<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>228191</id>
  <title><![CDATA[The Dark Half (Signet)]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0451167317]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780451167316]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079m/228191.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079s/228191.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">11597</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">35</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">1316297</id>
  <media_type nil="true"></media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">1989</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>The Dark Half</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:9969|5:108|4:162|3:235|2:60|1:16|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">9969</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">34301</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">11638</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">210</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.44]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[458]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[26]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>3389</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Stephen King]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1261866457p5/3389.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1261866457p2/3389.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>735314</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>33000</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="11636">
      <review>
  <id>3033700</id>
    <user>
    <id>188863</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Shanti]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Portland, OR]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/188863-shanti]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1192002611p3/188863.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1192002611p2/188863.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">228191</id>
  <isbn>0451167317</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780451167316</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">26</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079m/228191.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079s/228191.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.43</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>457</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Yes]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jul 13 11:17:04 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 00:30:59 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Short read and my first Stephen King book. I used to regard King as a pop-writer. I had a neighbor who couldn't get enough of him about 20 years ago. I just rolled my eyes at her. Now I'm her. LOL. <br/><br/>This book is a great gate-way drug to King. It was left in my apt. laundry room in the giv...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3033700">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3033700]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3033700]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>7094041</id>
    <user>
    <id>398419</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kent]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/398419-kent]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197427192p3/398419.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197427192p2/398419.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9173</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[no]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Oct 01 11:47:54 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 01 12:07:37 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I don't like Stephen King, and this book is a great example why. He is, at best, a hack writer. While many people consider him a master of horror, there is nothing horrific here. What King does seem to be a master of is gore! With his attention to detail, and need to describe every bloody act down t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7094041">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7094041]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7094041]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>67840175</id>
    <user>
    <id>1758811</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Dustin]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nampa, ID]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1758811-dustin]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1235681768p3/1758811.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1235681768p2/1758811.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 17 21:38:14 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 17 22:11:14 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I was warned that this was perhaps the worst novel King had ever produced, but not only that, it was kind of the halfway point that left behind some of his best literary work and started to flail off into books that had good ideas, but were not as cohesive and unique as what had come before.  Consid...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67840175">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67840175]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67840175]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>42672015</id>
    <user>
    <id>574616</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rachel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cambridge, The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/574616-rachel]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1193223367p3/574616.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1193223367p2/574616.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">2309543</id>
  <isbn>034095261X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780340952610</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2309543.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.70</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>10</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Thad Beaumont is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has developed a lucrative thriller-writing alter ego named George Stark. When he stops being fun Beaumont wants to kill him. But George Stark does not want to die.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="2009" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jan 11 08:36:05 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 18 05:20:16 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I first read this when I was 17.  It's one of those books that has always stayed in my head as being mind-blowingly brilliant.  17 years later I'm giving it another go - terrified that it won't live up to my own hype.... here we go!<br/><br/>Well I think that was even better than expected - which ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42672015">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42672015]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42672015]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>2542995</id>
    <user>
    <id>135825</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Lindsay]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Belmont, MA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/135825-lindsay]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1182095429p3/135825.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1182095429p2/135825.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">228191</id>
  <isbn>0451167317</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780451167316</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">26</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079m/228191.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079s/228191.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="stuff-by-the-king" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[horror fans, King fans]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jun 29 14:50:46 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 29 14:57:43 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Apparently, most babies start out as twins in the womb.  Sometimes it stays that way, and the mother delivers two babies.  Sometimes, though, the stronger twin absorbes - eats - the weaker one, and no one is ever the wiser.<br/>Spooky, huh?<br/>&quot;The Dark Half&quot; explores alter-egos, evil t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2542995">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2542995]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2542995]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>63509271</id>
    <user>
    <id>2385250</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Blake]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ama, LA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2385250-blake-petit]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1244176378p3/2385250.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1244176378p2/2385250.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="horror" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 14 17:25:23 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jul 19 19:08:31 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A novelist decides to eliminate his own highly successful pseudonym, only to find the more insidious side of his own nature has taken on a life of its own. George Stark lives, and he wants to go on living. While not King's best work, it's a good one, an interesting examination of how fiction dominat...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63509271">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63509271]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63509271]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>20653145</id>
    <user>
    <id>144359</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Raegan]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144359-raegan-butcher]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1208887805p3/144359.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1208887805p2/144359.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Nov 15 00:00:00 -0800 1990</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Apr 21 11:40:54 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Apr 21 11:42:24 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Stephen King in peak form with this ripping yarn about a murderous pseudonym  who comes to life and causes much trouble for his creator/alter ego. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20653145]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20653145]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>63543165</id>
    <user>
    <id>1679810</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mark]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Des Plaines, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1679810-mark]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 14 21:40:49 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Aug 23 13:12:01 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;The Sparrows are Flying Again.&quot;<br/>Based on Stephen King's foray into pseudonym-dom (is that a word?) and his eventual departure from it, <em>The Dark Half</em> is about Thad Beaumont, a successful writer who survived a life-or-death operation as a child and grew up to be able to support a famil...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63543165">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63543165]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63543165]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>34507448</id>
    <user>
    <id>246748</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Margaret]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Tampa, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/246748-margaret]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1251160746p3/246748.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1251160746p2/246748.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="2008" />
        <shelf name="fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Oct 04 09:39:31 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Oct 19 10:27:15 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was good. Stephen King confuses me - I tried to reread Nightmares and Dreamscapes a few months ago and put it down because the writing was so cheap. I figured I'd give this a shot and at the very least it would be a quick, entertaining read, but it was surprisingly good. I liked the writing, as...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34507448">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34507448]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34507448]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>9615547</id>
    <user>
    <id>161897</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Velcro]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Oakland, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/161897-velcro-putnam]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1240008595p3/161897.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1240008595p2/161897.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[lazy hypochondriacs]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 27 13:45:56 -0800 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jan 18 08:10:20 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[No surprise that it's a modern Jekyll and Hyde; what did surprise me is how psychological it continues to be.  While Stephenson made Jekyll a doctor, King makes Beaumont a writer - and the horror comes not from the clinical gore or the stark grotesqueries but from the protagonist's inability to expl...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9615547">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9615547]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9615547]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>8327296</id>
    <user>
    <id>558268</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Caroline]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Melbourne, Australia]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/558268-caroline]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="american" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Oct 27 17:03:07 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 27 17:03:07 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read this novel quite quickly, once I got past the slow start.<br/><br/>I found it hard to engage with at first. Several side-characters, with in depth narratives, featured in the first 1/4 of the book. Characters that were either killed, or were witnesses/law enforcement officers, and whom I fe...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8327296">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8327296]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8327296]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>53954152</id>
    <user>
    <id>2250428</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tiah]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2250428-tiah-keever]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1240749294p3/2250428.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1240749294p2/2250428.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">542820</id>
  <isbn>067082982X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780670829828</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">13</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175651272m/542820.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175651272s/542820.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/542820.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.49</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>228</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Apr 25 16:00:41 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Apr 25 16:03:11 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read this when I was 10, it was really creepy at the time. I believe I reread it in middle school as well, at least once, maybe twice. They find some fingernails in the main character's brain pretty quick into the story. That's disturbing, eh? I liked it. I'm not so sure I could reread it now and ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53954152">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53954152]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53954152]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>38332127</id>
    <user>
    <id>1738758</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tony]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Los Angeles, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1738758-tony-gleeson]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1227294937p3/1738758.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1227294937p2/1738758.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Nov 21 13:41:35 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Nov 21 13:47:23 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is totally different, in style and feeling, from anything of King's that I read before or after.  He claims to have been influenced by the dark and creepy crime fiction of Shane Stevens like &quot;Dead City&quot; (which his comments led me to seek out). I may not always like King's stuff (thoug...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38332127">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38332127]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38332127]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>12622129</id>
    <user>
    <id>96472</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Emily Ann]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Frederick, MD]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/96472-emily-ann-meyer]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180016132p3/96472.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180016132p2/96472.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">228191</id>
  <isbn>0451167317</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780451167316</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">26</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079m/228191.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079s/228191.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="2008" />
        <shelf name="fluff" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Apr 21 16:49:47 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jan 15 17:36:33 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Apr 21 16:49:33 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Compared to the other two King books I read (Lisey's Story and Salem's Lot), I didn't like this one quite as much but it was quite compelling and the premise was just freaky enough to make me look over my shoulder a bit.<br/><br/>Interestingly, I saw a lot of parallels between this and Lisey's sto...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12622129">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12622129]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12622129]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5628272</id>
    <user>
    <id>321508</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Karschtl]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Vienna, Austria]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/321508-karschtl]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1188480192p3/321508.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1188480192p2/321508.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">34806</id>
  <isbn>3548252729</isbn>
  <isbn13>9783548252728</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">2</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Stark. The Dark Half.]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168572712m/34806.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168572712s/34806.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34806.Stark_The_Dark_Half_</link>
  <average_rating>3.63</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>35</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="darkish" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Sep 04 06:47:18 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 08:43:48 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;Stark&quot; war mein zweite King-Buch, das mittlerweile schon mindestens 15 Jahre her.<br/><br/>Deshalb kann ich mich zwar nicht mehr an alle Einzelheiten erinnern, aber doch an einige wichtige Details. Ich sag nur: Sperlinge!<br/> <br/>Die Freundin meines Bruders nahm das Buch damals auch...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5628272">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5628272]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5628272]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>57651571</id>
    <user>
    <id>2363005</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Candace]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Fort Worth, TX]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2363005-candace-klenk]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1243720061p3/2363005.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1243720061p2/2363005.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu May 28 14:29:58 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu May 28 14:31:22 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[One of my least favorite Stephen King books.  Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my &quot;Think inside the box&quot; brain around Stephen Kings &quot;Think outside the box&quot; stories!  This would be the most difficult one that I personally dealt with!  Would still recommend to anyone who is a ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57651571">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57651571]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57651571]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>40397706</id>
    <user>
    <id>1814641</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Brad]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Astoria, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1814641-brad]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">228191</id>
  <isbn>0451167317</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780451167316</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">26</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079m/228191.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172884079s/228191.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228191.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 18 13:11:46 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 18 13:14:07 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Not my favorite King work, but worth reading of course. Movie was awful. Timothy Hutton is not good as the hero and is even worse as alter-ego badass Stark... Can't help but think King probably drugdged this story out of his relationship with his pseudonym Richard Bachman.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40397706]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40397706]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>76382015</id>
    <user>
    <id>1093061</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Bunxena]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Canada]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1093061-bunxena-rabbit-princess]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1261345540p3/1093061.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1261345540p2/1093061.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">542820</id>
  <isbn>067082982X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780670829828</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">13</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175651272m/542820.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175651272s/542820.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/542820.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="borrowed" />
        <shelf name="high-school" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Nov 01 11:33:29 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Nov 01 11:34:56 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Very, very creepy and weird. Eyeballs in the guy's brain? Ew. If you're skittish and easily scared, don't read it at night. That was probably the only way I avoided being traumatized by it (I have an overactive imagination, so horror is something I generally avoid).]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76382015]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76382015]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>68392946</id>
    <user>
    <id>1938253</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kyle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1938253-kyle]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1235491855p3/1938253.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1235491855p2/1938253.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Aug 21 17:25:03 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Aug 21 17:34:05 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The story moves, but something vital is missing. It's almost like King never really felt this one all the way. Still, it's a decent read. Just don't expect the gut-twisting punch of some of his other works, i.e. Pet Sematery, The Shining, The Stand, etc...]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68392946]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68392946]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>73384175</id>
    <user>
    <id>1044380</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jak]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Wimbledon, London, The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1044380-jak]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1207055562p3/1044380.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1207055562p2/1044380.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">11597</id>
  <isbn>045052468X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780450524684</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">163</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Dark Half]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289m/11597.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166480289s/11597.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9969</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write <em>The Regulators</em>.) At the beginning of <em>The Dark Half</em> (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead. <p>  Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled <em>Machine Dreams</em>, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in <em>The Dark Half</em> as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.<p>  Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.<p>  This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the <em>New York Times</em> writes, &quot;<em>Misery</em> (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. <em>The Dark Half</em> is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.&quot; <em>--Fiona Webster</em></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1989</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Oct 04 02:22:22 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 05 09:02:32 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Not his best, not his worst. <br/><br/>Successful writer is outshone by his pseudonym alter ego and decides it’s time to kill him off. However the alter ego rises from the grave having decided being dead is no funs and starts to hunt down the writer……<br/>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73384175]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73384175]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="horror" />
          <shelf name="stephen-king" />
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="king" />
          <shelf name="stephenking" />
          <shelf name="thriller" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=228191</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>