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/lit/ - Literature

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1517978 No.1517978 [Reply] [Original]

What does /lit/ think of Stephen King, and his Dark Tower books in particular?

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

>> No.1517991

They're pretty good but the latter ones really declined in quality.

>> No.1517992

I love Stephen King. I really enjoy his style, and how it feels almost like stream of consciousness at times, but it's so well honed to flesh out the characters and set the mood it's almost astounding

>> No.1517995
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1517995

>>1517991

Which one was your favorite? I loved The Wastelands.

>> No.1517997

>>1517995

On my first readthrough? The Wastelands. Blaine is a pain and that is the truth

In retrospect I think Wizard and Glass is the best.

>> No.1518001

>>1517992
Exactly! He gets you inside the characters' minds!

>> No.1518007
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1518007

>>1517997
Wizard and glass was the best written, but the plot of Wastelands, or Wolves of the Calla...

>> No.1518008

I love them.

>> No.1518015

Masturbation bound in book form.

It's fun when you're 16, like George RR Martin is. But the real major turn-ons occur in your early 20s. Once you read Henry Miller, Camus, John Fante, Lautreamont, Baudelaire, Artaud, Rimbaud, you won't look back.

>> No.1518017

Hell, I even liked reading "The Mangler", even if a story about a killer laundry folding machine was pretty stupid. He's one of my favorite contemporary authors

>> No.1518019 [SPOILER] 
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1518019

I want those fuckin' doors...

>> No.1518021

>>1518007

I didn't really care for Wolves of the Calla, but I like the stories its based on

>> No.1518038

What about his other works, like The Stand and IT?

>> No.1518048

>>1518038

I read IT when I was 11.

I think it's what fucked me up for the rest of my life.

>> No.1518054

1-4 - one of the best fantasy books ever
5-7 - one of the worst fantasy books evers

>> No.1518148

I've owned The Gunslinger for a long time now, but I've never been able to get through it. Around what part does it really pick up...?

>> No.1518323

>>1518048

>THIS

I read Bag of Bones and Gerald's Game when I was twelve and had access to google. Not a good combination.

>> No.1518332

The first book was really strange and poetic and mysterious. The second book got a lot more personal and familiar and brought in some interesting characters, which continued in the third book. The fourth book, my favorite, was kind of an origin story for the main character.

When I read the fifth book I was like "wait...this is the plot to Seven Samurai. It's like he just watched the movie and then stole the plot and put his characters in it. Well, hopefully the next book is better."

I barely even remember books 6 and 7, only that I didn't enjoy reading them but continued because I loved the first four, and then the way he ends the series is pretty much just a big "fuck you" to everybody who reads his books.

>> No.1518338

The Dark Tower books are bad. The first one is entirely made up of filler, and they get progressively worse from there.

>> No.1518340

>>1518148

Around the start of book 2.

The Gunslinger is the worst of the first four.

>> No.1518509

>>1518048

IT + 4chan + reading the news == screwed up, desensitized kid == me

>> No.1518511

>>1518038
>>1518038

>The Stand

one of the greatest fiction novels of all time. Its just too good.

also read his The Long walk, Christine, The Dead Zone..

and more

he really really goes deep into the american psyche... his work everything subliminal about america. the soul of usa...

>> No.1518522

>>1518511
>>1518511

The Stand and Insomnia are his two best books, IMHO.

>> No.1518524

>>1518522

insomnia sucked. kill thouself

>> No.1518529

>>1518524
WHAT.

How did insomnia suck?

>> No.1518545

>>1518529

>The novel deals with Ralph Roberts, a retired widower who begins to suffer from insomnia. As the condition worsens, he begins to see things that are invisible and intangible to others: colorful manifestations of life-force surrounding people (auras), and diminutive white-coated beings he calls "little bald doctors", based on their appearance. Roberts perceives other planes of reality and their influence upon the "real" world. He finds that his sweetheart, (later his second wife) Lois Chasse, is also a sufferer. They eventually discover that their insomnia has in fact been induced by the two little bald doctors to enable them to defeat the agents of the Crimson King.


tl;dr BORING SHIT

nobody wants to read a novel about an old man losing his mind due to age...

>> No.1518547

>>1518529

Trooled

>> No.1518562

>losing his mind due to age
>losing

>Crimson King

If you'd actually read any of the dark tower books, you'd know that he isn't losing his mind; he's being enlightened to the work of the Crimson King.

>> No.1518566

>>1518562
....

>> No.1518581

>The Stand

I fucking hated Nadine.

>> No.1518584

>>1518581
>>1518581

That's 'cause she was a little bitch and a tease, to boot.

>> No.1518689

Imo,

4 > 5 > 7 > 3 > 2 > 1 > 6

>> No.1518716

Tried getting into it twice. Failed miserably.

It's strange since I really liked IT and a lot of his short stories.

>> No.1518938

and the hero "falls in love" with a crippled, mentally ill negress. loool that's "art" i guess!!

The disgusting perversion of a white man finding a negress attractive makes this book unreadable.

>> No.1519044

>>1518938
Okay, good point. But that's the only problem with it!

>> No.1519053
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1519053

I loved the series. After the 4th book it seems a little rushed, but still great over-all.

>> No.1519068

Only read the first book. It was only interesting in parts and I had to force myself to finish it.

>> No.1519077

The first quarter of The Stand was pretty much amazing
Then all of a sudden, typical Stephen King bullshit

>> No.1519088

>>1519044
Well yes, but it's enough of a problem that a sane person cannot read beyond it's not like there isn't a million other good books which don't push lunatic liberalism.

>> No.1519451

>>1519088
Your grammar is broken.

>> No.1519473

>>1519451
i don't care about grammar

>> No.1519477

>>1519053
My tradition is whenever I see that picture to inform future readers that 7 of 9 on that pic die.

>> No.1519478

Anyone else feel that books 5 to 7 were just self-insert fanfiction?

>> No.1519479

>>1519478
Nope. It was that from the word go.

>> No.1519482

I really enjoyed the first four books or lets say loved them, they also were pretty much the first novels I have ever read, so maybe this makes it not really possible to rate them.
But the last three ones were fucking bad. I honestly hated how King did ruin this great series...