Before reading: If you want to know my thoughts on short stories, please refer to my previous posts. I don't have high hopes but I'm not completely put off anymore. Per usual, I will be discussing each individual story and then the collection as a whole.
After reading: Well. That was definitely a short story collection. Here are my thoughts...
Mile 81: This took me forever to get through. And somehow, King had it in him to write yet another evil car story. It was well-written, it had good characters, but it was so boring. It also literally referenced Christine like...we get it.
Premium Harmony: Meh. (I start a lot of these with 'meh' for the record). This one was set in Castle Rock which was fun-ish. This was specifically styled after an author that I am personally unfamiliar with so it didn't really click for me. It was super short but basically pointless. This one also managed to call every woman character 'fat' about a hundred times each.
Batman and Robin have an Altercation: Not bad but nothing special. I enjoyed it more because of the background information that King provided on it. I probably wouldn't have really cared much at all for it without that.
The Dune: This one wasn't bad, it was short enough to be alright. I thought it was going to be just stupid based on the background information, but it really wasn't bad. The end had a nice little twist.
Bad Little Kid: I actually enjoyed this one. The ending was a little lame and predictable but overall I really liked the storytelling.
A Death: Again, nothing special but it wasn't bad. It did what it set out to do and it had a little twist that I didn't see coming.
The Bone Church: Meh. This was a poem, and it wasn't a great poem.
Morality: This was...okay. I found it entertaining but thought it fell a little flat. The main character was unnecessarily crazy. I would also do what she does in this story to make some money...but I wouldn't be a crazy person about it. Is that bad?
Afterlife: Short so not too bad by default. There was nothing profound or new about it.
UR: This is one I was familiar with and was looking forward to reading. I think it is absolutely hilarious that this was made for an Amazon kindle event. I think it would have come off super weird without having that information, though. There was mention of this story in one of the stories in The End of the World as we Know it, so I was a little familiar with the concept. Additionally, this includes Lowmen and Tower talk so, you can't really go wrong. It was really good! Very different from any of the other stories. All of the kindle involvement was kind of cringe but it is what it is. Definitely my favorite from the collection.
Herman Wouk is Still Alive: This one was based off of the story behind the documentary There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane which I thought was pretty cool having seen the doc. Also I had no idea who Herman Wouk was and had to look him up, he was an author if you were wondering. He ended up passing in 2019 at the ripe old age of (almost) 104!! I enjoyed this story.
Under the Weather: This was just sad. It was predictable but still a good read.
Blockade Billy: I believe this is the only standalone from this collection so it was the only other one that I had heard of beforehand. I knew going in that it was about baseball because I have seen the standalone cover, but fun fact, it was inspired by an Atlanta Braves game. King made himself a character in this one which...meh...but his character didn't talk so it wasn't that big of a deal. This was written in a way similar to Dolores Claiborne which I do enjoy. I thought it went on a little too long and got a little too baseball-y, but overall it was a fun read.
Mister Yummy: Meh. Not bad, not good. It was fine.
Tommy: Meh. Another poem. It was at least better than the other one.
The Little Green God of Agony: Meh. It started out really boring, got interesting in the middle, and then ended kind of lame.
That Bus is Another World: This had an interesting concept but it was a little too boring for how short it was.
Obit: It could've been better but it wasn't bad. While it was pretty predictable it did have a little bit of a twist I didn't expect.
Drunken Fireworks: I feel like I had heard of this title before? It was set in Castle Rock with some past characters making an appearance so maybe I've seen it on a list somewhere? Regardless, this was so freaking boring. It was also written similar to Dolores Claiborne.
Summer Thunder: It was fine. I do like an end of the world type of story.
Overall thoughts: Meh. King described this collection as a bazaar that you can go booth to booth and sample different stories. I liked that metaphor a lot and appreciate the creativity. Short stories just aren't my jam. There was one that pretty much sucked and one that was really really good. Besides that they were all just kind of okay. Definitely not as bad (in my opinion, of course) as some of his other short story collections, but also no where near as good as some. I will say there was a lot of Dark Tower references sprinkled throughout, so if you're a DT fan you might enjoy this collection as a whole. If you like short stories, you'd probably enjoy this collection. If you don't...I wouldn't recommend it.
Well now that's over we can get back to...the Bill Hodges trilogy! End of Watch is up next and our third and final Bill Hodges book.
Also...looking ahead and not to jinx anything but...I think this might be the year we catch up, you guys. I can see all of King's books in my sightline. That is both exciting and a little sad.
Comments
Post a Comment