I enjoyed this book very much, yes it was a bit hard to read at times, with the racial aspect and all that (I agree with your description “fast and loose”) but over all I enjoyed the read. I honestly believe if you were to remove 1 maybe 2 aspects from this story, it could be“Fight Club part 2”. I enjoyed your review and will look into others you’ve made. Keep up the good work.
FUN FACT STEPHEN KING WAS ON SO MANY DRUGS WHEN HE WEOTE (yes this is true) THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO PUT COTTON UP HIS NOSE TO PREVENT BLOOD FROM DRIPPING ON HIS TYPEWRITER
Thanks for this review... Im in the final stretch (last 30 or so pages) and Im gonna finish it but I was feeling what you're saying that theres little cohesion and the book fails to make any sort of point, Doesnt give anything to digest on, and doesnt even do anything cool or fun between its too many characters... Reading this for the first time in a post Trump post covid world it starts with a lot of potential and i connected to the idea of there being a Before Time as thats what i refer to the about half decade pre covid and how our political climate has shaped begore during and after those things. The book feels like its setting up something almost prophetic in its first few pages but it feels like Chuck tried to do too much without thinking or researching or even asking anyone anything about any of the ideas satirical or otherwise that hes put in this novel... The only other guy with a video about this book didnt go into too much detail but i totally understand how thinking about this book too much seemed to have given him a headache.... And i see why this book hasnt made any waves in the years since
Come on, man. Epic? Masterpiece? King is a good waster of time and that's kind of it. I read Salem's Lot in 75 and hung on til after Pet Sematary. Then I jumped off. He got too successful too soon. He's parochial to a fault. He writes pot boilers that used to entertain. But he gets weird and silly outside of Maine, whitest state in the union. His knowledge of other cultures/times/mindsets are limited to what he's seen on tv or at the movies. Ever read his takes on black characters?They're all saints and old neutered men and Mother Teresas. Gay characters? Well, he saw a few episodes of Will and Grace so that plus renting THE BOYS IN THE BAND should tell him everything. He's needed an editor from the start and maybe he had one but his comeback to criticism is very American: "if you're so smart why ain't you as rich and successful as me?" So his publishers check for spelling and the legal department gives it a once-over to make sure they don't get sued and that's that. He's easy to read - 1200 Stephen King pages is like a single chapter from Faulker or Heller or Vonnegut. He telegraphs his symbolism like a Hallmark card. And he refers to pop culture a lot because that's all he knows. He's been.publishing his first drafts since 1980 and he's as impervious to criticism as dance music or the sound of silverware being dropped onto the floor. His stuff is functional as a chair. It passes the time. But would anyone born after 1980 actually READ his books? Or would they just hear them on cd? Audio books hide a bunch of faults. Like plot holes. THE STAND has plenty of those. 1. What's happening in the rest of the world? 2. What about Canada and Mexico? 3. Did only America produce survivors? 4. Why hate on the guard? Are we really to believe a chain link fence would stop (contain) an airborne virus? Just take a stick and draw a line in the dirt around the base. Just as good. 5. What about our government? You know don't you that we build places for the administration to hide every time we come up with a new.weapon. 6. Did anyone think to contact NATO or Great Britain? Or Israel or Brazil? Or even TRY to find out if anyone else survived outside of New England? 7. What happens.to dead bodies left in the sun? First, they void their bowels..Then they swell up and.bloat then.explode after a few days. But.not in King land. 8. Large cities on the coast with subways that abut the ocean will flood when the hydraulics are left unattended for more than a week. Dams will overflow, even in Colorado and Nevada. Like the Grand Coulee. 9. Flipping a switch won't be enough to turn power plants back on. Power plants get THEIR power from somewhere like a dam or a nuclear reactor. Details! Who needs to worry about details? 10. An unattended nuke is just that: unattended. The ones we have in silos that are ready to go are primed and ready. And they STILL don't leak radiation if left alone. But give them a decade or so... 11. Viruses don't jump to animals if they kill us. Especially synthetic viruses made to kill people. Oh, they might bit chimps and rhesus monkeys but dogs? Other mammals? No. 12. If Fran's baby were not immune, she'd miscarry. 13. What was Flagg's endgame? Power? Plenty of that without a virus. Death? That's everyone's endgame. Mischief? Land? Huh? Or was Flagg an instrument of God? Pretty old testament bronze age harshness for the powerful and benevolent God of Christ. King's parochialism Burt's this book. Because you start wondering about life outside of Maine. No matter what King does our minds wander to unanswered questions.
I consider The Talisman and Black House to have occurred on different levels of the Tower. In The Talisman, the Talisman itself is an alternative manifestation of the Tower.
I like this book. It reminds me little sometimes Fight club but when he comes to fiction it little lost me. But overall I like it much. There are very clever quotes which resonates. I think if there weren't those fictional segments this book would be cancelled. This book would have resonates in people more than Fight club. I think it is on purpose to calm down elites.
Maybe the worst book review ever. It’s just a 22 min love letter. If a teacher ask for this as a report.. FAILED. Didn’t flesh anything about the book out. I’m to annoyed to get past the 15min marker
I thought it was a little better than decent. It was sufficiently cohesive and he concluded with an opinion on the book as a whole. I think this comment rather describes itself concerning the “fleshing out” of the issue- and if you even watched it you’d immediately realize it’s nothing close to a love letter. It’s a medium soft pass for him, he didn’t like it.
Hey, thank you so much for the kind words! Life has thrown me some interesting and exciting changes over the past few years, but I do yearn to return to the channel. Comments like yours really do hearten me and inspire me. Thank you again for watching and commenting! :)
I feel like the book should have been twice the size. It would have allowed the story to breathe and scenes could have been given a lot more needed levity. For example, the journey to the Seven Cities of Gold should have been several lengthy chapters long.
I think I'd agree there! Honestly, some more character development and world building would have been nice. For a story that is ultimately about the journey being more important than the destination (among other things), it seems too mired in getting to the end.
Problem #1) If it's true what they said - that the original manuscript was written in the '70's, and found in a drawer after his death. Obviously there was something about it that Crichton himself didn't particularly like, and didn't find important enough to polish up for publication. Problem #2) The editor didn't have access to Crichton, so they didn't quite know where to begin and quite know where to stop - if there were any gaps, or something needed expansion, they had to fill all that in themselves. Overall... It didn't stray too far from the nest, I enjoyed it, anyway.
Crichton had a very distinct voice and style, so even unpolished Crichton will still have that feel. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :) Thanks for your thoughts and taking the time to watch / comment!
Hmmm... Good question!!! Considering that The Stand is likely my favorite book of all time, I doubt there's one better. That said, The Road is very haunting and affecting; its writing is spartan, but the images it paints are vivid all the same. That one is probably your next best bet, though it is WILDLY different. Another recommendation would be Cat's Cradle; while I can't really go into WHY it may be similar without spoiling things, I can tell you that Kurt Vonnegut was a genius, and that this book and Slaughterhouse Five are both just absolute gifts.
I always recommend the 1978 "first" book to start with. You get basics in characters and narrative without being too overwhelmed. Then use the unabridged book as a companion piece, to have on hand if you get a hankering for more Stand 😉😄!
I like the spirit of this! It might just be me, but I RARELY revisit books. With so many new pieces of art to explore, it's really tough for me to justify a trip back. However, in the case of The Stand being the masterpiece it is, I kinda wish I had followed your advice! Thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching! :)
Started reading it for the first time yesterday. The beginning hits different since Covid... :D Loved the start so far. PS: Just saw you only have 371 subs. Im convinced that number would rise pretty high with more frequent videos, because your reviews are awesome! Keep up.
This book is on my wish list of books to read. Alternate history is one of my favorite genres. I skimmed the Wikipedia page of the book and was pleased to read that my country is referenced in it!
Not trying to be overly critical here. The book was alright. I thought all the constant Rush song titles/lines dropped in the book was pretty cringey at times like the 'you are not a long awaited friend' but overall it was alright. There were some alright messages in the book. I guess i kind of expected more of a Rush meets Dune (because of Kevin helping do the Dune prequels) with Paulo Coelho flair (because Neil is a little like that in my opinion). I guess I got a little bit of that but I kind of expected more from the book. Maybe that's my bad. It does kind of read pretty young adult which was odd to me given that it's a Rush story. Those are just my thoughts. It's fine. Not sure that I'll read it again
I think I'd agree for the most part! I don't remember all I said in the video, but I do wish the story was better. Obviously, I have nothing but love for Neal, but I strongly prefer his lyrics over his prose.
Yup, flying pyramids and telepathy lol I appreciated that he incorporated their struggle in US history with the idea that all along they developed an insanely complex ability to communicate and travel all the while hiding it from the eyes of their oppressors.
Ran to this review as soon as LAIKA's film adaptation was announced because I wanna check out the book before it comes out, thanks for a spoiler-free summary! I'm definitely gonna buy it. :)
Same here! By the way Coraline and Paranorman are dropping in 4K! I didn’t enjoy Paranorman as much as Coraline so I’m not picking that one up but I’m picking up Coraline for sure!!!
@@TheGlassesPush yes it is really awesome! Just finished 200 pages and I absolutely lovee it... I didn't read king for two years and I completely forgot about his smooth transitions... It's amazing!
Haven't read Black House yet. I actually liked the Talisman, Richard Sloat was unsepperable and annoying but I liked the other characters and the friendship and the unsettling moments in the book (Sunlight Home especially) and especially the grand connection to the Dark Tower series. Don't understand why the Talisman is such an underrated book.
With so many books, it's easy for some of King's works to get overlooked... Even though I have my issues with it, I do love the characters and worldbuilding of The Talisman. Thanks for watching! :)
Ive never posted on a book review, never thought they even existed, but since im buzzing Ill just say I loved them both! I never even thought to try to discern whos writing was whos, I just LOVED both. Kinda like the Hobbit in some ways! My main beef with Black House was that Im sorry, if the Talisman, the center of all worlds, the Nexus, touched Lily Sawyer, and instantly cures her cancer, come on...how could she then later die of the same cancer? Surely breathing in the center of existance would make her immune?
Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad you enjoyed it! :) Sometimes I feel like you gotta turn your brain off with King, as his stories don't always stay internally consistent with their logic. Still, fun rides. :) I totally see what you're getting at with The Hobbit connection -- I would have never thought of that on my own. Thanks for that!
Colin has had a huge influence on my vocabulary. I admire his writing immensely. I hope to return to Wildwood eventually. Maybe when I have kids! :) Thanks for commenting and watching! Have a great day!
I actually really enjoyed this story. Yes, flawed and probably something Chrichton would not want released. However, it was entertaining to me as a fun period piece with some decent action. I love the setting and the perspective on the Bone Wars and Indian Wars. It's definitely not boring like a lot of mediocre books out there.
That's very kind of you to say! Life has been busy, and I've neglected this channel, but it's comments like this that inspire me to find time to create. :)
The stand is easily my favorite book of all time. I was so happy at its length and pacing because I wanted to stay in that world with those characters for as long as possible. In that way it kind of spoiled me for most any other books of this kind because when I’m sucked I totally I any other character/world driven books even if they’re decent in length I always walk away feeling slightly disappointed that I couldn’t stay longer. Regardless, I highly recommend this book as well and if you haven’t read it, reading it during a pandemic certainly hits much different. I’m re-reading it now and it feels very different in Covid/post-COVID times
Agree pretty well with your review. I felt like at the half way point and onward I was just "trying to finish it". It never felt like there was a real driving through-line, just kind of boring as much as I hate to say it.
Great review man. Stuck at home, self isolating due to mild covid - this seems to be the PERFECT time to finally tackle this book. Have had the kindle edition purchased for 6 years now but have been always putting it off. I absolutely loved IT despite that also being 1,000+ pages and am really looking forward to this after your glowing praise.
Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. I'm sorry to hear you have COVID, but I'm glad it's mild -- here's to a speedy recovery! I hope you enjoy the book! If you liked IT, I'm sure you'll have the patience for this. :) Good luck!
@@TheGlassesPushI am well and recovering - Thank you for your wishes. Any bit of human goodness these days is heartwarming. But again I seem to have put off reading The Stand as I started The Institute by King instead (again a book I got a couple of years back). It looks like a lighter read than the stand though and I promise I'll get to The Stand someday!
@@sanchitvarma1282 The Institute is an easier read, for sure! I have my qualms with it, but it was very entertaining. As long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters! :)
@@TheGlassesPush Yeah it seems to have very different, almost lighter tone (almost YA) to his other works. It's definitely not his best but it's fun nonetheless.
Great question! Essex County is an excellent graphic novel from writer/artist Jeff Lemire. I'm based in Arizona, so the book is purely there for art and not any geographic affiliation. :) I would highly recommend the graphic novel or really almost anything that Lemire makes.
Thanks man! I actually liked The Talisman. And btw the way u move your hands around reminds me of this : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M8PP3QU7wjI.html
