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?

 

Chris–The Dead Zone… wrap up…

OK, so you’ve seen so far that I usually will post a quick intro for the book that I’m reading next.  Well, I’ve been a little busy lately, and we’ve done a little traveling, and I went ahead and finished the book before I got a chance to post an intro…  so here’s The Dead Zone.

So, on the surface, The Dead Zone is about a man who has an accident, suffers a severe brain injury, goes into a coma for almost 5 years, and wakes up with the ability to see the future…  But there is so much more here.

First and foremost, this book is a tragedy–the loss of things that might have been.  In some cases–like with Eileen’s children–that loss is a good thing.  With most, though, there is a real and moving loss.  What might have been between John and Sarah?  Or Herb and Vera?  This story is filled with loss and missed opportunities, with no real explanation.

Again, the fact that King doesn’t explain is part of what makes the story work so well.  Is it God’s plan that this happen to Johnny?  Or just plain old bad luck?  It’s up to you to decide.  There are no clues that really point in either direction.  Different characters have different beliefs; if you were to ask Vera Smith, it’s pretty clear what she thinks.  But Sam?  He’s much more difficult to pin down.

In the end, Johnny loses everything.  And now we have to wonder–what would have happened to the world had John Smith not been in that accident?  Would Greg Stilson still have been such an unstoppable force?  Was that late-night car crash the only thing that stood between the world and complete devastation?  That’s a scary thought.  John Smith thought so, as well–fortunately.  He willingly gave it all up–and more, really.  He knew that no one would ever understand his reasons, and even if Herb, Sarah, or Sam talked about them, no one would really believe.  So he went down as a villain, a would-be murderer, instead of the hero that he should have been.

Now, there a quite a few connections in this one.  Number one–this is the first of the Castle Rock books.  We’ll see good old Sheriff Bannerman again.  And now King begins to reference himself.  When the bar burns down towards the end, one of the kids cries out “he set it on fire by his mind, just like in that book Carrie.”  I found that pretty funny.  But we’ll find that King immerses himself and his writing in relevant pop culture–so why shouldn’t his books make their way into his stories?

I found some interesting character cross-overs, as well.  I saw quite a lot of similarity between John Smith’s parents and Fran Goldsmith’s.  Definitely not the same people, but there was some resemblance.

King also gives a shout-out to Ray Bradbury.  There’s an early section in here that starts off with “The seller of lightning rods…”  Wait a minute, I thought, as soon as I read that, and went to my bookshelf.  I pulled down Something Wicked This Way Comes, and sure enough, there’s that very same phrase.  And it’s obviously a reference to Bradbury’s book–otherwise King would have said “the lightning rod salesman” or something similar.  In fact, later in The Dead Zone, Chuck mentions that he’s gotten his girlfriend interested in Something Wicked.

The last odd connection–that same girlfriend is seriously into a punk-rock band called The Ramones.  So she’s got good musical taste!  But the Ramones did the title track for the film version of Pet Semetary, and it’s an awesome song.

I had a lot of fun reading this one–I think I’d only read this once before, and it was a very, very long time ago.  And I’ll try to stay on format from here on out.  Again–it’s a good thing that this isn’t my day job!