Here’s to the only book I read this September, because I’m not considering “The Grownup” by Gillian Flynn as a novel read this month. I’m already lagging way behind on my reading goal but it’s fine. I’ve come to realize that I seriously don’t have time to read anymore nowadays. It’s annoying when I choose a bad novel because I stop at some point and feel that a huge amount of my time has been wasted. I’m really glad that this collection of short stories made me feel fulfilled. I enjoyed most of the stories, and I really loved some of them. This is the thing with Stephen King, he can make me enjoy things that I normally don’t (short stories), but there’s one thing that he didn’t change, and that’s my dislike of poetry. I ended up skipping “The Bone Church” entirely because I really don’t like reading poetry, at all. Ironic how I used to write a couple of them when I was younger, but these days I try my best to avoid it. I know plenty of people enjoy the genre, and that’s good for you. It’s just unfortunate that I can’t seem to grasp the essence of poetry itself nowadays. I’m hoping this would change in the future though.
Just like the last collection of short stories I’ve read, I’m not going to do an in depth review of every story. I’m just going to talk about the three stories that I enjoyed a lot, considering I gave this a 4-star rating.
Ur
I know how used up this idea is to this date, but King can make anything feel new and entertaining. He added in a new element known as the revolution to ebooks. It’s a topic that’s been fought over a lot in the internet. There should be no clear winner considering it all boils down to personal preference. I myself love the real thing, but I don’t hate my iPad especially when I read in public. It’s way easier because my bag weighs a lot lighter with just my iPad Mini rather than a heavy ass hardback. King incorporated a recent issue to a post-apocalyptic theme. It’s not just the topic that made me enjoy this a lot, but also the characters. They did seem genuine about every emotion they exude. It’s obviously not forced, and it’s written the best way possible. The pacing is perfect, and the climax happens just at the right time.
The Dune
The beauty of a collection of short stories is that you have no idea what each story is about. In the case of The Dune, it was a terrific surprise for me. This is one of the many fast reads of this collection. I remember reading this around 1 am and even though I was already sleepy and needed to wake up in about 5 hours, I still finished this, and I was wide awake after reading it. It’s a simple story but the execution is remarkable. It’s one of those slap at the face ending, but it’s a good slap. It’s a slap for not seeing what happens in the end.
Afterlife
This is also one of those stories that will be stuck with you for a very long time. It’s an amazing concept of what could happen in the afterlife. I’m quite scared that Stevie King is talking about the afterlife more nowadays, but it’s fine. I’m just taking it in as added substance to this work. I want to go full on in depth reviewer over this, but it’s a short story. The moment I go berserk mode on this, I will spoil you guys. Just buy the damn book and read this, and comment below if you disagree about it being amazing. I would love to know why, because I see no flaw in this. One of King’s best work to date.
Obits
This is my favorite of all the stories here. It’s everything that makes it amazing. The characters, the plot, the writing, the pacing, everything. The messed up characters makes this short story a lot better than it already is. The main character works as an obituary writer on an infamous website. He doesn’t really enjoy what he does but he doesn’t have much choice considering he studied journalism and doesn’t seem to want to try the bigger online publishing sites. One day he decides to write an obituary of his coworker, who is still alive. He was pissed and tired from everything so out of a whim he decides to write one. What happens next brings nothing but catastrophe in his life.
That’s all I can say about this without spoiling. It’s an amazing piece of work by King, and I can’t believe that this is just a short story. I wanted more after reading it, and quite frankly I still want more right now. This is the one that really stuck by me up to now. I know I won’t find anything as good as this out there in the book world. It’s caused a bit of a book hangover, but just a bit, considering it’s just a short story.
The stories such as Mortality , Premium Harmony , and Drunken Fireworks are also really amazing. I don’t want to do a review of them anymore because where is the joy in the possibility of spoiling, plus I don’t want to prolong a review that needs to be straight to the point to begin with.
I need to note the bad ones though, so beware of these rotten things:
-The Bone Church (I aleady mentioned why)
-Blockade Billy (this is the WORST one in this collection)
-Mister Yummy
4.5/5 stars, Rounded down because some of the stories are forgettable and I did hate three of them. The ones that I mentioned above and did the best “in depth” review of obviously received 5 stars and made me rethink the rounded down decision I made. This is one of King’s latest work, and this just proves that he is still amazing at what he does. All I can say is read the damn book already.
killerscorpion 