I'm wondering why King's Four Past Midnight gets sold on individual story at a time -- while Full Dark No Stars gets sold as one big book. Does it matter? Sure. It's the difference in 1 audible credit verses 4. Or, 1 month's payment verses FOUR. Different Seasons is also broken up.
Know why I like Four Past Midnight? I do think the stories are pretty good. I also think it is because I read them at a time when reading Stephen King was a little dangerous -- a little naughty. I was a teen and it was pretty cool to read Stephen King. I was pretty new to the world of Stephen King, having just come off The Stand and the first few Dark Tower novels, so I had a sense that anything could happen in a SK novel. King novels did things that would never even come up in the books our High School teachers handed out. I tried to endure Cat's Cradle, but really didn't know what Mr. Vonnegut was talking about. King I did understand.
So my excitement about this book my be as simple as emotional association; I read it when I was happy to be reading anything by Mr. King. Some of the elements of the stories did disappoint me; but I still liked them.
I LOVE NOVELLAS!
I was first introduced to the wonderful world of Novella's with John Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down. It was a great story -- and it was short! As a kid in school, I was a big fan of the entire idea of a short novel. The only problem was, the teachers wanted us to read those short novels faster. The short novel was far better than the chopped novel -- parts of novels all cut up in "reader" textbooks. Who wants to read the Readers Digest version of Great Expectations?
Novella's are often written in a big burst of energy. They are just short novels that feel like the author is exploding all over the page! It seems like you can sometimes feel the writers raw energy as he works, pressing an idea forward as if he is about to get run over by a train.
Animal Farm has been inflicted on numerous school children -- and for good reason! Orwell tells his story with that raw energy of an idea being hammered out. The story is a parable of government and power; how those promising to help the underdog quickly use power to get special privileges. Animal Farm is more than a Social Studies lesson, it's brilliant writing. Farm Animals plot the overthrow of a farmer; I thought it was a great story!
My favorite King novella is THE MIST. Again, you can feel King's energy flowing as he writes. He is driven by a story that has to get out, and quick. In fact, he doesn't even have time to end it! So it's not processed through deeply -- it's just gutted out. But sometimes what we find when a writer just goes with a story is delightful. I kind of like those paperback editions of The Mist that appeared in bookstores to promote the movie. Something about seeing it all by itself -- kinda naked -- was great. It didn't need all those other stories crowding around, it was ready to stand on its own two feet!
My favorite novella's:
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (But no more movies, please)
- Nightfall, Isaac Asmov
- The Time Machine, HG Wells
- The Moon Is Down, John Steinbeck
- Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
- Animal Farm, George Orwell
- The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
Really, story length should not matter. Often I don't know what a book is! Is Joyland a novel or a novella? I dunno. I guess you could do a word count, but in the end, does it really matter? Nope.
For me, the game changer with King was my sitting down to watch the It miniseries, and the first scene between Beverly and Al Marsh comes on.
ReplyDeleteWhen that scene happened was when fiction, whether in book or film, grew up for me. In a way, it was like this kids show I used to watch, Are you Afraid of the Dark, amped up to life or death levels.
That's when I began to realize a lot of what fiction can do.
ChrisC
P.S. another Dome night, tonight!
So what did you think of The Library Policeman?
ReplyDeleteSo far, the Library policeman is quite slow. Seems to be telling story that could have taken 3 pages -- but rambles on and on. But forcing myself to keep reading, trusting that King gets better.
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