I haven't read a Stephen King book in a number of years, and this was a wonderful book to get back into the King mode. Look's like Lisey's Story will be coming up soon.I picked this book and read a short story a week, for Short Story Monday, and as a part of the RIP II challenge to read a short scary story on the weekend. I actually enjoyed reading just one story a week, in the beginning, and thinking about one at a time. I usually read the back end of a book much faster; as I get closer to the end and can feel the thin section left in my right hand, my reading automatically picks up. To review the last few stories in the book:1408
John Cusack was recently in the movie of the same name. I haven't seen it, but I imagine the movie quite altered the story. It is the classic 'haunted room' story in this collection, and it was super creepy. Mike Enslin is researching haunted hotel rooms for one of his tabloid style books. He wants to stay in Room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel in New York, but the manager doesn't want to let him. The manager recounts all the horrors that have taken place in the room, but the nonbelieving writer dismisses his claims. Then he enters the room. King lets your imagination take most of the heat, but he also describes, in too much detail, horrors that you couldn't imagine. Of course, that's why people always ask him: Where do you come up with this stuff?
Riding the Bullet
King writes: There comes a time in most lives when we must face the deaths of our loved ones as an actual reality. . . and by proxy, the fact of our own approaching death. This story is his response to this. He also uses a version of the classic monkey's paw story. After the creepy parts of riding in a car with a zombie - a great warning against hitchhiking - King closes the story with some nice philosphical musings on life, and its meanings.
Luckey Quarter
This was a sweet little story to end the collection, not really creepy at all. Unless I missed something, such as why lucky was spelled with an 'ey'
I've linked up the rest of the reviews from my Short Story Monday posts, mostly because I feel like I need to put all the reviews together. I'm compulsive like that. A place for everything and everything in its place, which is why science and math are so satisfying for me.
intro and Autopsy Room Four
The Man in the Black Suit
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
The Death of Jack Hamilton
In the Deathroom
The Little Sisters of Eluria and Everything's Eventual
L.T.'s Theory of Pets, The Road Virus Heads North, Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
intro and Autopsy Room Four
The Man in the Black Suit
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
The Death of Jack Hamilton
In the Deathroom
The Little Sisters of Eluria and Everything's Eventual
L.T.'s Theory of Pets, The Road Virus Heads North, Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
