Chris–Update/Dark Half wrap-up

So our internet service went down for a week or so, but then I went ahead and got started on The Dark Half anyway, cause I’m running out of year, and then when we got reconnected I was over halfway done so it seemed silly to post about starting it since I was almost done and I thought “Well, why not just wait until you’re finished and THEN post?’ and I said “Yep, that’s a good idea” so I went ahead and finished the book but then got super lazy and never posted about it and so now I’m already into Four Past Midnight and figured that I’d better get caught up.

So here I am.  Onward!

So, The Dark Half.  In my opinion, this is King’s most autobiographical work.  He’s a writer, Beaumont’s a writer.  The both had pen names.  They both went to weird lengths to keep their secret identities secret.  They both had said secret identities outed by some guy who had a little bit of luck and a lot of research.

However, as far as I know–Richard Bachman never killed anyone.

This is another Castle Rock book, so many of the locations are familiar, and there are the inevitable references–Sheriff Bannerman, Frank Dodd, Cujo–but really that’s it.  This is focused on writers, and writing, and their processes, and how sometimes they become different people when they are writing.  And it’s scary.  King often talks about how he’s compelled to write, and that he’d be doing it even if he didn’t get paid, simply because HE HAS TO.  Much like Thad Beaumont at the end of this one.

Speaking of George Bannerman, I was honestly surprised when Cujo ate him way back when.  Even though I had read that one before, I was thinking that Bannerman was the Sheriff in a great many books.  But I like Alan Pangborn.  And I hope to see more of him.

We will see Richard Bachman again… unlike Beaumont and George Stark, Stephen and Richard are still at least on speaking terms.

 

Chris–wrapping up The Tommyknockers

Well, my concerns were handled quite nicely. This is why you go back and re-read books. You get fuzzy on the details, start thinking that things didn’t really make sense, and you start to under-appreciate a story.

I mentioned that I thought that the opening rhyme about the Tommyknockers didn’t seem to fit with what I knew was going to happen. And honestly, there are no actual Tommyknockers in this book. That’s just a convenient handy name that someone picks up on and it just happens to stick. And the other instances that I was worried about were really just attempts for characters to make sense of what was happening to them, what they just could not believe was happening. So everything really falls into place.

The one complaint is the structure. You start off thinking that this is Bobbi’s story. Well, then it becomes Bobbi and Gard. And then we get a history lesson. And then a bunch of other characters–some of which get full chapters. Then back to Gard and Bobbi, then a bunch more characters… and so on. So you sort of lose track over where the focus is supposed to be. Somehow it works, but it does derail the narrative.

In the end, this is a book about a friend who thinks he is doing the right thing. He thought he was the hero, but he lost his way, failed to really stop and think about what he was doing, and why he was doing it. He failed to see the consequences of his actions, and failed to realize that by “supporting” his friend, he was simply losing her. Addiction, co-dependence, and obsession are really the central themes here–as well as the fact that you can break free.

There are a ton of connections in here. Charlie McGee, John Smith, and even Pennywise the clown are referenced. Jack Sawyer makes an appearance. Someone says something about Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”.  There is even mention of a writer in Maine whose books are filled with “made-up monsters and dirty words”. Now who could that be?