Needful Things is the 'last Castle Rock story' because EVERYTHING EXPLODES. But, it starts out with familiar setting of Castle Rock, with a new shop opening called 'Needful Things'. The shop has the greatest desires of each individual heart, for a relatively cheap... fiscal price. And an incredibly expensive different price, as well. Pretty soon chaos erupts and blah blah blah. Look, it's good!
First: There's a story Stephen King wrote that could be considered the introduction to this called 'The Sun Dog', which was the very first Stephen King thing I read after finishing this the first time. I don't remember the anthology it was in. (Four Past Midnight, maybe?)
Very early in the book, a character named Brian refers to some famous face as a 'stud-muffin'. HAHA. I'm sorry, it was too funny not to mention.
The dead baby (trust me, you'll get this if you read the book) is named Kelton. I--I was wondering where that name came from when I named a character in a story of mine that. I--I forgot. Jeez. That is one thing you don't want a name to be associated with... (Which is unfortunate, because it is a really cool name.)
If I recall, in the book that The Secret Window was based on, Thad often heard or thought he saw sparrows right before his alter ego or whatever it was (it's been two or three years since I've read it, so cut me some slack) would appear. Alan appears to occasionally view sparrows when anxiety about his dead wife overtakes him, and Entragian (or just Tak in general, I guess) seems to have a thing about birds: "My mind is full of blackbirds", or something like that because I haven't found my copy of Desperation yet. (pout) Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, birds recur a lot. Maybe they're Stephen King's version of favored symbolism? If that's the case, it's the kind of symbolism that doesn't suck, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Just sayin', is all.
You're probably wondering about the title, I guess. At one point a junky goes out to this (almost) abandoned shack, and someone (cough, Mr Gaunt, cough cough) has spray-painted it onto the wall. High five, Stephen King. For some reason, before I read this, I never thought, well, anyone else was a fan of HP Lovecraft (everyone knows Cthulhu the Internet sensation, but what about his creator? Poor Lovecraft) but it makes sense. Sooo because he actually knows who HP Lovecraft is and enough to make a reference to his lesser-known creation.... high five!?
"'I'm afraid I've got some bad news about your double-murder.' 'Oh, so all at once it's my double murder.'" I'm pretty sure I died laughing at this. Can't you just hear Alan Pangborn getting all haughty about that? Like a girl on a soap opera? Hehe.
Stephen King also seems to have a fixation on Simple Simon, too. I've read a few where Simple Simon is mentioned, the only other times that stands alone really is in this story... I think it's in Four Past Midnight as well... There's like this librarian, who's really this larval entity that feeds off children--I'm pretty sure that story was the reason why I got rid of that book. At one point they find the larval she-beast as what she really is, still looking somewhat human, but altogether inhuman, with these wizened wrinkles in her face that are somehow only 2-D and a proboscis. Ick. But Simple Simon is in there too, and like the reaction Alan has to the poster of him in Needful Things, whoever it is in that story sees it and is absolutely terrified. Huh. Curious.
Ah, the one sentence in this book that I absolutely hate: "State police cars and news vehicles were thrown end over end through the air like Corgi toys". For some reason, this really annoys me, and I'm not entirely sure why--maybe it feels to personal to me. Like, he's the omnipotent narrator, but he's suddenly being personal and you're aware that you're not getting the story from an omnipotent narrator, it's Stephen King. Or maybe that's just me. (In case you didn't know, he's referring to a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, a kind of dog. My favorite kind, actually. Cowboy Bebop fans, it's the kind of dog Ein is. As of the writing of Everything's Eventual, he still had one--there's a picture of him and it in the back flap of the hardcover copy of Desperation.) But whatever it is, it just really bothers me.
The first time I read the ending with Alan Pangborn and such I absolutely hated it. However, every time I reread it (I think this #3) I like it more. It grows on you.
Okay, so I didn't really do much deep review and react to this, but cut me some slack, here. The book is good, and it's more than a cheap thrill. It's kind of like a mystery, except where you basically know the answers beforehand (unless this is your first Stephen King book, and even then, you'll probably pick it up pretty quickly). Dramatic irony! Delicious! (It's what killed Romeo and Juliet!) It looks large and threatening but it's about 500 pages shorter than It and reads about 500 times faster. It's gory, but not as nasty as Desperation, not by a long shot. Of course, it's got some awkwardly sexual moments, but again, not as bad as the scene in the junkyard in It. I wouldn't really call it horror or a thriller, either. It's not really scary, and I wasn't terrified after reading it. ('Salem's Lot, anyone?)
Anyways, over the past four days I also finished Everything's Eventual, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Invisible Monsters, and I've begun to reread The Dharma Bums. But, since I've just come back from Maine (from right next door to Bangor, actually) I feel it appropriate to respond to Everything's Eventual now and save the other two for tomorrow or something.
Everything's Eventual is a collection of fourteen of Stephen King's short...er stories. I quite enjoy it, and you can tell. My softcover Stephen King books always look like they've had the crap beaten out of them, and this is definitely the worst of the lot. Though soft covers bother me, the fact that it's only $7.99 is quite an amazing deal. (While in Maine I came upon a new copy in a bookstore and almost died--I forgot my copy had ever looked quite so not like a car ran over it.) I mean, the hardcover is probably like... $26? Damn. Anyways. Shall we continue?
Autopsy Room Four: The first story. It's half based off an old Hitchcock show and half King's life. It turns on the simple panic, and inadvertently makes you hate The Rolling Stones a little. It's a good one to read, but it's hardly meaty. One thing I wonder is that a note at the end, King mentions he dated Katie Arlen for four months from November 94-February 95. Uh... Wasn't he married?
The Man in the Black Suit: Favorite. Most def, my favorite. The ambiguous (kind of) ending scares me. Basically, an old man is recounting a memory of his early childhood, hardly yet ten or so, and it's a normal day of fishing for him... Until he meets the Devil in forest. Okay, I made it sound melodramatic, but it gives me the shivers. I think makes my skin crawl is more accurate actually, especially if you have a mind like me and it runs away before you can stop it at the end. In the note afterwards King says 'Young Goodman Brown' by Nathaniel Hawthorne is his favorite of Hawthorne's, and he wrote this story as a homage to it. THIS IS WAY BETTER! 'Young Goodman Brown' could have been amazing, but Hawthorne ended with the 'it was just a dream' ending. Screw you, Hawthorne.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: : ( That is the best way to sum up my reaction. It makes me sad. Which is no doubt what King intended. On a side note, I would like to try and find those graffiti websites... (Of course, I spent the entire trip mentally noting graffiti I saw)
The Death of Jack Hamilton: Effk this story. You lose, Stephen King, you stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!
In the Deathroom: It's not really my style at all, but I can't see any faults. A guy gets the crap interrogated out of him.
The Little Sisters of Eluria: Again, it's not really my style--I never really got interested enough in the Dark Tower series to bother with it, but because it's a sort of prelude to the series, I even knew what was going on, which was nice. I enjoyed reading it, and although it didn't spark an interest in the rest of the series, I can dig it. In the intro, King mentions The Talisman, a book of his which I guess semi-intertwines with that series as well. (Should I really be surprised?) That was a pretty good book.
Everything's Eventual: Awesome, awesome, awesome! (Fun fact: Sankofite is someone's user name on Xanga! Really! Google it!) This one is a bait-and-switch, or whatever the proper english term would be. You spent 2/3s of the story smiling and nodding with the main character, because of course you bond with your narrator and then you gt slapped. Oh, oh right! You're killing people! Boy is my face red. Anyways:
There's a reference to the 'shining' in this one! Well, I think it is. And, according to Wikipedia, there's a Dark Tower reference.
LT's Theory of Pets: I didn't really get this one the first few times through, but when I read it and it finally hit me I sat down and cried. Not a heavy cry, but you know, an oh god! sort of deal. That slaps you in the face at the end, too. I can imagine not many people being fond of this one, but I thought it was pretty okay.
The Road Virus Heads North: This is a story that scares me, too. I avoid reading this one before I walk Dante for the night, if possible. Man. Man. It's good, it's scary good, and this is the one you want to tell if you want to give someone the shivers. And while I'm in my creepy basement with the garage door I'd rather not think about it thank you. I'd say you weaker-stomached folk may want to avoid it, but scary is different for different people. But don't say I didn't warn you.
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe: The maitre d makes me think of the crazy chef in Ctrl-Alt-Del (the webcomic) so I find it hard to be scared of him. The soon to be ex husband makes me nervous--at the end, you just know there's going to be an unpretty sequel which only your imagination can carry away, if your mind is like mine and runs away with it at first ambiguous chance.
I don't get the 'snooti' joke. Someone please explain?
Oh god, just seeing that end typed out makes me nervous. You just know what'll happen next.
Oh, and you should be warned: This is the violent and gory one of the book. Very much so.
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French: This is good, but it makes you want to claw your scalp off. Not only because of the freaky imagery, but because it's so repetitive (and I mean that in a good way, if you can believe that) and the very way it's designed just drives you nuts.
1408: I didn't see this movie, and I can't imagine how well this movie could possibly be. Does it have the same unsettling nature? I guess it would rely more on shocks and freaky stuff like that. Hmm, Joe gave it a 7/10. One of these days I'll get around to watching it, then, I guess, but not in this millenia. Well, I read a brief overview of the movie and I'm already hating the changes, haha.
But! I digress: It's a top here. It's also a mindeff in textual form, and some lines have stayed in my head and will pop up unexpectedly and give me the cold sweats. For example, today, when we crossed back into CT the line "My brother was actually eaten by wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike" popped into my head. Yikes. Stephen King's got a penchant for writing crazy people, definitely.
(Then again, maybe I will see the movie. Cusack in a Hawaiin shirt! Yes.)
Riding the Bullet: "Fun is fun and done is done." Maybe the best thing ever to take from a Stephen King story.
This is your basic campfire story. (I think King actually describes it as that in the intro) But, I'm sure you've heard the scary story of a man running into a ghoulie or ghostie or long-legged beastie and having to pretend everything's normal or else he gets scarfed. Or something worse. In this case, it's a dead man picking up a hitchhiker. (Trust me, I didn't ruin anything.) I liked this one because it actually has... well, at the risk of sounding like the loser 40-year-old english teacher who you know will never get married because she's such a damned loser... a 'message'. Or, at least, something worth taking away. I'm not sure if 'tender' is the best way to describe it, maybe 'deep', or something. But altogether, it really has a different flavor, and I like it.
The very last page, those bottommost two paragraphs (if you have the softcover, who knows what it's like in the hardcover) is the best example of that.... Oh, hell. If you read it, don't complain to me about a spoiler.
"'Why did you even bother? What was the goddamn point?' Still no answer, and why would there be? You wait in line, that's all. You wait in line beneath the moon and make your wishes by its infected light. You wait in line and listen to them screaming--they pay to be terrified, and on the Bullet they always get their money's worth. Maybe when it's your turn you ride; maybe you run. Either way it comes to the same, I think. There ought to be more to it, but there's really not--fun is fun and done is done. Take your button and get out of here."
It's better in the book.
Luckey Quarter: This story always makes me feel bad for hotel/motel cleaning ladies. Of course, in Maine, it was practically the exact same, down to the card's contents. You know, except for names and area and stuff, but the main things. So, I stuck an extra five in the card along with the two Jenna's mom stuck in. I don't know if that comes out to a good tip, but I hope so. Anyways. The wistful sad and dead end feeling--fantasy vs. reality... well. I don't know. It's another story that's not really meaty, but enjoyable.
Man, fun fact! This is my third day adding to this post! (Really!)
Fun Fact 2: We stopped in Salem on the way up and walked into an awesome bookstore. Observe:
There's another picture too... I don't know how to rotate pictures on blogger, but enjoy it either way:
Hey, if you look closely there's a copy of Desperation! (Now I'm just being mocked here...)
Actually, you probably can't see it on so small a print. But still. They actually had a copy of The Regulators there, which is 'Richard Bachmann's' partner to Desperation. It's the only time I've ever seen the copy in my life, and I'm kicking myself for not getting it. But at the same time, look at all those books stacked up. Both copies were stacked under other Stephen King hardcovers. You know... It. Dreamcatcher. 'Salem's Lot (Crap, I should've bought that too. Dammit). Rose Madder. What I'm trying to say, if I had been fool enough to go after either copies, even the one that was only under four books, everyone would have died. Which is a shame, though I guess I never thought to look under 'Richard Bachmann' anywhere except at the library. (No dice, of course, but there was one that Stephen King had written the forward to, ha-ha.) But, I saw Thinner finally printed under his name, so... (I love the fact that in it the main character thinks his situation is like "something out of a Stephen King novel". That sort of thing just won't be the same.) Actually, my copy is "Stephen King writing as Richard Bachmann" so it must have been printed after Desperation at least, but it looks too... actually, that's still like 13 or so years, right? I guess it makes sense then. (Maybe I should just check the date in the book, huh?) I guess I'll be rereading Thinner next then.... anything to put off reading Wuthering Heights....
As for the store itself, I bought Big Sur there and it has the address of the place on a bookmark tucked inside. I'll give it to you when I finish that, alright? It really is a cool place, just... just be very careful. Tiptoe past the leaning tower of hardcover Stephen King or god help you. Be careful around the Crichton books, too. And James Patterson. Not because there's a stack of his books that will fall and kill you, he just sucks.
Anyways, remember that copy of War and Peace I so love? I finally took pictures: they don't really do the great quality justice, but still.
Look at that! Gorgeous. (That's my KNEE, Emma. Geez.) And, a pretty junky picture of the gold page protectors:
Awesome. It's no original or old copy, but the fact that there was actual work put into this book's quality is nice. I think even if I hated it, I would have kept it, just because.
Whooo. God, I'm glad I finally finished this thing. Now, to The Office!
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