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475 of 505 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
King delivers, November 9, 2010
This review is from: Full Dark, No Stars (Hardcover)
Some of King's best material-- "The Mist", "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "The Body", "Hearts in Atlantis", etc.-- can be found in his collections, particularly his novella collections. Yes, he's written some long books, many of them already considered modern classics (The Stand and IT come to mind), but the man has ALWAYS delivered when he confines himself a bit.
By delivered, I mean everything: characters, setting, story, emotion.
Read the first twenty pages of "1922." Try not to despise the utter selfishness of Wilfred and Arlette-- even while you're sympathizing with the unfortunate humanity of their situation. Try not to stare wide-eyed in horror at what Wilfred convinces his son to partake in... and just try to look away from the book (although you may have to-- for a breather-- after one grueling scene).
This is an honest book. Each story seems to revolve around the theme that there is a monster inside each one of us.
King is sometimes accused of being wordy, yet he seems to bat every ball out of the park when he confines himself to the constraints of a hundred or so pages.
Pay no attention to the fools who have chosen to lower the star rating of this excellent collection with their whining about the publishing industry and the expensive nature of their digital "books."
I paid fourteen dollars for this book several hours ago-- not a bad deal at all for a new hardback, I'd say-- and it's worth much more than that.
King is a modern master, and we're lucky to have him.
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174 of 182 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid addition to my SK Library., November 13, 2010
This review is from: Full Dark, No Stars (Hardcover)
Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of 4 novellas that envelope the dark side in us all. The collection gets you started with...
1922 - This first person POV story is a confession of a farmer detailing his deeds which lead to the worst year of his life during the year 1922 in Nebraska. It is written with Mr. King's normal grab your attention right away and then bog the story down for a while throwing in those little blurbs to keep the plot moving. The majority of the story is predictable leading right up to an easily drawn conclusion. However, Mr. King does a nice job of ending the story on anything but relative to typical and in doing so saved it from being a low rating story. I would rate this one in the 3.5 stars range.
Big Driver - Another tale of rape and revenge. Even though this one was really predictable yet I still found it an engaging read, especially at the end. Mr. King does a great job of giving just enough details to get his vision across and at the same time leaves out enough so the reader can fill in the rest. I do feel he could have added more to the characters in this one. I wish he would have added more to the antagonist, but it seems he just let the deeds that were done to be enough to invoke a hatred for the antagonist and it just wasn't enough. The protagonist had her high and low points, but it was actually one of the side characters that seemed to have more to them in just their short scenes. The pacing and flow of the story was well done and so I will give this one a 4 out of 5 stars.
Fair Extension - How remorseless can a person be? Read this story and find out. To me, this one portrayed hatred in its purest form. This one was a really quick read as it is the shortest story in the collection. This story doesn't beat around the bush. It gets right to it and doesn't let go. One of the things I would have liked was to know more about the "salesman" character. This one felt more like a Richard Bachman story to me, but not as good as the earlier works. So I think a 3 out of 5 would be fair for this one.
A Good Marriage - What would you do if you found out the person you were married to for 27 years had a very dark side? I would have to say this was the best story in the collection. The characters had good depth to them, were well fleshed out, and easy to connect with. It had a good pace to it and flowed nicely. One of the points I enjoyed was the Edgar Allan Poe simile he used. This was definitely a good psychological thriller. 5 Stars out of 5
Afterword - One thing I like is to read what Mr. King has to say about his books and this afterword was written especially for those who ask the question, "Where do you get your ideas?" If you are one of these type of people, then you will be greatly satisfied reading this small section, I know I was.
This book as a whole was entertaining to read and had many aspects of good humanistic horror telling. All the stories are more based on the darker side of human nature. If you are looking for more supernatural monsters, you will not find much here, though there are a couple parts that tow that line and one that steps just beyond it, but the main focus is on human reaction. If you are looking for some really gory parts, then 1922 is the best you will get. For long time Stephen King fans, I would definitely recommend this one and even those of a younger crowd who may or may not have had the chance to read him; I would recommend it to them as well. Calculating all the stories together, I feel this is worthy of a 4 out of 5 stars.
Happy reading.
-Dimndbangr
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440 of 492 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great King Book, November 10, 2010
I admit, I'm a fan of SK, but that doesn't stop me from NOT liking one of his books if I find it uninteresting. There have been a few-- like Rose Madder, Insomnia and Bag of Bones-- that I just didn't like and couldn't finish reading. Not that they're bad books, just not to my tastes. FULL DARK, NO STARS is one Stephen King book I'm putting in my great list. It was absolutely enthralling and very, very frightening. I'm not real big on bloated books that are more filler than sizzle, but the short novels in this book are lean and mean. I highly recommend this book.
****************
Now, as far as all the Kindle owners complaining about the price... back in the day, before the convenience of ebook readers and the wonder of having your reading collection all in one 4 ounce e-ink device, if someone could not afford a book they wanted to read, they went to the library and checked it out. They didn't protest in front of the bookstore. They didn't disparage a writer's reputation. They bought it used at a second-hand book shop, waited to find it at a yard sale or borrowed it from someone who is more affluent.
But back in the day, people had a little more pride, and they didn't think they should get everything for free, or next to free, just because they wanted it. Have a little dignity, people! Stop yapping like you think you're the star of your own little reality TV show. If you can't afford it, wait for the price to drop.
The review section is for book reviews, not for pricing complaints.
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