There is some dated language and imagery in here that I don’t think King would use now (his modern books don’t ping anything for me) and that I don’t think I noticed last time, but overall this book is still great.
This is the only Stephen King book (so far) that I’ve re-read. Eventually, once I finish up all his extant work (which could take me a while!) I will do a chronological re-read of all his books. That will be a project, for sure. But something about this one called to me over the summer (maybe it was the pretty copy I impulse bought from Bookshop.org) and I decided to re-read it. Then I made my IRL book club re-read it. Not all of them loved it! But I still did, even if I’m a little bit more of a sensitive reader than I was six years ago. SPOILERS I get what he was going for using the rape imagery twice, but it really wasn’t necessary, and he’s a good enough writer he could have figured out another way to convey Paul’s sense of being violated. I also thought the Misery novel he writes, though wonderfully melodramatic and kitchsy, and especially out of context of reading an entire novel, was unnecessarily focused on Africa as an exotic place, and it was uncomfortable reading those bits through more of a post-colonial lens END SPOILERS. But, it was the 80s, and I think that King wouldn’t necessarily write those bits the same now. So, I’ve dropped it down half a star to acknowledge.
Anyway, neither of those things really marred my enjoyment of the overall experience of reading this, mostly because the story he’s telling feels so primal, and also because Annie as an antagonist is so wonderfully stretchy in terms of metaphor. King wrote her as a bogeyman to metaphorically work through some issues he had with drug and alcohol addiction, but she also works on a literal level (he is one of the most famous authors in the world and he has said in interviews that he has had many stalkers). I also love how complicated she is. Even as she does these terrible things, and displays clear mental health issues that have not been treated, she still reads as a three-dimensional human to me, and she is frequently smart and right in her conversations with Paul. I remain impressed that she never descends into caricature.
I picked this as my Gateway book for BINGO because I still think it’s a great place to start with Stephen King. It showcases his storytelling ability, his work with characters, and his penchant for writing about writing. Plus, it’s a fast read and nowhere near his longest book.
[4.5 stars]
CBR BINGO: Gateway (plus two more BINGOs: Pandemic / They She He / Self Care / Gateway / Rep & Cityscape / Mythic / Gateway / Sportsball / Travel)
