THE MIST JOURNAL #1: Listening To The Mist

I started re-reading The Mist today.  I had  a long drive to Walmart (because when you live in the sticks,  it's a long drive!) and put in an old CD of Frank Muller reading The Mist.  I bought the tapes years ago and had them digitally remastered because they were in terrible shape.  Strange thing, I never listened all the way through.

I can't express how much better the actual unabridged reading of The Mist is to the 3D sound version that is pushed right now.  I don't know exactly what happened with the Muller recording, why it's not available, but it is far superior to a dramatization.  Words have power, and when we dramatize everything we lose something in the transmission.

Muller's narration is actually a little bland compared to the actors studios hire today.  But I like it a lot.  Sometimes over-acting gets in the way of the words as much as dramatizations do.  Muller's words are crisp, well paced and he always gives the right emphasis.  But he doesn't try to become the characters.  He's not an actor, he's a reader.

My wife noted that the way Muller read the chainsaw scene really did sound like a chainsaw -- and he never reduced himself to making artificial sounds.

The novella itself is all the more interesting since I've seen  the movie several times.  The movie really did bring the feel and tone of the book to the screen.

Some quick notes:

1. The story is told in first person. And interesting choice, since I think it probably boxed him in at the end.

2. I feel like I can tell that this was written quickly.  There is a certain energy about the book that is delightful.  From the first lines you can sense that King is excited to tell this story.  Did he stay up late writing this one?  I'll bet he did.

3. David's dream the night of the storm is quite interesting.  I've never seen any discussion about it.

In the dream I could hear the rending crack and splinter of breaking trees as God stamped the woods into the shape of His footsteps. He was circling the lake, coming toward the Bridgton side, toward us, and behind Him everything that had been green turned a bad gray and all the houses and cottages and summer places were bursting into purple-white flame like lightning, and soon the smoke covered everything. The smoke covered everything like a mist." (From The Mist, by Stephen King)

4. The first person narration also gives King the chance to give some ominous narration.  Get these lines:

Steff was standing on the cement path which leads to the vegetable patch at the extreme west end of our property. She had a pair of clippers in one gloved hand and the weeding claw in the other. She had put on her old floppy sunhat, and it cast a band of shadow over her face. I tapped the horn twice, lightly, and she raised the hand holding the clippers in answer. We pulled out. I haven’t seen my wife since then. (THE MIST, by Stephen King)

Couple  of things worth noting here.  One is just the line, "I haven't seen my wife since then" grabs the readers attention.  We now know something really bad is about to happen.  Second, king went to a lot of detail to describe David's wife, only to dismiss her in the same paragraph.

5. I like the way David and his wife pass notes back and forth. Today they would text one another, though the storm would have probably knocked that out.

6. Unlike some child characters, Billy really does come across as a kid.  I love the scenes where his dad keeps letting him have sips of his beer.  Not because I really think this is in anyway a good idea, but it seems real.  It's the kind of detail many writers would avoid.

7.  King makes the reader feel a bit of despair at the loss of Norton's 1960 Thunderbird.  Why is that strange?  Because it never existed!  I mean, the car is real -- but THAT car, Norton's car, never existed.  Yet I felt a bit of pain when I read about the tree falling on it.  I thought, "This is crazy.  I feel sad about a car getting destroyed by a tree -- and neither the car nor the tree ever existed.  This is all just stuff coming from Stephen King's messed up head."

Check out my article,
"Hunting The Mist Unabridged" (talkstephenking.blogspot.com)
"The Mist, Transferring Tapes To CD" (talkstephenking.blogspot.com)