/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4881069]

What are /lit/'s unbiased opinions of Stephen King? I picked up The Stand yesterday and also own the first Dark Tower book to read eventually.

[Anonymous No.4881071]

He looks like a lesbian skeleton

[Anonymous No.4881077]

>>4881069

I just finished the 1st Dark Tower book.

It was okay for mass-marketed genre fiction.

[Anonymous No.4881091]

Something makes me suspect of the quality of an author's work when he's written over 50 novels of the same genre

[Anonymous No.4881104]

He gets by on cool ideas alone but his prose is sloppy and he has no sense of brevity.

[Anonymous No.4881112]

>>4881091
Maybe that just tells you he's the master of his craft, and that craft is his genre.

[Anonymous No.4881113]

He is capitalist and entertainment writer. Some of his books are hit and some are miss. He is unremarkable, but will likely be remembered due to his large popularity in America. I'll feel sad when in 100 years people try to pretend his work is "literature"

I'd rather just watch the Twilight Zone.

[Anonymous No.4881117]

A lot of surface movement but little undercurrents.

Still a good read and a good guy.

[Anonymous No.4881121]

>>4881113
Go read Cujo, and tell me it won't be studied in English classes in 50 years. Read the stuff you're talking shit about before you read it.

[Anonymous No.4881126]

His writing is enjoyable if you are not an autist

[Anonymous No.4881197]

>>4881121
Its not that I think he is a bad writer. I think he is a sell out and sets a poor standard for the writing community.

At the end of the day he is in this to make money. He damn well knows some of his work is fucking trash and just filler until he wants to write a big hit. He embraces the machine. Fuck him.

He supports pointless book junkies.

[Anonymous No.4881223]

>>4881091
I wouldn't say they are all of the same genre. I've read maybe a couple dozen books and short stories of his and their is some diversity. He's the only author I read for pure entertainment. I won't say hes much more than that.

[Anonymous No.4881375]

My old English lit teacher said it best: "The greatest thing he ever wrote was On Writing."

[Anonymous No.4881555]

>>4881069
He's hit and miss, but so prolific that his hits number in the dozens.
I don't remember if there's a /lit image listing the good ones from the bad, but the Stand is good, so are It, the shining, Insomniac, Needful Things, Firestarter, Salem's lot, and tommyknockers off the top of my head, The first four Dark Towers are great, the fifth is just okay, and the sixth and seventh are where it gets weird. Opinion varys on whether it just ends weak, or whether it ends terrible. I don't think it was terrible. But whatever your opinion of the ending the series is too good to pass up. Look up online some kind of reading order for the rest of the books that tie in to The Dark Tower Series, You'll want to at least read Salem's Lot, The Stand and The Talisman&Black House (Black House is a sequel to Talisman) there's a recommended reading order but you don't have to stick to it too strictly, Just sort of stop after book four and read around the peripheral books.

Personally, though he has books that are scarier, and books that are more action packed I think the best one he ever wrote was Lisey's Story. One of the great things about him is that he's genre and he knows it, I've never seen him try to masquerade as anything other than an entertainer. Though truth be told he rises up to literary level on some occasions. Something I think he did with Lisey's Story

[Anonymous No.4881578]

The Long Walk, The Body, and Apt Pupil are his best. As far as his recent stuff goes, Joyland was alright.

[Anonymous No.4881600]

>>4881555
Some reason I feel like that's an actual quote from him.

[Anonymous No.4881610]

>>4881555
>tommyknockers
>good
Uhm..

[Anonymous No.4881618]

>>4881069
He's lost his touch, pic related

[Anonymous No.4881643]

>>4881071
/thread

[Anonymous No.4881722]

>>4881610
It's uneven, but I like the character portrayals as the town decays. Certainly not nearly as uneven as something like Duma Key got,

[Anonymous No.4881727]

>unbiased
>opinions

[Anonymous No.4881760]

>>4881600

It is

[Anonymous No.4881766]

I haven't read a book of his since high school, and it's been so long I don't remember what's he's like. I still have a bunch of his books piled up in the basement somewhere, and I'll probably return to him soon. The Shining looks like a good one to check out.

[Anonymous No.4881775]

>4881722
I agree with that. Never found much merit in most of his material post-car-accident, with the exception of Doctor Sleep which I enjoyed.
All I'm saying is if It is a hit, Tommynockers is without a doubt a miss.

[Anonymous No.4881782]

>>4881618
Hated this book. First King novel I ever read.

[Anonymous No.4881788]

I'm not particularly a fan. Not the best writer, not the worst either. His stuff is wildly accessible, down-to-earth, keeps you turning pages, and if you're especially into it, fun. He knows he isn't breaking any ground, but his work ethic and his acquaintance with Hollywood are gonna seal him the same legacy and Bradbury and Lovecraft. Can't really chastise anybody for liking the guy as long as they know what they're in for.

[Anonymous No.4881808]

On Writing is really good, and if you skip all the autobiography stuff is only like 60 pages long

[Anonymous No.4881927]

>>4881775
No, I understand. Tommyknockers isn't one I'd defend as "a work of genius" It's flawed, I just personally like it. But then again I went into it knowing that this is one of the ones he was the most high writing. So I was bracing for it to be a disaster.

[Anonymous No.4881969]

>>4881927
High, drunk and half-insane.
From what I understand Tommyknockers was written during the plunge part of King's cocaine spiral.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/10/the-great-stephen-king-reread-the-tommyknockers

[Anonymous No.4881983]

>>4881113

[Anonymous No.4882009]

>>4881788
Ray Bradbury was one of the greatest writers. I feel as if the reason people berate him is simply because they were not explicative enough in his sententious, metaphor-ridden prose.

[Anonymous No.4882157]

>>4881197

Again, actually read the work before you say things like that. He writes some of the best characterization out there, and each of his novels has an idea he clearly cared about behind it. The idea of his being a hack writer is perpetuated by people jealous of his success who haven't read him.

If you want to actually see what a hack author looks like, check out everything of Dean Koontz from the 90's on except Life Expectancy, and everything John Saul's ever written. You can tell a hack from the way they don't give two shits about the quality of any sentences in their work.

[Anonymous No.4882216]

>>4882157
We define hack differently.

[Anonymous No.4882221]

>>4881069

I've read It, Pet Sematary, On Writing, Misery and Carrie.

He's okay.

Misery was his best.

[Anonymous No.4882227]

I've enjoyed a few of his earlier books (The Shining, The Stand, etc.), but for the most part, it feels like I'm reading the literary version of a B movie. Also, while he has some creative ideas, his endings usually aren't very good and he seems to reuse the same stock characters a lot.

I do like the fact that his books appear to be less formulaic than other writers (Dean R. Koontz, etc.) in his genre. A lot of King's books seem to be stream of consciousness.

[Anonymous No.4882276]

>>4882157

Koontz used to be better before he started shoehorning his religious beliefs into so many of his stories. Also, a lot of his protagonists are these totally unrelatable "goody two-shoes" types and his antagonists are usually some psychopathic atheist scientist. There's usually a heroic dog and maybe an angel worked into the story somehow too.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » No.4882278]

>>4882276
>religious beliefs
Enjoy your ban.

[Anonymous No.4882288]

>>4882278
Who's this butthurt religious person who can't handle that his shitty threads get deleted?

[Anonymous No.4882294]

>>4882288
You forgot your Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

[Anonymous No.4882297]

>>4882157

What do you think of James Herbert?

[Anonymous No.4882301]

He's the Roger Corman of literature.

[Anonymous No.4882322]

He's a better short story writer than he is a novelist, though having said that his early novels like Salem's Lot and The Shining do work well. A lot of his later work would be more fondly remembered if it was in short story format, because it relies too heavily on a single idea.

[Anonymous No.4882331]

I liked "The Talisman." I'm glad that I read "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" first because there were so many references to it. I haven't read the sequel yet though.

[Anonymous No.4882336]

>>4881069
I like his work. The first three Dark Tower books were good.

[Anonymous No.4882354]

everything begins normal enough until it decays into aliens, alternate human species and superpowers. I hate how predictable and without substance it is

[Anonymous No.4882359]

>>4881766
>The Shining looks like a good one to check out.
You'd think so, but no.
If you can remember at all how his books are during a boring part, it's even worse than that.
Try IT or Hearts in Atlantis or one of his short story collections.

[Anonymous No.4882362]

>>4882354
Reads a author in the horror genre. Surprised his work involves supernatural concepts.

[Anonymous No.4882373]

>>4882362
how is horror innately tied to the supernatural? also it would be fine if he worked it in well, but he doesn't at all and it seems more manufactured to continue the story than solid narrative

[Anonymous No.4882400]

I enjoy King, I think he is a talented writer. However, his new stuff is really lackluster. I've read around 25 of his books, my top ten look something like this:

1. The Shining
2. The Stand
3. Different Seasons
4. Salem's Lot
5. Pet Semetery
6. Deadzone
7. It
8. Firestarter
9. Carrie
10. Skeleton Crew

Carrie, Thinner and the Dark Tower series are all worth reading as well.

[Anonymous No.4882402]

>>4882373

Horror has been tied to the supernatural and to the science fiction/fantasy genre for a long time.

[Anonymous No.4882420]

I haven't read much King but 'The Long Walk' holds up really well. I still have vivid dreams based around that novel for some reason.

4mph Garraty... 4mph...

[Anonymous No.4882423]

>>4882402
but it's not necessary for it to function, and you can have horror without. I already said it's the weak way they're incorporated rather than the addition of supernatural elements at all though

I'm surprised there are any diehard king fans, it all seems so trite

[Feminister !!F9QVQ82MjmE No.4882430]

>what's /lit/'s unopinionated opinion of x?

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » No.4882434]

>>4882430
>women
>in charge of being funny
Enjoy your ban.

[Anonymous No.4882900]

Prior to reading any of his books I had him pinned as pleb-tier or worse, books for those who could barely read.

Finally I said to myself "get over your prejudice and actually read some of his shit!"

I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's what I've read (title and year I read it):
"On Writing" 2003
"Pet Sematary" 2008
"Carrie" 2010
"The Stand" 2013
"Green Mile" as occasional installments between other books 2010 - 2014

The Stand was the most fun, great range of characters and scenes and crazy Happenings.

I thought Carrie was really well adapted to film by Brian de Palma. Both the novel and the film are really well done. Unsettling, rather than full-blown horror.

Can't comment on "The Shining" film vs book because I've only seen the film.

[Anonymous No.4882905]

Unbiased opinion:

Deserving of his commercial success because he has consistently written books that people enjoy reading.

Unbiased opinions are a bit dry for my liking.

Slightly biased opinion:

His books are fun to read, the characters are interesting.

[Anonymous No.4883212]

He's pretty pleb, but pleb doesn't mean bad.

[Anonymous No.4883233]

Got given On Writing the other day, have high hopes for it

[Anonymous No.4883237]

>The short story about the guy who builds the sand trap for the guy to fall in with his car so he can bury him alive
>Pretty cool if I remember correctly

[Anonymous No.4883252]

do not read the dark tower series

[Anonymous No.4883293]

>>4881969
I've read he was so coked up writing Cujo he has no memory of writing it

[Anonymous No.4884019]

Currently reading through The Stand and Skeleton Crew. Not bad I suppose. Before them the only King thing I've read was The Long Walk.

[Anonymous No.4884094]

Read the shining for creepy psychological shit, and desperation for some sick twisted shit (under the name Richard Bachman)