I took a little break from Stephen King to read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Battle between the old gods and the new gods with the main character, Shadow, stuck in the middle. My husband and I had opposite reactions to this book. We both agree it’s well written and researched. I liked the story. He did not. I guess we can’t agree all the time. Oh and it’s also a good comp for my god book that is currently just a thought, but I plan to work on after the Arn stories have wormed their way out of my head.
I started reading Night Shift a couple of days ago. It’s a collection of Stephen King’s early short stories. Most of the stories were published before Carrie in different magazines. I say this because I’m only three stories in and each one has a reference or a similar concept to a later book.
Jerusalem’s Lot, for example, is the first story and the tie in to ‘Salem’s Lot is obvious from the name alone. Indeed, the story is a prequel to ‘Salem’s Lot set in the 1800s. The story comes complete with nosferatu and in a very Stephen King fashion (someone said this is taken from H.P. Lovecraft, but since I haven’t delved into his work, I have no idea) there is a monster under a town (reminiscent of IT and Insomnia).
The next story, Graveyard Shift, also has a monster underground along with workplace angst. The workers manage to do what everyone wants to do if they have a bad boss and feed him to the monster.
Finally, in Night Surf, a group of teenagers are in the middle of the final days of the Captain Trips infection. The same infection killing everyone in the beginning of The Stand.
As I mentioned, most of the stories were written before Carrie was published. The hints at future stories make me wonder at the planning King was doing for his future works. Did the short stories come first and then he built from those? Was he already working on the novels and wrote the short stories as chapters or alongside the main stories? Or was there a master plan for his work and these were some of the off shoots? I have no idea, but I wouldn’t mind asking him if I got the chance. I imagine he’s been asked before.
Anyway, I felt compelled to write this because I was seeing all these connections to future King books. I’ll get back to it and see how the foreshadowing continues.
Ok first off, a trigger warning. This book is about a school shooter.
That said, I’m a little torn about how to review this book. The topic is so much more in our face now than when the book was written. We’ve all been affected by the epidemic of mass shootings in the US. My 11-year-old son has lockdown drills and we’re all more wary when we’re out in public. I’m wary of saying something that can be misconstrued. Not that I have any controversial opinions about school shootings. They’re bad and they’re an indicator of a mental health crisis in our country. I don’t think many people would disagree with those two thoughts. The more nuanced arguments people make may or may not play a role, but the mental health crisis is probably the most important. How we fix that is much harder to figure out.
Rage was written in 1977 by Richard Bachman. A few years later, Bachman was outed as a pseudonym of Stephen King. In the Introduction to the Bachman compilation book, King gives several reasons for writing under a pseudonym, my favorite being that he wanted to see how well books would sell without his name attached. In terms of books, Rage did ok, but in terms of Stephen King books, even at this early point in his career, it flopped. Later, when everyone knew who Bachman was, the sales went up significantly. Funny enough, since I knew it was Stephen King, I could tell within a few pages that he wrote the book. The character development, the setting, it was all very King. He noted people were asking him if he was Bachman almost as soon as the book hit the shelves. Even so early in his career, his style stood out.
The other reason for publishing under a pseudonym and probably the one that made the ultimate decision to publish as such was that the publishers themselves believed there were too many (?) King books coming out at that time. I’m not certain this was the reason, but I’ve seen this mentioned a few times now. Whatever the reason, it makes for an interesting history of the few Bachman books we have.
In Rage, a teenage boy is expelled from his school for attacking a teacher and proceeds to burn his locker, shoot his teacher, take his class hostage, and shoot another teacher (administrator?). The remainder of the book bounces between the events in and around the classroom and the stories about the past told by the main character and the other students. The main character doesn’t kill any of his classmates and is shot by the police, ending the standoff. The book is being told by the main character after the shooting and his recovery while he’s in a mental institution.
Rage was taken out of print in 1998 after numerous incidents, both shootings and hostage-takings, that resembled the book in one way or another. King, feeling disconcerted that his work may have influenced such actions, asked his publisher to remove the book from print. They complied and now, the book is only available used and I’ve only found it (at a reasonable price) in the compilation book with three other Bachman novels that are still in press. Incidentally, the first printing of Rage is for sale at Abebooks.com for a mere $15,000. Oh and it’s signed by Stephen King.
So, why was it written in the first place? King has said the book drew upon his own frustrations and pains in high school. He knew they were reflective of mental illness, as well. I couldn’t relate as well to the main character’s specific issues, but I could empathize. His father treated him poorly and no one was in tune with his mental state. He had issues with other students and teachers. He had an embarrassing encounter with a girl in the book, but he seemed to get along with the girls for the most part. I had the impression the main character was a Holden Caulfield type, the Catcher in the Rye version. Did you know Salinger wrote multiple versions of Holden Caufield in his career and they weren’t always the same angry kid? His anger revolved around his father and the school administrators. Ultimately, Holden didn’t shoot up his school or anything so dramatic, but his angst left an impression on many high school students because we all have frustrations, anxiety, anger, etc. in high school. Holden captures that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a template for Charlie, King’s shooter.
Do I feel like Rage caused school shootings? No, of course not. There are so many images in our society a troubled youth can draw from for inspiration. Rage may have come early relative to the timeline of school shootings in the US and maybe someone was inspired by it, but I can’t fault it. I remember Marilyn Manson being blamed for Columbine.
Personally, my son has been understanding the meaning of songs more recently and gave me a shocked look when he finally understood the lyrics of Pumped Up Kicks. I told him the purpose of the song, and we discussed the importance of talking about our feelings and getting help. Because of this, I think books like Rage and the music I mentioned can be important in educating our kids about their own metal health.
At the end of all this, I’d say the book was pretty decent. It’s short at 131 pages. I found myself feeling sympathy for all the students. Each one had some traumatic experience that made them understand Charlie. That could also be my biggest complaint about the book. The reaction to the initial shooting and being held hostage was unrealistic to me with the exception of one student. Ted was the popular, jock-type and consistently seemed to be looking for a way to get out of the situation. The other students played along with Charlie. They told their own stories. One even left the classroom to use the restroom and came back. The situation seemed more than a little unlikely.
On to The Shining. It’s the first big, well-known, popular King book I’ve never read. I’ve also never seen the movie, so all new for me.
So, I love vampire stories. Dracula, Anne Rice, Lost Boys, Fright Night, Blade, the Buffy-verse, even Twilight (though it gets a little rough when I start thinking about the relationship dynamics going on there). So many others. Serious and silly, I enjoy them.
Salem’s Lot is quintessential vampire. They can’t go out during the day. Holy water and crosses hurt them if the wielder believes in them. They can’t enter a home without permission and hypnotize their victims to get inside. They can mist through things and their reflections are not solid if present at all. A stake to the heart is the preferred method to kill them.
When people break these vampire “rules”, the story is harder to enjoy. I just think the author is trying to fix holes in their plot. Twilight is the worst of the rule breakers. Blade also breaks the rule but has a much better plot line explaining why Blade can go out in the daylight.
Salem’s Lot is a small town in Maine. Writer Ben Mears has returned to the Lot to work on a book about the town’s most notorious murder/suicide and the home it happened in, Marsten House. He planned to rent the house and write his book there, but he learned the home had been purchased. The new owners seemed to be moving in around the time Ben arrived in town.
A small boy disappears one night in the woods and his older brother is stricken with illness and can’t remember what happened to them. Eventually the older brother dies. Others come down with a similar illness and die as well.
Ben and his group of friends suspect the new owners of Marsten House are vampires and come up with a plan to confront them. One-by-one, Ben’s friends are picked off until it is just him and a boy from town. They manage to kill the head vampire and then flee town.
My biggest complaint about this book is how fast Ben and his friends decide a vampire is running around, almost like it was an everyday problem. Sure, they get concrete confirmation soon enough, but the initial jump to that conclusion was too soon.
Otherwise, I think this is a great book. The character development is spot on, which I expect from Stephen King. He can give a random, short-lived character life in a way that few other authors manage.
Next up, I’m reading Rage by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King). King made the pseudonym because back in the 1970s, a writer couldn’t publish more than one book per year (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bachman). King is known for being prolific to the extent that I’ve heard some people say he has a team of writers working for him to churn out his books. Seems unlikely to me, but you never know for sure. Either way, I don’t really care. I still enjoy his books.
I found there was a hurdle to reading everything King, out-of-print. Rage is the first book I’ve come to in King’s list that is OOP. There was a collection of the Bachman books (image above), but that is also OOP. I found an old used copy for sale online finally so I’ll be able to keep reading everything in order.
Well, I have to give up on watching the movies and shows if I’m ever going to make progress on my little experiment. I made it through the first Carrie movie but haven’t found the time to watch the other three. It’s still a little surprising that there are 4 total Carrie movies.
For the rest of this, there will be spoilers. I figure most people who get even this far will have an idea of what happens in Carrie so probably no issues.
Carrie is a great short(ish) horror story. Stephen King’s first published novel, he famously threw the unfinished manuscript in the trash in frustration that the story wasn’t forming well. His wife, Tabitha, fished it out of the bin (trash can, wastepaper basket, take your pick. I’ve been seeing a lot of Tiktoks about the differences between American English and British English recently) and read the pages. She pressed him to continue the book and helped with the menstruation parts so he could get them right. Carrie was then rejected 30 times before being accepted by a publisher and published in 1974. The novel is a mix of narratives by an omniscient narrator and various scientists and writers in Carrie’s world writing articles to attempt an explanation of Carrie and the events on prom night.
My take on Carrie:
High school sucks. People are mean. Even nice people will be mean when the group is in mean mode. Carrie was the perfect victim of high school meanness and had a very public moment of weakness to feed the mean.
I relate in a small way to Sue Snell, the nice girl who is mean to Carrie. I remember joining in on teasing once in a while in middle and high school. I never tried to be mean, but I was mean. I would and still do feel bad for that. The victims of the meanness were, like Carrie, the oddballs. They didn’t behave like the rest of us. Of course, I’m one to talk there. I didn’t behave like the rest of them either, but I was close enough to whatever normal was to avoid most attacks.
Sue was different though. She was popular and could make a heroic effort to atone for her meanness. And, by all appearances, she would have been successful if not for the truly mean, mean girl, Chris. Sue’s sincere gesture to have her popular boyfriend, Tommy, take Carrie to the prom and give Carrie a chance to fit in was embraced by her peers enough that Carrie began to feel accepted before her and their doom literally fell on her head.
When the blood fell, I preferred King’s description to the movie. In the movie, the kids all just laughed at Carrie, making them seem to still fall into the mean category. In the book, the first laugh was a shocked response to Carrie’s shocked expression. Everyone else was shocked. The first laugh wasn’t born of any malice, but surprise. Unfortunately, that first laugh started a chain reaction that was part shock and part lack of knowing what was going on and part following the crowd. People are mean.
The best and most awful part of this story is how it still resonates today. Even with all the anti-bullying rhetoric over the years, kids still pick on each other relentlessly. There is little tolerance for behavior that stands out as odd and the mean kids will find pleasure picking on those who don’t fit the mold well enough. Parents of the mean kids aren’t helpful. They either don’t believe their angels would act that way or they support it. Have to be tough to survive mentality.
As for Carrie’s supernatural abilities, the book helped build that into her background in a way that was missing in the movie. Knowing that she’s always had this ability but hadn’t learned to use it was more satisfying than simply developing the power when she was made fun of once.
Also in the book, Carrie’s mother mentions that a demon came to them once and was sent away. The description reminded me of Randall Flagg (a King character that represents evil first in The Stand and then in later works as well) and now Google tells me I’m not the only one to notice that similarity. Some even suggest that Flagg is Carrie’s father. Certainly, a possibility in the world of Stephen King that would account for Carrie’s ability, but the book seemed to put a divide between Ralph White and the demon. Great tie in if the character is the same regardless of Carrie’s parentage.
All-in-all, I like the book. It’s a little rougher than King’s later work, but that’s expected for a new novelist. Even one who was destined to be one of the most successful of all time. It’s also a quick read for those who want a short read with lots of breaks to pause at.
Next book is Salem’s Lot. Vampires yay!
Summary of Carrie:
A girl with some innate, buried psychokinetic abilities grows up in a repressed, ultra-religious house with a widowed mother. Her abilities have shown up once or twice during her childhood with the biggest event happening during abuse by her mother after she observed a neighbor sunbathing in a bikini. Carrie made stone rain down on her house. Her mother didn’t seem to connect the event with Carrie, or at least she blew off the inclination to think the girl was responsible.
Fast forward, and Carrie is sixteen. She starts her period in the gym locker room shower. All the girls tease her and throw feminine products at her until the gym teacher intervenes. She shoos away the girls and gets Carrie cleaned up. She and the principal decide to send Carrie home.
Back home, her mother berates her for sinning and bringing on the period. Here’s the first part where I’m cheering Carrie on. Up to now, she’s been a passive victim and now she asks her mother why she never taught Carrie about menstruation. Her mother becomes indignant and forces Carrie into a closet she uses for punishment. Carrie begins to realize she can control things with her mind.
In the meantime, the gym teacher punishes the bad behavior of the girls by giving them a week’s detention with the threat of losing their prom tickets if they do not show up. One girl, Chris, doesn’t show up and isn’t allowed to go to prom. She’s the daughter of a prominent lawyer in town and her father threatens the principal with a lawsuit. The principal holds his ground. Chris and her bad boy boyfriend come up with a plan to get back at Carrie at the prom.
Another girl, Sue, from the gym class feels bad about the way Carrie was treated and wants to try to help Carrie come out of her shell and make friends. Sue asks her popular boyfriend to ask Carrie to the prom. Carrie refuses the invitation at first but is pressured into saying yes. Her mother hates the idea, convinced Carrie will sin and fornicate, but Carrie scares her with her powers. Carrie sews her own dress for the dance and is excited to be accepted by her peers.
At the prom, Carrie and her date are on the ballot for prom king and queen and win. After they’ve been crowned on the stage with everyone watching, Chris dumps a bucket of pig’s blood over Carrie’s head. The kids start to laugh, and Carrie begins to use her psychokinetic abilities to trap the kids and chaperones in the gym. A fire starts and most of the prom attendees die. Carrie continues walking through the town causing destruction and mayhem as she makes her way home. At home, she kills her mother, but is injured in the process. Then she hunts down Chris and kills her and her boyfriend before dying herself.
References:
King, S. (2020). On writing: A memoir of the craft. Hodder.
First a book update: I’ve finished the book and started looking for an agent or publisher. I’m about 22 agent rejections in, which isn’t terrible yet. There are hundreds of agents and attract the right one is tough to say the least.
About a month ago, I was contemplating submitting directly to publishers and one popped up that I was excited to submit to. I put together the package and sent it in. The gatekeeper (that’s what I call him in my head, he’s ever wearing a robe and holding a staff in my imagination) responded quickly saying the book sounded exciting. So now the review committee for the publisher is reading my book to decide if they want to move forward with it.
I’m really excited, but in a very tempered kind of way. They might decide it isn’t up their alley and send me packing. Either way, Daughter of Arn is a little closer to seeing the light of day and I appreciate their efforts.
So about that thing I’m gonna do…I haven’t been writing nearly as much as I should recently because of annoying things distracting me (when I am writing, I’m working on the sequel to Daughter of Arn), but I have been reading a lot. So much so that I’m currently 13 books over my Goodreads goal for the year and I’ll probably add one or two more. I still have most of December.
The other day I had a thought of something I’d like to try and accomplish, reading-wise. I’m a fan of Stephen King’s work. My favorite book is The Stand and I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read by him. I feel like I’ve read a bunch of his work, but when I look at his bibliography, I’ve only scratched the surface. There is so much. 65 novels and novellas and over 200 short stories.
I’m going to attempt to read them all in order (except the short stories because I haven’t found a list that includes them yet; I’ll still read them). So I don’t go completely mad, I’ll intersperse other books with them and I might skip Fairy Tale since I read it in the last year. I’ll also watch the movies and shows that go along with it all. Then I’ll finish each with a post here. It’s a long-haul project, but the reader in me is excited to do it.
Anyway, I’m starting with Carrie. I finished reading it already, but haven’t watched the movies. I saw the 1976 version with Sissy Spacek back in high school, but there are 2 remakes and a sequel to watch. After that is Salem’s Lot.
S. E. Baran 