REC: Fans of the top-notch crackfic? READ THIS BOOK
I fell in love with Stephen King's book the instant I opened the cover to read the blurb on the book jacket. Why? Because there isn't a blurb. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Nary a word, not about the book nor about the author. It's just this:
And that's just pure genius. Because, seriously, if you can't figure out what you're getting into just seeing a) the title, b) Stephen King's name, and c) the picture, you very clearly Just Won't Get It no matter what. I loveLoveLOVE that the book is being presented this way. I hope they don't change this with later editions. It's a book called Under the Dome. By Stephen King. That's either enough or it isn't, you know?
Man oh man, does he ever embrace this fabulous old skool SF trope. He knows he's writing crackfic of the finest kind and, when presented with the options of GOING BIG or GOING HOME, BIG it is, baby! Not only does he slam a gigantic invisible dome on top of an unsuspecting town, but he populates the town with all the most magnificent sorts of tropetastic characters: Drifter/Reluctant Hero with Issues from a Military Past! Feisty Brainy Girl Reporter! Scrappy Boy-Genius! Brave but Human Doctor with Worries of His Own! And the villains! OH MY GOD the villains! Crazy-Ass Holy Roller! Corrupt Power-Hungry Politician! Increasingly Unstable Murderer (of course!) Who Is Also the Son of the Corrupt Politician (BETTER STILL) and Also Also Has It In for Our Drifter/Reluctant Hero (BEST OF ALL)! And now? An Ill-Advised Military Plan by A Colonel Just Doing His Job for The Greater Good is in place! Wheee! It's glorious, I tell you. Glorious. These characters, as well as the myriad of other characters, are richly drawn and lovingly realized...but they're also unabashedly, shamelessly, and gleefully penned by a hand which has delighted in turning the pages of the pulpiest fiction to be had.
This book is, as so many of his stories are, another way to celebrate his undying love of The Lord of the Flies. As far as I can tell (because I'm barely a quarter of the way in as I write this due to a masochistic need to savor this first reading for as long as possible), Under the Dome is his love letter to the entirety of skiffy pulp fiction. Maybe in part because of that -- maybe just because he wanted to and could -- this book is quite possibly the funniest book I've read in ages. His utter delight in writing this shines through. In what is my favorite for-instance (so far!), I had to put down the book, I was laughing so hard because of this line:
The Lord spake unto him again, saying, "Did you get up on the stupid side of the bed today, Lester?"
I'm dying laughing all over again, just typing it out. Oh god. This book is the best abdominal workout I've had in ages. I love the fun King has with this because it's exactly the kind of fun to have when, as an author, you're all, "You know what'd be awesome? GIANT INVISIBLE DOME OUT OF NOWHERE. That's right! Strap in, bitches! GIANT INVISIBLE DOME FTW MOTHERFUCKERS!!1!"
That he started this book about twenty-five years ago is also pretty evident. There's an iPod reference I'd bet his next royalty check started out a Walkman reference. Same for the Uncle Barak I'm pretty sure was once Uncle Bill. For that matter, the main protags are roughly the same age he was twenty-five years ago and just as surely as Stephen King's writing reflects the pop culture of the time, his leads reflect where he's at in life. The beauty is the story itself is utterly timeless in its cracktasticness. GIANT INVISIBLE DOME, PEOPLE! *gleeeee!*
And that's just pure genius. Because, seriously, if you can't figure out what you're getting into just seeing a) the title, b) Stephen King's name, and c) the picture, you very clearly Just Won't Get It no matter what. I loveLoveLOVE that the book is being presented this way. I hope they don't change this with later editions. It's a book called Under the Dome. By Stephen King. That's either enough or it isn't, you know?
Man oh man, does he ever embrace this fabulous old skool SF trope. He knows he's writing crackfic of the finest kind and, when presented with the options of GOING BIG or GOING HOME, BIG it is, baby! Not only does he slam a gigantic invisible dome on top of an unsuspecting town, but he populates the town with all the most magnificent sorts of tropetastic characters: Drifter/Reluctant Hero with Issues from a Military Past! Feisty Brainy Girl Reporter! Scrappy Boy-Genius! Brave but Human Doctor with Worries of His Own! And the villains! OH MY GOD the villains! Crazy-Ass Holy Roller! Corrupt Power-Hungry Politician! Increasingly Unstable Murderer (of course!) Who Is Also the Son of the Corrupt Politician (BETTER STILL) and Also Also Has It In for Our Drifter/Reluctant Hero (BEST OF ALL)! And now? An Ill-Advised Military Plan by A Colonel Just Doing His Job for The Greater Good is in place! Wheee! It's glorious, I tell you. Glorious. These characters, as well as the myriad of other characters, are richly drawn and lovingly realized...but they're also unabashedly, shamelessly, and gleefully penned by a hand which has delighted in turning the pages of the pulpiest fiction to be had.
This book is, as so many of his stories are, another way to celebrate his undying love of The Lord of the Flies. As far as I can tell (because I'm barely a quarter of the way in as I write this due to a masochistic need to savor this first reading for as long as possible), Under the Dome is his love letter to the entirety of skiffy pulp fiction. Maybe in part because of that -- maybe just because he wanted to and could -- this book is quite possibly the funniest book I've read in ages. His utter delight in writing this shines through. In what is my favorite for-instance (so far!), I had to put down the book, I was laughing so hard because of this line:
The Lord spake unto him again, saying, "Did you get up on the stupid side of the bed today, Lester?"
I'm dying laughing all over again, just typing it out. Oh god. This book is the best abdominal workout I've had in ages. I love the fun King has with this because it's exactly the kind of fun to have when, as an author, you're all, "You know what'd be awesome? GIANT INVISIBLE DOME OUT OF NOWHERE. That's right! Strap in, bitches! GIANT INVISIBLE DOME FTW MOTHERFUCKERS!!1!"
That he started this book about twenty-five years ago is also pretty evident. There's an iPod reference I'd bet his next royalty check started out a Walkman reference. Same for the Uncle Barak I'm pretty sure was once Uncle Bill. For that matter, the main protags are roughly the same age he was twenty-five years ago and just as surely as Stephen King's writing reflects the pop culture of the time, his leads reflect where he's at in life. The beauty is the story itself is utterly timeless in its cracktasticness. GIANT INVISIBLE DOME, PEOPLE! *gleeeee!*