This is my first Steven king book and I’ve read it in a week. And when I saw the cover I felt the need to buy it asap. And read it was about hunting because I love deer hunting. And I like to go in a book not knowing anything whether it’s ghosts, mystery, or in this case aliens. But yeah this book was definitely weird not in a good way but had a very good backstory. I loved duddits and all the boy’s connection. The part where “Henry sang” was a very heart warming moment. But the book would have been 100% better if their was a possession in the cabin by a haunted ghost rather then aliens or crap weasels
I remember liking Dreamcatcher, probably more than I should have. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've read it (and the past is often a foreign country), but from what I can recall the core protagonists all landed with me and the themes were strong enough (the dimensions of moral courage, resilience in the face of annihilation, memory as a manifestation of the sacred, cosmic justice/"ka"). Of course, other King efforts may have found better success exploring those themes, but I don't knock this book for trying. Also, like you said, it's a fascinating book merely from the context of its creation; a bit of a snapshot of the life of a writer recovering from near death, afraid he'd never be able to write again. That adds kind of a second life to the text. As far as the Down Syndrome representation that troubled you, I arrived at a different conclusion. For the most part I thought King treated Duddits pretty fairly, especially in terms of one of the themes that stood out to me (moral courage, both externally visited upon Duddits in flashbacks and later used to give him agency in this story's present-day outcome). Duddits contributed a lot to the heart of this book, though I probably wouldn't choose to listen to an audiobook performer read his dialog. All in all, not a bad King book. Rather insightful in a few regards, mostly having to do with King himself via 1999/2000. But again, the past often requires a passport, and I may be remembering only a few towns and not the country as a whole. Cheers
The audiobook is awesome. I read this book when it came out, liked it well enough, and just finished the audiobook this morning and Jeffrey Demunn did a great job bringing it to life. He pulled off Duddits incredibly well, didn't feel unflattering or insulting or caricaturizing in the least.
I had a lot of hope for it. I really liked the friend group dynamic, but there were some very distracting elements and it felt like he poured too much energy into the military characters and the amount of real estate they took up in this book.
i actually kind of like the cover art for that one but i do agree that a lot of the 2000's book covers in general started to to be more minimalistic and nothing steller. although i do like buick 8 and hearts of Atlantis cover arts. as for the book itself i never read it and it did some what interest me but not a huge priority at the moment. i enjoy the way you review these stories
Couldn't disagree more with your opinion on the representation of the character of Duddits, or his representation in the audiobook by the narrator, and I'm all about fair representation. He's not the first disabled character King ever wrote for one, l mean, Tom Cullen, John Coffee, ect, the man has been writing such characters for decades. and is not a token character at all imo, he is the heart of the book! At least he didn’t come off as token to me. I'm not sure exactly what the most appropriate way to represent a powerful telepath with Down Syndrome would be, but to me he felt like another well developed character of Stephen's. He's got that apparent innocent naivety with hidden depths of intelligence one might be surprised by. I've also seen some other comments and reviews by people who claimed to live and work with if they're not directly related to someone with Down Syndrome praise King for his representation of this character, one saying they worked with kids with Down syndrome for fifteen years and were brought to tears with how well Duddits is portrayed as person with Down syndrome. Not to mention, this is literally part of the lore of the King verse. Telepathy is very important in this multiverse, going all the way back to Carrie, and many of the most powerful telepaths tend to have some mental or physical disability or genetic defect or deformity for whatever reason. Sheemie, who first appears in The Wizard and the Glass circa 1997, is hinted at being very special, despite being severely mentally handicapped, and he's revealed to be one of the most powerful telepaths of all. All I'll say about him other than Guidall did a great job with him in the audio representation as well.
I totally understand how it’s at the top of some people’s lists. I think being busy and dragging out how long it took me to finish it played some part in my reception of it.
Great video! I just started reading Misery as my first Stephen King book and I'm really enjoying it so far.
This is my first Steven king book and I’ve read it in a week. And when I saw the cover I felt the need to buy it asap. And read it was about hunting because I love deer hunting. And I like to go in a book not knowing anything whether it’s ghosts, mystery, or in this case aliens. But yeah this book was definitely weird not in a good way but had a very good backstory. I loved duddits and all the boy’s connection. The part where “Henry sang” was a very heart warming moment. But the book would have been 100% better if their was a possession in the cabin by a haunted ghost rather then aliens or crap weasels
I remember liking Dreamcatcher, probably more than I should have. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've read it (and the past is often a foreign country), but from what I can recall the core protagonists all landed with me and the themes were strong enough (the dimensions of moral courage, resilience in the face of annihilation, memory as a manifestation of the sacred, cosmic justice/"ka"). Of course, other King efforts may have found better success exploring those themes, but I don't knock this book for trying.
Also, like you said, it's a fascinating book merely from the context of its creation; a bit of a snapshot of the life of a writer recovering from near death, afraid he'd never be able to write again. That adds kind of a second life to the text.
As far as the Down Syndrome representation that troubled you, I arrived at a different conclusion. For the most part I thought King treated Duddits pretty fairly, especially in terms of one of the themes that stood out to me (moral courage, both externally visited upon Duddits in flashbacks and later used to give him agency in this story's present-day outcome). Duddits contributed a lot to the heart of this book, though I probably wouldn't choose to listen to an audiobook performer read his dialog.
All in all, not a bad King book. Rather insightful in a few regards, mostly having to do with King himself via 1999/2000. But again, the past often requires a passport, and I may be remembering only a few towns and not the country as a whole.
Cheers
It’s no doubt an interesting portrait of his own state in which is was produced. I appreciate the comment!
The audiobook is awesome. I read this book when it came out, liked it well enough, and just finished the audiobook this morning and Jeffrey Demunn did a great job bringing it to life. He pulled off Duddits incredibly well, didn't feel unflattering or insulting or caricaturizing in the least.
I love the book and especially the cover!
This movie scared the crap out of me growing up! I'm a sci-fi horror person tho so probably why. Glad you're back!!
I need to watch the movie now!
It's been a long while since I've read this book, so I don't really remember much. I'd love to revisit it again to see how I'd feel about!
I had a lot of hope for it. I really liked the friend group dynamic, but there were some very distracting elements and it felt like he poured too much energy into the military characters and the amount of real estate they took up in this book.
i actually kind of like the cover art for that one but i do agree that a lot of the 2000's book covers in general started to to be more minimalistic and nothing steller. although i do like buick 8 and hearts of Atlantis cover arts.
as for the book itself i never read it and it did some what interest me but not a huge priority at the moment. i enjoy the way you review these stories
I actually love the Buick 8 cover and the book itself. One of the most underrated in his collection!
@@connormatthew i need to get around to that one to
Couldn't disagree more with your opinion on the representation of the character of Duddits, or his representation in the audiobook by the narrator, and I'm all about fair representation. He's not the first disabled character King ever wrote for one, l mean, Tom Cullen, John Coffee, ect, the man has been writing such characters for decades. and is not a token character at all imo, he is the heart of the book! At least he didn’t come off as token to me. I'm not sure exactly what the most appropriate way to represent a powerful telepath with Down Syndrome would be, but to me he felt like another well developed character of Stephen's. He's got that apparent innocent naivety with hidden depths of intelligence one might be surprised by. I've also seen some other comments and reviews by people who claimed to live and work with if they're not directly related to someone with Down Syndrome praise King for his representation of this character, one saying they worked with kids with Down syndrome for fifteen years and were brought to tears with how well Duddits is portrayed as person with Down syndrome.
Not to mention, this is literally part of the lore of the King verse. Telepathy is very important in this multiverse, going all the way back to Carrie, and many of the most powerful telepaths tend to have some mental or physical disability or genetic defect or deformity for whatever reason. Sheemie, who first appears in The Wizard and the Glass circa 1997, is hinted at being very special, despite being severely mentally handicapped, and he's revealed to be one of the most powerful telepaths of all. All I'll say about him other than Guidall did a great job with him in the audio representation as well.
This is my second favorite King book. It’s a weird one for sure but I love it.
I totally understand how it’s at the top of some people’s lists. I think being busy and dragging out how long it took me to finish it played some part in my reception of it.
like your video, wonder if you're interested in trying our man's grooming products
nope
@@connormatthew Thank u, hope we can have the opportunity in the near future