My Return To Salem's Lot 2019

I’m neck deep in Salem’s Lot.  It bites.  Really.

Here’s the deal at Talk Stephen King: If you haven’t read the book, don’t read my comments on the book.  Because, believe it or not, I’m going to talk about what I liked and didn’t like about it.  And after all, you’ve had a good 44 years to pick this up and read it.

My wife and I seem to be on a Summer Stephen King kick.  She reads and I listen, and we see each day who is ahead.  We are blasting through the early King works, and I think both of us are just transfixed by King as a young writer.

I’ve known forever what Salem’s Lot is about, and tried to read it more than once.  I first got Salem’s Lot when I was a teen, and it was in the pile of Stephen King books my sister brought home to me from the bookstore.  After reading the Stand in one breathless Summer (1989 maybe) I had to have every book.  Salem’s Lot was mixed in with IT and Tommyknockers.  But I struggled with Salem’s Lot.  The magic just didn’t settle over me until recently.  King builds a big cast of characters and was always hard for me to keep up with who’s who among the minor towns people.  These days, I just ask my girl, “Who was that?”

I also first struggled with this book because I didn’t understand the name.  Was it Salem’s Lot or Jerusalem’s Lot?  I know King explains it well, but I still got confused as a young person.

I read the book a few years ago, and loved it.  And now, I've returned, and once again the spell has fallen, and I’m so in love with this vampire book.  It’s creepy, action packed, and no one is safe.  No one.

What I liked:

Ben.  Now, on earlier attempts to read the book, Ben is what I didn’t like.  I remember reading about his first encounter with Susan in the park, and what should she be reading?  Why, his book, of course!  I thought: This is just too much.  No way.  But, this time I caught something that made the scene work for me.  King himself suggests that there is something predestined about their meeting.  As if other forces are at work to bring them together.  It is, as the Ben things, just too easy.

By the way, Ben is a Baptist.  I only point that out because usually any Baptist in a Stephen King book is going to be a raging loon.  (eg: Needful Things) Now, he’s not a practicing Baptist, but, take what you can get here.

Symbolism: How do you get rid of a Vampire?  What lore do you trust?  Salem’s Lot relies on two steadfast rules: The first is the power of the crucifix to drive back Satan.  The second is the myth that a vampire has to be invited in.  They don’t just burst into your house and ravage the place like thugs.  We will discover later that the crucifix itself holds little power, but only true faith has the strength to destroy Satan.  Trust me, there’s so much to be said for that!  I love it.

How does young Mark now that a Vampire has to be invited in?  They don’t teach that in school.  Here’s what’s great – he knows it from his monster magazines.  That’s wonderful!  In his introduction to Salem’s Lot, King talked about what his mother would call garbage.  Those monster magazines certainly would count as garbage.  But King uses those great old magazines to dispense bits of truth that would actually help a kid in a fight with a vampire.

Signs of the times: A few things lock Salem’s Lot the novel into the time it was written.  Technology in particular.  People listening in to one another’s conversations; and when they need to call for an ambulance, they need an actual number, because this book was written well before the 911 system was in place.  Imagine that.

Two random connections: Constable Parkins Gillespie reminds me of Pet Sematary’s Jud Crandall.  Also, the scene in the graveyard brought back flashes of Plan 9 From Outer Space.  I’m not comparing Mr. King to Ed wood, just remembering how one grave digger looks up and says, “Kinda spooky.”  Let’s just say that Stephen King brought it home, while Ed Wood. . .

Real people: Salem’s Lot is inhabited by people caught up in what seems like real problems.  Affairs are taking place; a young mother slaps her child; a young deputy is sure he could do better than his boss, the constable; the caretaker at the dump loves shooting rats.  King doesn’t just give us a vampire yarn, but the book is rightly named Salem’s Lot.

The original title for Salem’s Lot was Second Coming.  I heard speculation that it referred to Bens return to Salem’s Lot.  I think it had more to do with vampires reappearing after a long silence – this time in America.

I like this Barlow action figure.  Let me make a kid complaint. . . as a kid who loved action figures, ONE action figure is not much fun.  What made Star Wars action figures so cool was you could crate any story because there were so many action figures.  But, just the same -- I'd love to pit this Barlow action figure against Jar Jar Binks.

Salem's Lot Journal #5: The Power Of Faith

Salem’s Lot was a complete thrill ride!

A few final notes:

Boo-Boo:

There is a boo-boo when a character is killed and hung upside down, Father Callahan says, “It’s as old as Macedonia. . . Hanging the body of your enemy or betrayer upside down so his head faces the earth instead of heaven.  St. Paul was crucified that way, on an X-shaped cross with his legs broken.”  Well, Father Callahan got his facts wrong on that one.  Paul didn’t die crucified upside down, Peter did.  It is said this was done at Peter’s request, because he did not want to die the same way Jesus did.

The Writing:

The writing is generally strong throughout.  There is a lot of plotting by the main characters.  We seem to spend a lot of time moving the chess pieces around the board, and at times it can get a little confusing.

I like this line. . . “The hammer struck the top of the stake squarely, and the gelatinous tremor that vibrated up the length of ash would haunt him forever in his dreams.  Her eyes flew open, wide and blue, as if from the very force of the blow.  Blood gushed upward from the stake’s point of entry in a bright and astonishing flood, splashing his hands, his shirt, his cheeks.  In an instant the cellar was filled with its hot, coppery odor.”  Notice in just a couple sentences, King told you hat to see, what to feel (the vibration of the hammer)and what to smell (coppery blood).  It is as if the reader is drawn into the scene with the characters.


Salem’s Lot ends with a series of newspaper articles.  In this sense it is very much like Carrie.  The articles give the novel a sense of realism.  They also. . . date the novel!  Each entry has a date that has long passed in our world.  A date when Jimmy Carter was president.

The date for Salem’s Lot – America, 1970's – is important.  Could an entire town be overtaken today?  With email, twitter, facebook and skype?

There is a scene in which the vampire Barlow leaves a lengthy letter for Ben and the others seeking to end his terror.  The letter is good, but seems a bit forced.  The vampire is gloating and preaching throughout the epistle.  But the reader (at least this reader) is left wondering, “Why would a vampire take the time to write a letter?”

King has said that he felt more free to have fun with this novel, and that is certainly felt.  King's joy, energy is evident throughout.

FAITH:

Callahan’s confrontation with the Vampire is interesting.  He chooses to rely on logic instead of faith.  The crucifix is like a faith thermometer: “The cross seemed to thrum with chained fire, and its power coursed up his forearm until the muscles bunched and trembled.” But as Callahan questions and doubts, the cross’s glow begins to die.

When his faith falters, the vampire seems genuinely upset.  “Sad to see a man’s faith fail.  Ah well. . .” Barlow boldly takes the cross from the priest and declares, “You have forgotten the doctrine of your own church, is it not so?  The cross. . . the bread and wine. . . only wood, the bread baked wheat, the wine sour grapes.  If you had cast the cross away, you should have beaten me another night.  In a way, I hoped it might be so.  It has been long since I have met an opponent of any real worth.  The boy makes ten of you, false priest.”

Salem’s Lot is an intensely spiritual novel.  It relies on Catholic doctrine – communion, confession as personal means of cleansing so that one is right with God.  In the end, though, it is not the ritual’s that defeat the enemy, but personal faith.  Very much like salvation itself!  Get baptized ten times, it does nothing unless it is a true expression of the repentant heart.

Barlow not only defeats the priest, he humiliates him.  He does not draw him in, but instead casts the priest out. . . after making Father Callahan drink from the Vampire’s blood.  The symbolism is powerful: The priest, who believes the communion wine becomes the blood of Christ, now drinks from the blood of evil.  But evil does not accept him in!  He is not drawn into a new house, but instead simply cast out.  Thus Callahan is not welcome in either the house of God or the house of Satan.  He is a wanderer like Cain.

Of course, Father Callahan's story is not complete in Salem's Lot.  The novel and the character return in The Dark Tower.  In fact, The Dark Tower serves in part as the story of Father Callahan's redemption.

I like it that King's vampire are bad. . . very very bad!  And who is it that has true faith?  A child.

Salem's Lot Journal #4

I'm not sure exactly where the novel turned from simply shadows to all our darkness -- but it's happened.  Suspicions and hinting around has been dropped all together, and now King shows us a boy being carried into the vampires cellar.  Now that's pretty freaky stuff, my friends!  I like how Straker calls Mark "master" all the while it is Straker who thinks he is in charge.

Houdini plays an important role in Salem's Lot.  Mark, who loves monsters and Houdini, has studied Houdini's ability to escape, uses his study to slip the chords and flee.  Twice now Mark has chosen not to tell his parents about the Vampires.  Once when a dead kid was floating outside his window, and then later after he had been captured.  Now, I don't know about you, but when I was a kiddo -- I would have gotten my daddy.  He rightly understands that his dad will not believe him.  Mark is prepared to deal with the vampires because he believes. Where does Mark's faith in these creatures come from?  Comic books, of course.  I'm just not sure that if I was kidnapped by vampires I would be able to keep it from my parents once I escaped.  I'd at least need to blog about it.

King does a good job dealing with a small town without cluttering the story with too many characters.  People move in and out of the novel easily, but the focus remains pretty tightly on just a few characters.

King also resists the urge to give us the Vampires point of view.  This makes them more mysterious and scary.  He doesn't tell us about their inner conversations, their thoughts, their history.  They remain in the shadows and come out only to cause trouble.

There is a lot of plotting in this book.  That gets a little wearisome.  Each new person the potential vampire killers seek to recruit must be independently convinced, and these scenes are getting a little mundane.  The characters spend a lot of time proving to one another what the reader already knows: vampires are among us.

The priest, Father Callahan also believes in Vampires, but not for the same reason Mark does.  Mark believes because he is a child, and so the world is more open to him, and because of his comics.  The priest believes because he understands that evil really exists.  His faith in God leads him to the sure knowledge that there is also great wickedness.  Now, importantly, the novel points out that the priest is not a modern liberal priest who might simply go through the rituals without actually thinking evil exists.  That is, a liberal priest would see the ritual as having psychological value to us, but no real spiritual power.  Callahan believes there is actual sacred power in the rituals.

Salem's Lot Journal #3

I will assume you already know. . . this is a great book!  I've said that, right?  Right.  Okay, then.  But, just so you know: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK!

I really like the way King writes.  He talks directly to the reader throughout most of the book.  It is a style that I've heard was a writing "no-no."  In fact, writers are told to "show" not "tell."  But King takes great delight in telling the reader.  Why bother with pages of detailed example when he could just explain something outright.

A good example of this is chapter 10, The Lot III.

Present Tense:

The chapter opens with, "The town knew about darkness."  Now, that is one fantastic opening line, right?

I like the way that the writing moves to the present tense in the description of the town.  Note this line, "The land is granite-bodied and covered with a thin, easily ruptured skin of topsoil."

This passage answers a rather complicated writing question.  (This is stupid, so hold on to ya britches).  Question: Can I speak in the present tense about things that will later be destroyed or killed in the book?  Can I speak in the present tense about a character who is about to die. . . since in my "present" reality, that character would already be dead.  If you can't track with that line of thinking, it's okay, everyone can't be as smart as I am.

A Dark Steinbeck:

The present tense description of the town, all the way to it's soil, reminds me of John Steinbeck's wonderful novel, The Grapes Of Wrath.  Really, King is giving us a dark Grapes of Wrath.  Only, it's not the banking sucking the town dry, it's vampires.  Either way, the town is left desolate, broken and empty.

Get these lines, only imagine they were written by Steinbeck about the 1930's instead of by King about the1979's: "The bank has you, and the car dealership, and the Sears store in Lewiston, and John Deere in Brunswick.  But most of all the town has you because you know it the way you know the shape of your wife's breast."

The Death of A Child:

I find King's discussion of Tony and Marjorie Glick's dealing with the death of their son incredible.  It smacks of realness as King describes Margei's compulsion to clean.  Then, right when King has us identifying with this lady, he goes and gets the monster out of the cellar.  Out comes the dead kid to visit his mama, and suck at her breast.  Only. . . the kid is now a vamp!  Now that is messed up!

"I've had the most lovely dream the last three or four nights, Tony.  So real.  Danny comes to me int he dream.  he says, 'Mommy, Mommy, I'm so glad to be home!  and he says. . . says. . . he says. . . that he's my baby again.  My own son, at my breast again.  And I give him to suck and. . . and then a feeling of sweetness with an undertone  of bitterness, so much like it was before he was weaned but after he was beginning to get teeth and he would nip -- oh, this must sound awful."

Interesting:

King's sense of humor shines in this novel.  Get this line from Ben: "Make the connections.  the world is coming down around our ears and you're sticking at a few vampires."

There are references that do not necessarily slap the 2012 generation the way they would have when the book was first published.  References to Hiroshima are actually lost, because we live in an age when we accept nukes at a different level than people did in the 1970's.  Also, King's references to Ellery Queen a quickly overlooked by the current generation.

I also enjoyed King's discussion of the part of town few tourist ever see.  King has the ability to not only scratch under the surface of a small town, but to give you the guided tour of places you never even considered.  How about a trip to the dump?  Or a shack?  Anyone. . . Anyone. . .

Salem's Lot Journal #2

Rats.  

Found rats again.  A constant theme in King books.  This time they rush out of the smoldering dump while Dud Rogers blows them away with his pistol.

In fact, King even gives us some satisfying “Batman” sound effects.  (Remember the old Batman tv show?)  Here’s one,
“By-by, Mr Rat,” Dud said, and took careful aim.  KAPOW, the rat flopped over, twitching.

Writing

King does something I really enjoy in Salem’s Lot; he writes the story from above.  That is, he moves for long portions simply as narrator, bopping from subject to subject as he tells the story.  He resists the urge to drop in and paint the scenes, but instead is conent to sketch things out so the reader gets the big picture.  I like this a lot, but was told by someone that it is bad writing.  Well, it works for King!

King uses this style because he is writing about an entire town.  So he needs to drop down from time to time, let us in on a scnee, then quickly pick the reader back up and continue to give us the ariel view.  It gives the book the feeling of motion – that a lot is being accomplished in a short amount of space.

In the chapters titled “The Lot,” King employs a narrative tone that is actually a lot of fun.  I love the way the seasons change.  Time passes easily under Kings direction.  Here’s a great line: “if the only sound is the slwo beat of you own heart, you can hear another sound, and that is the sound of life winding down to its syclic close, waiting for the first winter snow to perform last rites.”  That’s good!

Funerals:

The funeral services for Danny Glick are described, and like in Pet Sematary, there is a disruption.  Tony Glick throws himself at his sons grave, and actually manages to fall in.  Nice!  A parents grief, horror, is so perfectly described in this passage as Tony screams at his son to stop playing around.  The denial, unbelief a person experiences when dealing with the unexpcected death of a loved one is portrayed quite skillfully.

I’ve been to a lot of funerals.  People handle death in a variety of ways.  Some embrace it with rejoicing, placing total hope in Christ Resurrection.  Others grasp to find the right emotion.  Some openly express rage.  Of course, the hardest are when a young person has died – suicide or   car accident.  The parents are left in agony.  Salem’s Lot touches on the shadows of this kind of pain.

I thought Father Callahan’s comments that he would keep the services short, not make the pain drag on and on for these people was quite pastoral – and insightful for a young Stephen King.

I’m not sure I find graveyard’s scary, except under the cool direction of Stephen King’s pen!

Child Abuse

Salem’s Lot also touches on the issue of child abuse.  This is a theme often visited in King’s early novels.  In this case it is a woman (Sandy) who has reached the breaking point with her crying infant.  Her husband (Roy) abuses her verbally and emotionally – and the cycle continues as she hurts little Randy.  Of course, this was a major theme of The Shining,a nd of King’s later novels Dolores Claighborn and Gerald’s Game.

Salem's Lot Journal #1

I started the dark journey through Salem's Lot this Saturday.  I will keep a journal of notes and things that interest me as I read.  These are not reviews -- Lilja writes some wonderful reviews, so check his out.  I'm just creating a notebook.

I have not previously read this novel cover to cover, though I am familiar with concepts.  I tried to read it one summer -- but alas, when the latest King book was hit the market and I stopped reading to plow through the latest super-duper that everyone was excited about.

As usual, the audio version is my chosen format.  I had this on CD, but lost some of the CD's!  Audible to the rescue.

I promised a friend that when I finished this I would read Talisman, since that is also on my list of "never read it -- couldn't make it."  In a way I am glad there is not a new novel this fall -- as I can catch up on some classic King.


Introduction

King read a delightful introduction in the audio version.  He discusses his mother, his childhood, and Dracula.  His mother called most horror books "trash" -- but Dracula and the like were not "bad trash."  Save that for D.H. Lawrence!  He shares the roots of the novel, and his original title "Second Coming."


Bigness

I am struck right off the bat by what a "large" novel this is.  It has a lot of scope, characters.  King backed out of some projects earlier in his career because they were just too big (Cannibals, which became Under The Dome, comes to mind.)  Salem's lot is a big novel -- not so much in length but in cast.  Interesting how young Mr. King says that no large novel is created by the author alone. . . written by a man who just didn't know how large his novels would get!  I guess sitting next to Carrie, it is long.

Salem's Lot is not just the story of Ben or Susan -- it is, as the title implies, the story of a town.  King wastes little time with introducing main characters before he gets busy allowing us to peak in the windows and listen in on the phone lines of this little town.  In fact, characters are being introduced so quickly at points that I feel the need to write down names.

Why a large cast?  Well, I suspect because a lot of people are going to get killed.  Just my guess here.

The large cast of characters in a small town reminds me of Needful Things.  The naughty boys even move to town to open up a shop.

I love how King describes the chatter crossing phone-lines, and the low hum the telephone lines make when the weather is just right.

The novel has a slight 70's feel to it.  No cell phone's here, gang!  We've still got party lines, newspapers and typewriters.  But it is an endearing feel to me.  King says he has always been more a writer of his time, and that's something I really appreciate.  I don't need to feel like it's happening "today" in order to enjoy it.  In fact, it's perhaps all the more creepy because it happened "back then" ya know!

The Writing:

Kings writing is crisp, energetic and quite fun.  He is moving at a pretty fast pace from scene to scene, giving the feeling that he is definitely "going" somewhere with this.  You can sense that a young man wrote this, and that is fine.  It is his view of the world, and it is a nice view.

King's love for Shirley Jackson's work appears not only with the inside quotes, but in the novel itself.  Ben directly discusses The Haunting Of Hill House (whatever walked there walked alone!)

One of the early scenes does give me a laugh --  "YOU WISH!" I want to say to King.  Ben goes to the park, only to discover a beautiful unmarried young woman reading his book.  Hummm, might this be the start of a relationship?  Oh yeah!  I like this scene very much, because I want to like it, not because it strikes me as true to life.  It does make me wonder what well known authors must feel when they spy someone reading their work.

Since Ben is a writer, a lot of Salem's Lot is about writing.  King lets us into the head of a young writer.  "But he does that all the time," someone might object.  True, but this is the first time -- and in that sense, it is special.