First off, the setting was well developed. King paints a strong image of the little town of Tarker's Mills. As someone who grew up in a small town, King nails the atmosphere extremely well. Everyone knows everyone and if something dark happens, the town is buzzing with gossip.The characters are more or less an extension of this setting. They are less deeply unique individuals so much as a way to further grow the setting. The way the people interact and their personalities are to bring life to the town, not for the reader to develop relationships with these characters. While this helped to give the reader a sense of the place, it also makes for an attached audience. The fate of the characters doesn't feel as emotional as they are grazed over and little time is spent with them. To some degree, this helps with King's appeal to a broader audience that doesn't want to have too close a connection to characters that will be brutally murdered.
The way the chapters are segmented into each month's full moon helps to make the plot quick. All
The foreshadowing is super obvious. Again, this adds to that King appeal to a broad audience as even those who don't regularly read horror have a strong idea of what will happen. The Reverend's dream straight out labels him as the beast. The abusive husband meets a gruesome death. The arrogant dim-witted cop gets it. The reader knows what they are in for. Stephan King provides the predictable plot well. If you are hoping for some big twist or surprises they aren't here, though this is an older work so it may have seemed fresher when it was first published.
The themes of the story are soft. There is some introspection from the reverend regarding God and his will. The disabled boy rises to be the hero of the town despite his physical limitations. This was a simple show, so King doesn't dig too deep. For a light read, that's not a bad thing per say. I personally wished there had been more to this story.
Lastly, the illustrations were both a blessing and a curse. The illustrations added a nice visual and gave the short novella a page count boost. I would have been happy with the images if they had been better placed. At numerous places there was a full page illustration of the murder that was described in the following pages. So the reader already knows what is going to happen. In fact, it would have been possible to skip the rest of the month after those key images as the reader already gets what happens next. This was frustrating. Why keep reading? The last full page depicts the hero child shooting the werewolf long before the creature even arrives. Ending ruined, not that it was a twist one. The edition I have is from 1985, so newer editions have have remedied this problem.
Overall, this is a quick easy read that you don't have to think too much about. It's a good book for those who don't read much horror or just want something light to skim over. I wouldn't say it was a bad read, but I wouldn't say it was a great one either.
Vanessa, you saw in my blog that I read this a little different than you did, so pardon me for disagreeing a bit. I actually found the first half better than the second. Since I was reading them more as short stories vice a full novella, I wasn't turned off by the lack of over-arching themes.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, after July, I found it getting dull. I think that has something to do with it becoming just another werewolf story.
But here's where I do agree with you: the characters are secondary to the setting. This is very much a story about small town with a werewolf, not a town DEALING with a werewolf.
Great insight on the foreshadowing, too. After the pastor's dream, I felt it was so obvious that he was the best that there has to be a twist coming. I mean, you can't force feed more than that.
I disagree with Chad. I hate the beginning. I can only enjoy this story after July when I feel like it turns into a town dealing with a werewolf. Before July I had too many questions about how everyone else was dealing with it and why no one seemed to think about the wolf until moments before their death.
ReplyDeleteI also agree the foreshadowing was a bit obvious. Especially with the way King tries to hide the truth from us in the POV characters. "She knew him, passed him every day" "The Customer ate in the resturant once a week" then say his damn name.
I love this review! You mentioned several things I didnt list in mine. the foreshadowing for one. As I read the story, I did get an idea for what was going to happen next. But most of all, those images! They reminded me of the person sitting behind you in the movies tell what would happen next. OMG, why did King put the images before the actual event. I remember looking at them and thinking, "okay, so now I know what's going to happen."
ReplyDeleteOverall, not one of my favorites by King, but I will keep it for later years as the grandkids get older. I think for me, that's where it's best placed.
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI am such a King fan, that when I read anything negative about him, I am shocked because I didn't see any of it. Though, when you explain your points, you are right. There is a lot of foreshadowing and I would argue that he does this a lot. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you start liking a character and he ends a chapter with something like "but she would only feel cold for another twenty minutes and then there would be nothing." (That was the worst imitation of King ever but you see what I am saying. So he does ruin the surprise from time to time.
In his blog post, Aaron was saying how he just gets so into a story sometimes he doesn't see these things, and I plead the same when it comes to King. So thank you for pointing out the weaknesses in this short story. I regrettably agree.