I've always liked his non-fiction--especially his writing about popular culture--but his fiction leaves me cold. I have it the old college try, but after LISEY'S STORY, I gave up. It was when Lisey found a dead cat in her mailbox and "was so angry, she forgot to call the police." That made no sense except to serve the plot King had planned. I was over 100 pages in, but I said "That's it. I'm done with this guy!"
I still like some of his - mostly the early stuff, plus 11/22/63 and a few of the newer ones. Things like IT and PET SEMATARY and especially CUJO I hated. I didn't read LISEY'S STORY. I have read almost all of the shorter works.
Jeff
PS - On a similar theme, I just read Jonathan Yardley's convincing case for the sheer awfulness of CATCHER IN THE RYE.
King's a masterful storyteller, and I loved some of the early books. I quite long before LISEY'S STORY, although I still read some of the shorter works with pleasure.
I'll probably still love CATCHER, no matter how convincing Yardley is.
I tried to re-read CITR a couple of years ago...when I was 14, it made perfect sense, actually, but that was 1962. Now, not so much. (The rest of Salinger--Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters/Seymour: An Introduction--on the other hand, have aged just fine.)
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Finally...a good explanation of why I don't care for SK's writing.
I've always liked his non-fiction--especially his writing about popular culture--but his fiction leaves me cold. I have it the old college try, but after LISEY'S STORY, I gave up. It was when Lisey found a dead cat in her mailbox and "was so angry, she forgot to call the police." That made no sense except to serve the plot King had planned. I was over 100 pages in, but I said "That's it. I'm done with this guy!"
I still like some of his - mostly the early stuff, plus 11/22/63 and a few of the newer ones. Things like IT and PET SEMATARY and especially CUJO I hated. I didn't read LISEY'S STORY. I have read almost all of the shorter works.
Jeff
PS - On a similar theme, I just read Jonathan Yardley's convincing case for the sheer awfulness of CATCHER IN THE RYE.
King's a masterful storyteller, and I loved some of the early books. I quite long before LISEY'S STORY, although I still read some of the shorter works with pleasure.
I'll probably still love CATCHER, no matter how convincing Yardley is.
i always thought Yardley took greater pleasure in disliking books than in liking them.
I'm with Yardley. To me CATCHER IN THE RYE ranks right up there with ATLAS SHRUGGED for sheer inexplicability as to it's enduring popularity.
I tried to re-read CITR a couple of years ago...when I was 14, it made perfect sense, actually, but that was 1962. Now, not so much. (The rest of Salinger--Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters/Seymour: An Introduction--on the other hand, have aged just fine.)
It's probably too late for him to find another line of work....
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