. His books always start off great but then the ending ruins them completely. I feel he has just been churning out the same stuff. I stopped reading his stuff long ago.
He is a good storyteller and has had a few good works, but I find his books very cliched and repetitive especially in the last decade.
Really? I find the opposite from the last decade, in which he has changed his style from fantastical horror to more real, psychological thrillers. And full or wry observations on the human psyche. Just finished "Finder's Keepers." Loved it. One of his best. Did you read it?
Have you ever read his son's work? Pretty good stuff.
I prefer King's early work. I've read little that he wrote after the early 1990s - a major exception is the brilliant non-fiction On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
But I can't bring myself to think that just because someone else subjectively rates King higher than do I, that they are therefore overrating him. Someone else's preference for an author isn't about me, and I do not think that my level of preference for an author is the right preference for everyone - it's just right for me.
I prefer King's early work. I've read little that he wrote after the early 1990s - a major exception is the brilliant non-fiction On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
But I can't bring myself to think that just because someone else subjectively rates King higher than do I, that they are therefore overrating him. Someone else's preference for an author isn't about me, and I do not think that my level of preference for an author is the right preference for everyone - it's just right for me.
I LOVED "On Writing" - very informative and interesting.
From my POV, he's got some pretty brilliant stuff out there, but yeah a lot of it isn't that great. I remember reading Gerald's Game and thinking "Well, this is pretty original" and one of the later scenes was so painfully and realistically descriptive, I couldn't read it.
I think with King, you really have to pick and choose what you read. He's not my favorite author, but I think he's one that, as a writer myself, I could learn (and have learned) a lot from.
Really? I find the opposite from the last decade, in which he has changed his style from fantastical horror to more real, psychological thrillers. And full or wry observations on the human psyche. Just finished "Finder's Keepers." Loved it. One of his best. Did you read it?
Yup. King in my mind has 3 basic periods of writing.
The early stuff. Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, The Dead Zone, Firestarter. All GREAT stories. They still hold up. But the quality of the prose itself was sometimes lacking. He was still learning the craft, and it showed. But fantastic stories nonetheless.
The middle stuff. IT, The Tommyknockers, Christine, Pet Sematary, The Talisman, Thinner. This is the era where Stephen King lost me. I couldn't get into the stories. Just overblown and occasionally even turgid. I later found out this was the point where we was a full-on drunk and addict, and it showed. Then he got cleaned up, and had his brush with death. That seemed to reinvigorate his writing.
The later stuff. Bag of Bones (best ghost story I've ever read), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Duma Key, Lisey's Story, 11/22/63, Joyland, Doctor Sleep. I LOOOVE his recent stuff. At least most of it (I couldn't get into Revival.) He still manages to be scary, but his prose has finally grown up, and it's obvious he cares more about the main characters than the monsters. And no longer is every book about a writer in Maine that things happen to.
And he really isn't just writing the same stories over and over. He is really stretching himself. 11/22/63 is straight up science fiction, but in the vein of The Twilight Zone rather than Star Trek, and it's a very touching, even sentimental story in a lot of ways. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a great adventure in the vein of Jack London, but with far more psychological depth and horror. Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers read more like Ed McBain than Stephen King. Joyland is almost S.E. Hinton. Bag of Bones is about life, death, and grief, all wrapped in a story about a child custody battle and a decades old curse with a ghost story on top.
I agree with all of this. ^^^^^ SK's writing has waxed and waned in quality over the years and the middle stuff was pretty awful. But the latest stuff I've read has been good with interesting and imaginative story lines. I thought 11/22/63 was a really great time-travel story.
My only complaint about his writing is that the characters tend to be really, really Good or really, really Bad. Most people are a mixture of both and I wish his writing reflected that more. SK doesn't break my heart or make me swoon with his prose, but when I want to plop down on the couch with an easy-to-read page-turner, he's my guy.
Here's how I feel about King. I read reviews of his books, and pick according to which sound the most appealing to me. I only buy used books, so I never spend tons of money on any book. Anyway, sometimes I love his books and sometimes I lose interest quickly. Since I never have much invested in a book, if it doesn't keep my interest I just donate it and be done with it.
He's hit or miss to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Couldn't agree more.
