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/lit/ - Literature

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10104894 No.10104894 [Reply] [Original]

I have never read a book by King, but he is always trashed on here so I didn't think I was missing out on much.
I saw the IT movie in the cinemas and it intruiged me enough to borrow the book from the library.

I gotta say, this is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. I get that it's not strictly 'literary', but this is honestly too good to put down or turn my nose up at.

Why does King get so much hate? I don't think he ever tries to push a 'literary' image.

>> No.10104898

King knows what he is, that's why he gets a pass.

>> No.10104899

>>10104894
Because he decided to put a sex scene in his book. This is a christian board, we dont take kindly to heretics

>> No.10104903

King is great, but It is disappointing. Bretty sure, as en English teacher, he was pushing a literary image, complete with patched jacket elbows. But yes, he doesn't pretend to be God tier Lit, if that's your meaning.

>> No.10104910

>I don't think he ever tries to push a 'literary' image.
King is pretty full of himself but no, he doesn't. I'd imagine thousands of other authors don't either, but they're still awful.

King has some interesting stories, but they're juvenile to a painful degree. I read a few when I was younger. Now I'm an adult, and even though I am far from well read, I struggle to sit through his tripe. His use of language is horrid, and often his books are really meandering.

There's no way I could sit through one thousand pages of IT when I've got genuine classics sitting unread, just like everyone else has.

>> No.10104917

>>10104894
>Why does King get so much hate?
People like to shit on popular authors so they can feel superior. King is great.

>> No.10104930
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10104930

>>10104910
>he hasn't read the long walk.

>> No.10104938

>>10104899
This is the same board where everyone reads Lolita, right?

>> No.10104994

>>10104910
>muh arbitrary "classics to read" argument

>> No.10105126

>>10104938
the same board that trashes nabokov

>> No.10105542
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10105542

> reading Stephen King on the train
> sitting at the table
> table enough to sit four people
> two other people sitting at the same table
> don't know them
> one of them pulls out a large wooden checkerboard from his bag, looks heavy
> he's setting up a game
> can't help but look
> it's checkers
> say under my breath " child's play" and go back to rubbing my chin hmm
> 12 minutes later
> getting to an exciting moment in The Dark Tower
> the guy who's playing black with checkers reaches the opposite side of the board
> he smiles from ear to ear a shit-eating grin
> "Stephen King me...!"
> everyone on the train looks at me
> they point and laugh
> the guy "kings" the checkers game by building a large tower out of black checkers pieces

>> No.10105676

>>10105542
The right response is to laugh with them and maybe launch into a short conversation about Stephen King etc.
But no muh autism.

>> No.10105755

>>10104894
King is amazing for entertainment and produces some decent horror and twists. He is also very easy to read and combine that with entertaining and suspenseful writing and you get a popular, mainstream writer. And usually boards like lit and mu are full of arrogant hipsters that hate on everything simple and common so he gets hate around here. King won't blow your mind or teach you anything, but he's amazing for days when you're tired or have more important business on your mind and just want to get comfy and read some cheap fun.

>> No.10105775

>>10104894
King's novels are hugely entertaining, and he writes well. /lit/ hates him because he's not pretentious.

That being said, "It" was one of my lesser favorites of his.

>> No.10106369

>>10104910
His books, especially more recent ones, are definitely meandering. This aligns with his belief in not writing plot-driven books, which I respect, but I think he really needs an editor that isn't afraid to do his job. Sometimes the story gets beyond him and should be ruthlessly edited, but I can see why an editor doesn't want to kill the golden goose.

I wouldn't consider his use of language to be horrid at all, he clearly is conscious of his craft . He is popular hence easily accessible for most people, but this doesn't mean he is a poor writer.

People hate on him because he is popular, simple as that. Now that there is an even greater left/right divide, people dislike him because he is an unabashed liberal.

His short story collections are all pretty solid and a good place to start if you haven't read a lot of Stephen King.

>> No.10107840

>>10104894
King is cool in the sense that he's not a writer's writer which frankly, like, almost all writers are. He shits all over the weird insular nonsense that is really common in reading communities. He's a cure for a blight and I think kind of paved the way for more writers like him which I think will eventually overturn a lot of the wankier bullshit