Before reading: Our third short story collection. I'm intrigued. I went back and read my other reviews of King's short stories and I think I enjoy the stories individually, I just get tired reading a bunch of them together. However, as always, we are going in with an open mind. I will say I really like the title, I think it is cool and alluring. I also have not heard of any of these stories before so that's both exciting but also worrisome. You've been here before and know how this thing goes, I'll go through and discuss each story individually as I go and then do a summary when I finish reading them all.
After reading: Well, you can read on ahead to see how I felt about each individual story. Did this collection turn me on to short stories? No. No it did not. I do want to preface my individual reviews by saying that they do come off being a little negative. Honestly, it is me and the short story format. None of these sucked, none of them were bad, I just didn't love them. Now, if you were a fan of short stories I would absolutely recommend this to you. I can definitely see how someone who enjoys this format would really appreciate these stories, I'm just not that person. What I do really enjoy, however, are the introduction and notes that King includes with these short stories. I'm a complete and total nerd because those are my favorite parts. I really enjoy hearing from King about where he got inspiration and why he wrote the stories. I love learning about how they came to be and how they changed, even if I didn't particularly like the story itself. One funny takeaway from the introduction was that King mentioned that so far he has had a short story collection every 7 years and he believed that this would be the last one for a good long while. I checked ahead and sure enough, the next collection came out seven years later. One positive that I noticed in this collection, when compared to the others, was that there were much more stories written from a woman's perspective. I think that's about all I have to say about the collection, overall. So here are my thoughts on each story:
Dolan's Cadillac: It was fine. I can't say it wasn't well written because it was. It had a good idea and it wasn't necessarily boring but it wasn't my cup of tea. This collection is over 800 pages and when you start off with a long story about an angry guy, a car, and a lot of sand...it doesn't exactly draw me in. I'm not going to judge the entirety of this book by the first story but I think you should start with more of a punch. I didn't hate it by any means but I definitely didn't love it. It was very "middle of the road"...pun intended.
The End of the Whole Mess: I liked this one. I didn't love it by any means but I still enjoyed it. It reminded me of Survivor Type and for all the reasons I liked Survivor Type, I liked this one. I love when King gets creative with the writing. I find that to be a lot of fun and we get to see it more in short story format. I also get a kick out of the stories he writes ~in the future~ ...which is really the past now. It is interesting to see what he gets right and wrong and what is happening when he's writing that influences how he sees the future. In this one, you could tell it was during the AIDS pandemic because of how relevant and rampant it seemed to be in 2003 still. It was a fun little read and was a nice length. Had it gone on any longer it might have been pushing it.
Suffer the Little Children: This one was okay. It was very very short and I tried to like it. At first, I thought I was going to like it a lot but then it went a little wonky. The climax was very predictable and then the end was a little but lackluster. However, it was so short that I would read it again so I can't really fault it too much.
The Night Flier: I found this one a little boring. I have been sick for a week and hadn't been up to reading so this was the first story I had read in a while and I was a little bummed that I was so ready to get it over with. It started pretty slow and was a little dull. It did pick up toward the middle and I liked the supernatural aspect but it just fell a little short. Also, this stems off of The Dead Zone, which if you can recall... I'm a horrible King fan and didn't love that one, either.
Popsy: Wasn't expecting that one to go with the previous one. It was short and fun but at the same time a little rushed and didn't make a whole lot of sense in relations to The Night Flier. If you don't think about it too hard then it was enjoyable.
They Grow on You: And somehow we made it back to Castle Rock, which is fine by me. I did enjoy this story, the Castle Rock setting and characters made it familiar and welcoming. It was also very beautifully written, some of the best writing in this collection so far. I also really like the haunted house-type trope and think King is very good at that genre. The ending was...odd. It definitely could've been better. So far, though, it has been my personal favorite.
Chattery Teeth: This one was better than most. It was well written and entertaining. I think it was a good length, as well. Stephen King is infamous for making random items be scary and this was a classic. I do think it was a little...out there, to the point that it took away any sort of horror and made it cheesy.
Dedication: This one was good. I enjoyed reading it and even though it was a little longer, it read very quickly. It was a little icky with the racism and weird sexual stuff, besides that it was a good little story.
The Moving Finger: I felt the same about this one as I did Chattery Teeth. It was entertaining and a quick read, it was also very well written. However, you can only stand reading about a scary finger for so long.
Sneakers: I liked this one, I even almost really liked it. It had potential and was a fun read. However, the ending fell flat. It's a short story so it can't be too flushed out but it ended pretty abruptly and was a little bit of a let down.
You Know They Got a Hell of a Band: I really liked the premise of this one, I love anything with Twilight Zone vibes. It had potential to be scary but ended up just being silly. It is what it is and if I look at it as a silly little story, it was enjoyable and a quick, fun read. I wish it had been scarier, though.
Home Delivery: This story gave us our first mention of Little Tall Island which is another one of King's made-up Maine towns. I'm assuming this story is on a separate beam or just is not canonically connected to the other Little Tall Island stories because, and I could be wrong, I don't believe the other stories are set in a post-apocalyptic zombie scenario? I did enjoy this story, it could have even been a little longer. It was your average zombie story but it was unique in how the zombies came to be. I found this to be one of the more enjoyable stories so far but it was still just okay.
Rainy Season: There seems to be a theme here of a story having potential to be really creepy and interesting and then there is some silly element that just ruins it. I did overall like this one. It reminded me of "The Lottery" right at the beginning and then a character said that it reminded him of "The Lottery." It was so close to being really good, so close.
My Pretty Pony: This is the only one that I have heard of before. Like The Mist this one was released on its own and is listed separately in any list of King's books, which is interesting because it is only around twenty pages. It was a nice story. It was the first in this collection to not be in the horror genre. I almost think this one would grow on you the more you read it. For what it's worth, I did enjoy it.
Sorry, Right Number: First and foremost, terrible title. Second, we got a My Pretty Pony reference that you would only understand had you read it, which you probably did if you're reading this book, but still. This one was fun because it was in screenplay format. I am a fan of screenplays and plays so that was a pleasant surprise. It was also an interesting concept. The twist was fun and overall it was an enjoyable read.
The Ten O'Clock People: Now this one had a good title. This was a longer story so it was more fleshed out, which definitely helps me, personally, with the short story format. Overall, it was pretty good. It was definitely one of the better ones so far. However, I wish it was...less about cigarettes? It was a little bit of an overkill, very...in your face. Other than that, it was a fine read.
Crouch End: This was the creepy town story that I wanted several of the other ones to be. I'm glad we finally got there. This was a pretty good story, definitely could've been more fleshed out and longer but the mystery of it all does work. Also, I believe this is our first King story set outside of the United States so that's fun.
The House on Maple Street: I enjoyed this one. Like most of the short stories, it was a little silly. However, it was good enough and had strong characters so I am able to forgive the silliness. It kind of reminded me of Hill House with the siblings and that is always a good thing. Definitely one of my favorites in this collection.
The Fifth Quarter: This one was fine. There wasn't anything wrong about it and it was entertaining enough. Personally, I'm not a fan of King's more action-y stories. It reminded me of the first story in this collection. It was okay, just not my cup of tea.
The Doctor's Case: Sad to report that I had to force myself to finish this one. It was a Sherlock Holmes story told from Watson's perspective. If I wanted to read a Sherlock Holmes story, I would've sought one out. It was entertaining and would have made a good episode of TV...I just didn't feel like reading it.
Umney's Last Case: I really liked this one. It was very Stranger Than Fiction. I found it to be enjoyable and I liked the kind of twist ending that it had. Overall, this one was definitely one of the best or possibly the best story in the collection.
Head Down: I'm not reading this one. It is a long nonfiction essay about baseball. I own it and perhaps one day I'll come back and read it but for now...I just don't feel like it.
Brooklyn August: I enjoy the poems. This one was alright, there isn't much to say about it.
The Beggar and the Diamond: This surprise final story was a retelling of a parable. It was told well and was quite nice.
Alrighty! 800 something pages later...sadly, I do think this was my least favorite of the three short story collections I have read. That doesn't mean it was bad, it just wasn't for me. Next up is Dolores Claiborne, let's go!
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