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I have started reading Clive's Coldheart Canyon. I don't know if I picked the wrong book, but I'm half way through and am forcing myself to read it. It's not the content that bothers me. I can not get into the characters. How am I suppose to believe that the main character is being seduced just because he gets and erection? I'm not feeling it.
This thread made me realize why "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" is my favorite King book.
The stock characters is just a form of literary laziness I think. It's harder to find subtle ways to convey evil or make you dislike or hate a character. To portray someone as a raving bigot is taking the easy way out.
I remember reading "The Talisman" and thinking, 'If I ran into that many sleazy, rotten scumbags in real life, I would go crazy!!'
But that's the way it usually is in his books. The average main character runs into a whole slew of crazy, mean or just plain evil people all the time. (I really did enjoy "The Talisman" in spite of all that though.)
It actually is MORE believable in the instance of Pulp Fiction simply because people are c-o-m-p-l-e-x, and will often do, or say, things completely out of character. More UNbelievable is the character who stays in character. I know, of myself, there have been odd occasions when I have either said or done something, and thought, 'wow, but where did that come from?'
I don't find Stephen King, 'racist' or 'bigoted' or 'narrow-minded' in the least. He grew up in Maine, didn't he? I hardly think the N word was common place there, but he uses it for some of his lowlife characters, especially Southerners.
I admit, that as a child and before PC days, I recall hearing the N word flying out of people's mouths -- for apparently different reasons. Some elderly whites still think it's an appropriate term, unfortunately, and that won't die-out until they do. Others are ignorant, uneducated classes of white who tend to be very narrow-minded, bigoted, and racist. This, I think, is the very character King creates in some of his works.
As someone who lived in Maine for 20+ years - people throwing out the "N-word" was a lot more prevelent than people realize - especially in the time King grew up, when Maine was much more of mill economy state - and God forbid if you had French-Canadian heritage living in Maine!
I too, also got tired of the same old, same old, stock characters for King's novels.
I enjoy King. I realize he's not a great writer, but he's fun. I have noticed that a lot of his books delves into domestic abuse and have read where his mom had been abused, before she left his dad. I think he uses racism to show his own personal dislike of a bad character.
I don't like Clive Barker. The worst thing, to me, is how he tries to describe how women feel and think and gets it totally backwards. I just can't get into his characters.
One of my favorite books was Insomnia by King - loved the characters.
Did anyone else link his bad characters in The Dome to the extreme right political leaders?
Did anyone else link his bad characters in The Dome to the extreme right political leaders?
Several critics have called Under the Dome "a parable for our times." But I couldn't get into the book. I put it down after the first few chapters. Just never grabbed me. It seemed like a throwback to the worst qualities of "old" Stephen King books --- gratuitous violence, shallow characters, and honestly a rather silly conflict.
My observation is that you are taking Mr. King's books a mite too seriously. I find his older stuff entertaining, because I think he has (had) a remarkable ability to tell a story. Sure, he interlaces his point of view on politics and religion but so what? I think he is a great storyteller, not a great novelist in the classic sense. His later stuff is nowhere near as good. It's sort of sad. I hear his son may have a future in the biz...
It's really very simple. King is an angry man. He is a liberal. He hates all things Christian. He is beyond wealthy and has discovered that people will spend hard earned money to read anything he writes. Therefore, he has grown arrogant, lazy and complacent and thinks he can write 500 pages of his personal rants and raves and then, to top it all off, assumes all of us are as stupid as he already thinks we are and will pay good money for it. And, of course he is right.
I asked for and received "Under the Dome" for my birthday. I have since apologized to my son and his wife for wasting their money and have kicked myself for wasting a birthday gift. It was nothing but an angry, bitter King hating on Conservatives and Christians.
I could not bring myself to throw away a birthday gift, so left it at my work place break room for someone else to waste their time on.
It's really very simple. King is an angry man. He is a liberal. He hates all things Christian. He is beyond wealthy and has discovered that people will spend hard earned money to read anything he writes. Therefore, he has grown arrogant, lazy and complacent and thinks he can write 500 pages of his personal rants and raves and then, to top it all off, assumes all of us are as stupid as he already thinks we are and will pay good money for it. And, of course he is right.
I asked for and received "Under the Dome" for my birthday. I have since apologized to my son and his wife for wasting their money and have kicked myself for wasting a birthday gift. It was nothing but an angry, bitter King hating on Conservatives and Christians.
I could not bring myself to throw away a birthday gift, so left it at my work place break room for someone else to waste their time on.
Wow - this rant told way more about you than King. You actually told your son that the gift sucked, even though you had asked for it? Way to go, mom.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to King several years ago. I went away thinking that he was one of the most laid-back people I had ever met. "Angry"? I think you are projecting.
King doesn't dislike true Christians - just the "Christians" that twist religion to serve themselves and to justify atrosities done to other human beings. In fact, that describes the main villian in The Dome. One of the good characters is a woman minister that has secret doubts about God, and through the ordeal, finds her faith again. The author would not have written that if he hated Christians (the real ones that follow what Jesus taught).
Wow - this rant told way more about you than King. You actually told your son that the gift sucked, even though you had asked for it? Way to go, mom.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to King several years ago. I went away thinking that he was one of the most laid-back people I had ever met. "Angry"? I think you are projecting.
King doesn't dislike true Christians - just the "Christians" that twist religion to serve themselves and to justify atrosities done to other human beings. In fact, that describes the main villian in The Dome. One of the good characters is a woman minister that has secret doubts about God, and through the ordeal, finds her faith again. The author would not have written that if he hated Christians (the real ones that follow what Jesus taught).
Wow - this rant told way more about you than King. You actually told your son that the gift sucked, even though you had asked for it? Way to go, mom.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to King several years ago. I went away thinking that he was one of the most laid-back people I had ever met. "Angry"? I think you are projecting.
King doesn't dislike true Christians - just the "Christians" that twist religion to serve themselves and to justify atrosities done to other human beings. In fact, that describes the main villian in The Dome. One of the good characters is a woman minister that has secret doubts about God, and through the ordeal, finds her faith again. The author would not have written that if he hated Christians (the real ones that follow what Jesus taught).
Where did I say I told my son his gift sucked? He and I have both been avid readers of King's books and have had many hours long conversations and debates over his books. My son asked if I enjoyed UTD and I told him why I did not. He nor his wife took any offense at the waste of a gift and neither accepted my offer to lend it to them.
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