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/lit/ - Literature

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1374363 No.1374363 [Reply] [Original]

I just finished reading Pet Sematary, and something occurred to me.

Stephen King sure likes to use that literary device where the character talks to himself sarcastically in his head and brings up other stuff he said before only kind of in context.

"Hey ho, let's go."

He's done this in The Shining and Misery too. So I thought I'd start a thread where we discuss the things he does in every one of his books.

-Ancient Evil that's only vaguely explained
-Child Abuse
-Main Character that Talks in Their Head A Lot
-The Bad Guy Just Sorta Defeats Itself

Also a Stephen King / Pet Sematary general thread

>> No.1374368

Cool start
Boring middle section
ENDING FUCK YEAH THAT WAS AWESOME

>> No.1374371

>>1374363
When you explain it like that, his books don't sound all that awful. I really should read one of his books these days, but for better or worse I will probably never get around to it.

>> No.1374376

>>1374368

More like:
Cool start
FUCKING YEAH MIDDLE PART IS BEST PART
HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING WAS AWFUL

>> No.1374378

>>1374371
Get out.

>> No.1374389

>>1374376
That's the impression I got from Pet Sematary. I mean, yeah, the ending was intense, but you could see all of it coming.

Guess what? Gage comes back and is evil! Big shocker!

But I found the beginning and middle to be the best parts of it. Especially when he first goes to the burial ground and when Jud tells stories about it.

>> No.1374393

>>1374378
I read his wiki page and thought he sounded like a cool guy.

>> No.1374394

Pet Sematary has a special place in my heart. My first King book and still my favorite.

Also, King's got a hell of an ear for the inner-monologue sections.

>> No.1374395

I know everyone will call me a pussy but when I first read the going-into-the-swamp bits they genuinely creeped me out

personally I thought the scariest bit was the lead-up to that zombie boy who was killed in WW2 or whatever.

>> No.1374405

>>1374395
If you're a pussy, I'm a pussy.

And really, I found the WW2 zombie to be a helluva lot creepier than Gage was at the end.

>Captcha: Interest Plober

>> No.1374411

>>1374395
Thats not being a pussy, that is called the mastery of Steven King. You see, King doesn't aspire to appeal to the snobby literary crowd. He does with words what those people can only dream about doing. He winds you up with his books until you feel genuine tension and evokes several emotions in you. Read under the Dome, it will knock you on your ass. By the end of the book you fucking hate the main protagonist and want to see all kinds of bad things happen to him.

>> No.1374413

>>1374376
Wasn't that how the entire Dark Tower series was? Cool books starting out, awesome books in the middle, and then a big middle finger for the last couple.

>> No.1374415

>>1374411
>Antagonist

I herped.

>> No.1374422

>>1374411
>King doesn't aspire to appeal to the snobby literary crowd

Taco meat came out my nose.

>> No.1374424

Stephen King writes popcorn fiction. No shit every one of his stories is similar.

I still like him though because he's at least honest about that fact.