The Dark Half By Stephen King : Book Review ( Aug 18 2020)

 

The Dark Half By Stephen King : Book Review (Aug 18 2020)

The Dark Half" is blockbuster Stephen King, start to finish. This book typifies the late eighties/early nineties horror that finds fans even today.

One of the best things about this book is how King beautifully describes the demons that writers (and those of any creative pursuit) come up against regularly. The struggles and madness that Thad Beaumont gets caught up in was all i could think about for the past few days as i made my way through this.

Plot wise this is breathtaking. Thad Beaumont a published writer with reasonable success sometimes writes under the penname of George Stark. The series he writes as Stark are a lot more violent but sell like hotcake. A reporter finds they are the same person and Thad decides to stop using the Stark name (He even holds a mock funeral for a magazine). Now, this being a King novel there is of course a crazy twist as George Stark actually comes to "life" and wreaks havoc in Beaumont's life. A cop gets involved in the case and like us slowly begins to uncover the truth.

The only point i felt was a downer was the ending which did not do justice to such a great book.

There are quite a few violent scenes but remember this is retro horror so most of us are used to reading a lot more disturbing scenes than this now.

Some parts of the book take place in King's fictional and magical town of Castle Rock (which is now a decent series on Netflix as well).

Well worth a read (it's the second time i read it)

Bag Of Bones by Stephen King: Book Review

Bag Of Bones by Stephen King: Book Review 

(Reviewed During Covid - Aug 24 2020)

The best thing about "Bag of Bones" is the number of threads King is able to carry in parallel which makes for a very engrossing read. 500 + pages just zipped by in 3 days.

The book begins with Mike Noonan, a reasonably successful writer losing his wife to a brain aneurysm that destroys his world. The way King writes about this loss for the first 100 odd pages is touching and again truly shows why he is so much more than a "horror" writer.

Then there is the writing process and publishing plus agent network that again he describes beautifully. No one (in my opinion) writes about writers and the process like this guy does. (Check his book "On Writing").

Eventually the loss is too much for Noonan to bear and he finally hits the dreaded "writers block". This prompts him to move to his lakeside house delightfully named 'Sara Laughs' which is where the plot actually begins.

Beneath its multiple layers 'Bag of Bones' is an old school ghost story (at times with major Victorian vibes). In the end all the threads tie up pretty well and like many of his books do, leaves you with a small trace of hope. And in times such as these that is perhaps what we need.

Crime And Punishment: Alternate Cover

Alternate Cover

   

Crime And Punishment: Alternate Cover

        My first post and what better way to start off than with one of my favorite authors. "Crime And Punishment" is an intense and relentless study on the human psyche. I chose this pivotal moment in the book when Rodion Raskolnikov crosses the point of no return and murders his landlady with an axe. Dostoevsky traverses the depth of the human soul and leaves us spellbound and mesmerized with his writing. Will be revisiting this book soon!