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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Torch Has Been Thrown, August 23, 2005
Owen King the son of mega-selling phenomenon Stephen King shines with this collection. His first foray into the publishing world. The writing is like a refreshened Stephen King, like the second coming. At times macabre but mostly very poignant. The novella, "We're All In This Together," is a mostly bittersweet story. There is comedy mixed in. Mr. King captures the climate of the nation at the time period it takes place. Everyone thinks they are right. But we're all in it together and we all deal with the same problems, young or old. "Frozen Animals" is a short strange, narrative about a dentist. I believe the title implies the chracters in this story are animals. Read the story and I think you will believe the same. "Wonders" is a snapshot, a picture post-card of an era long gone. The thoughts and views of the characters are where the nation was at that time. Baseball seems to be a running theme with both King writers. This story is a macabre and sad semi-love story. "Snake," a story of a young man obsessed with crime novels is kind of strange. He comes from a broken home and believes his father lies about everything. It is poignant and sort of ends abruptly. The final story "My Second Wife" is like a bad acid trip. Very weird story of a road trip to aquire a death row inmates car. Strange, strange, strange. All and all each narrative is crafted with surgical precision. A worthy beginning to what I hope will be a thriving career.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful career start, September 27, 2005
Owen King is off and running with his new book, "We're All in This Together", a collection of stories nicely put together by the author. If this book is any indication, the author has a luster-filled career ahead of him. Beginning with the "novella", after which King's book is named, he takes us through four more engrossing (and occasionally "grossing"!) short stories. His finest offering is the novella itself, where politics mix with paint balls and odd family connections. King is terrifically descriptive and his attention to detail is engaging. The state of Maine figures prominently throughout the book, as one would understand, given his own background. The stories which follow are mostly fine but sometimes a little uneven. "My Second Wife", which concludes the book, is the richest and the warmest. "Frozen Animals" and "Snake" are filled with humor. Only "Wonders" kept me from giving this book five stars. Owen King has produced a book that leaves me wanting to read his next one. "We're All in This Together" is well worth the read for its scope, depth and pace. I highly recommend it.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an exceptional collection from a formidable new talent, July 19, 2005
Owen King's debut collection, We're All in This Together, reveals an expert craftsman at work, a brilliant storyteller whose creations never strike a false note and never fail to surprise. The eponymous novella, set in the wake of the fateful 2000 presidential election, is told in the pitch-perfect voice of an adolescent coming uneasily of age in Maine. Carefully balancing pathos and humor, King tells of the dissolution and attempted restoration of the young narrator's family on the one hand and the attenuated but ultimately salvageable ideals of the community and its most high-minded exponents on the other. In the four short stories that follow, which take in everything from a baseball team representing Coney Island in fullest, oddest flower to an itinerant dentist whose snowbound trek to treat a patient requires as much mettle as the ghastly extraction he must perform, King's creative vision and his perfect empathy for the characters whose fallibilities and grace render their stories worth the telling are on full display. We're All in This Together is a remarkable collection which rewards with every turn of the page and resounds with an emotional authenticity able to make the most callous heart or the most deadened tooth ache.
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