Customer Reviews

The Man in the Black Suit : 4 Dark Tales

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first story "The Man In The Black Suit" tells a dark edged tale laced with grief and centers around a young boy and his fear of losing his Mom. Out fishing one day a boy has a run-in with the devil who attempts to take advantage of his fear. It manages to be creepy, funny, and heartbreaking and the characters come to vivid life. This is a story I'll be rereading before passing along.

Next up is "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" about a suicidal traveling salesman with a quirky habit of collecting little snippets of bathroom graffiti in a notebook. As he contemplates suicide and the trauma it (and the discovery of his odd collection) will have on his wife and young daughter (he has no clue . . .) he reviews his favorites for what may or may not be the last time. This was a downright gloomy story filled with despair and near hopelessness about a lonely life spent on the road. There's an itsy bitsy glimmer of hope at the very end and the emotion felt very real but I wish I hadn't "read" this one in such an intimate format. I can deal with gloominess, darkness and all the grossness you can splatter at me but a suicidal father is something I never, ever wish to read about if I can avoid it.

"The Death of Jack Hamilton" takes a step back in time. It's all about a gang of bank robbers, one who is gravely wounded, running from the law. I'm not a big fan of this sort of thing but King's writing voice managed to hold my attention. His characters are full of color and wit even when facing down death. It's also very gruesome. It's a good thing I have a cast iron stomach because I not so brilliantly insisted upon listening to the bullet removal scene while eating lunch. Ewww. . .

The final story, "You Can Only Say What It Is in French ", features a long-time married couple on their way to their second honeymoon. While traveling, the wife has an odd sense of déjà vu and "sees" some disturbing images. She knows bad things are going to happen to her husband. She's seen his glasses melt right into his face (amongst other gruesome images). She also knows she can prevent `em if she changes but one thing in their routine but, for reasons that are explained later on, isn't compelled to do so. As the story begins she appears to adore her husband, who has given her riches beyond her greatest expectation and seems to have been a decent guy during their time together but as the story progresses it turns out he's done some not-so-nice things along the way. He's also the reason why she feels she is doomed to burn forever in hell if those Christian School teachers of her past have their way. This was entertaining but slightly predictable.

Stephen King is writing novels, and in this case short stories that are supposed to be read in the night to put yourself to sleep with a pair of nightmares as fodder of your soul. But here they are read, and it is different. Quite different indeed because the visual reading we are used to is replaced by hearing the reading of the tale by someone else. You become in other words inactive. And the reading by the actor simplifies the text and reduces it to one possible interpretation, whereas your own reading might open more doors. So you have to follow the reader. At times it even brings up readings you may not have thought of at all. For instance, the fourth tale, « That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French » read by Becky Ann Baker brings up that the déjà vu feeling comes from the fact it is a second honeymoon and a second honeymoon has to be deja vu . Hence the hell or purgatory the text speaks of becomes that second honeymoon and not at all the hell or purgatory that might follow death. The tale becomes then very strong in the idea that you must never take second helpings, especially when the first one had been good. The second one can only be second grade. So try to listen to these tales and you will enjoy them as much as I did but in a quite different way you had enjoyed your own reading of them as printed on paper.

Stephen King's `The Man in the Black Suit' is a collection of 4 short stories from his book `Everything`s Eventual`. As with all Stephen King audio books, these stories are unabridged.

The first story, `The Man in the Black Suit`, tells the tale from an elder man's perspective of his encounter with the devil when he was a young child. The story is well told. At 9 years of age, he sets out on a fishing trip by himself, John Cullum does wonderful voice work in this audio book.

The second story, `All That You Love Will Be Carried Away`, is about a traveling salesman by the name of Alfie. Alfie is a man obsessed with the graffiti he reads in rest area bathroom stalls. Much of the story is poems you would find there. At times it seems as if this work may be Stephen King's excuse to show off his prowess in these toilet poems. The story premise is of a man's world as he contemplates his final thoughts on his upcoming motel room suicide and how it will reflect on him and his loved ones.

The third story, and perhaps the most engaging one, is about John Dillinger and his friend, Jack Hamilton. In `The Death of Jack Hamilton', Dillinger and his gang are on the run from the FBI, when Jack Hamilton is shot and wounded. What follows is the continued adventure of their attempted escape and nurturing of Dillinger's close friend, Jack, in his final days. I am not sure how historically accurate the story is, or whether the author intended it to be, but the story does a good job with it's entertaining details.

The fourth story was one I had trouble with. While the story telling was good, it still disappointed. Carol and Bill are on their way to their second honeymoon. Carol encounters an incredible amount of déjà vu's. It builds up well, and has promise, but it never really goes anywhere.

Overall, these short stories are simply OK. They are well written, and well read, but they lack some of the meat of the story I expect from Stephen King.

First, a few words about each of the four different stories.


"The Man in the Black Suit" - 3 stars

This is a story about a 9-year-old boy who meets the Devil himself. It's a very scary experience for the boy, especially because his older brother died the year before and now the Devil tells him that his mother has just died in the same way.

This is the weakest of the four stories because the Devil, although being scary, doesn't really come across as a serious threat. What kind of second-rate Devil is it that can't even catch a boy who decides to run away from him?

In "Everything's Eventual" Stephen King writes that this story won a prestigious "best short story" award in 1996, much to his surprise. That surprises me too, because in my opinion this story is not that great.


"All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" - 5 stars

This is the shortest story (only 35 minutes) and one of the two best ones in this collection. Alfie Zimmer is a traveling salesman in the American Midwest. He has an amazing hobby and he's tired of life. But if he commits suicide, what will everyone think of his hobby?

What makes this story so good are the very detailed and evocative descriptions of the conditions under which a traveling salesman lives. Alfie's strange hobby is also captivating, as are the descriptions of the landscape and isolated towns in the bleak and barren Midwest.

In "Everything's Eventual" Stephen King admits that Alfie's strange hobby was actually something he did himself!


"The Death of Jack Hamilton" - 4 stars

This is a very unusual story for Stephen King. It tells a "mythical" story about the 1934 death of Jack Hamilton, member of the John Dillinger gang. Homer Van Meter, another gang member, purportedly tells the story.

John Dillinger, Jack Hamilton and Homer Van Meter were all real people. You can find a lot of interesting background information about them by doing an Internet search for John Dillinger.

Despite the fact that these were all ruthless gangsters we find ourselves sympathizing with them. Stephen King's approach to the story is that gangsters are also human beings. The slow death of Jack Hamilton and the efforts of John Dillinger to get him medical help and Dillinger's distress as Jack Hamilton's condition worsens are powerful images.


"That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French" - 5 stars

This is the best story in the collection. Carol was brought up as a strict Catholic, but then, during the first years of her marriage to Bill, she had an abortion. Now she and Bill are supposed to be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and Carol is being subjected to a horrendous punishment for what she did.

What makes the story fascinating is that it is not God who is punishing Carol. No, it is Carol, under the influence of her Catholic upbringing, who has prescribed her own punishment. And this punishment Carol is inflicting on herself is much worse than a benevolent God would come up with, even assuming that God considers what Carol did to be wrong.


In summary, two very good stories, one good one, and one that's just OK.

The four stories are read by four different professional readers. The total running time is approx. 3 hours 40 minutes, not 4 hours as specified on the packaging.

All four of these stories are included in the book "Everything's Eventual", along with 10 other short stories by Stephen King. If you want to save money or if you dislike audio books then "Everything's Eventual" is a better deal.

Rennie Petersen

bought this one in audio book form and truly enjoy listening to it as I drive to work but I won't listen to it when I'm driving alone at night :-)

These stories were leftover from the book edition of "Everything's Eventual" that didn't make it onto the lengthy audio version. The stories themselves are quite good, but the audio narration isn't the best. "The Man in the Black Suit" refers to Death here, not Walter from the Dark Tower books. Then again, you never quite know with Stephen King.

My suggestion is to buy "Everything's Eventual" and read all of the stories. If you really don't have the time, get the audio version along with this CD. It will take up a good 12-14 hours of driving time!

This intriguing little collection of short stories is fun, but not my favorite of King's work. In the title story of this small collection, a young boy runs into the devil on a fishing trip. Pretty far-fetched, but King has the knack to make it seem real. The three other stories are a little less outrageous and deal with more mundane subjects. As always, the King character development skills are in full bloom here, but the plots of these stories don't have the usual twists and turns, and are more predictable. The narrators are excellent storytellers who add a lot to the interpretation of the stories.

Heard THE MAN IN THE BLACK SUIT, four unabridged short stories
by Stephen King.

Although I've liked some of the movies that have been made
out of King's work, I've never actually read (or listened to) very
much by him until this collection . . . and now, having spent
several hours listening to these tales, I'm not sure I want
to read too much more by this acclaimed author.

The very first story, "The Man in the Black Suit," just didn't
do anything for me . . . its' about a suicidal father, which to begin
with, is not one of my favorite topics . . . overall, it was a gloomy
beginning to what followed.

Only one story kept my attention: "The Death of Jack Hamilton" . . . it
is about John Dillinger and Hamilton, his friend, over the last days
of the latter's life . . . I don't know if things happened exactly
as they are written here, but it didn't really matter . . . I
was entertained from beginning to end.

The other two stories were so-so, at best . . . fortunately, the narration was
not done by King but by a quartet of professional actors: Becky Ann
Bakers, John Cullum, Peter Gerety and Arliss Howard . . . they
all were just fine.

I'm not sure how this work passed by me. Four classic King
tales with numerous Dark Tower allusions, this is a must have
for all Stephen King fans. Its audio only, but the narration
is excellent. Sorry, no Frank Muller, but the reading is of
great talent.

Someone help me out, when were these stories written? Are they
new, or recycled previously published as in Everythings Eventual.

Excellent Service.
The product is in excellent condition. I am sure that I will
enjoy it much. Delivery was in a very timely manner.
Thank you so much,
Dee