[Perry] The Strengths of Stephen King

Have we got any Stephen King readers in the crowd here?

Sure we do, we’ve had some typing away about him in the comments here and there, don’t try to hide!

Come, sit up front here. I’ll clear you a seat.

Let’s talk.

So recently, I finished reading  a King novel called Doctor Sleep. For those not in the know, it was written as a sequel to The Shining.

I could talk about the new novel but there was something else that kind of stood out to me that I wanted to go over instead.

The strengths of Stephen King.

It was while I was reading Doctor Sleep that I…that it really sort of hit me as to WHY I find the man’s work to be such a draw.

It’s not his monsters, though some of his monsters and villains have formed the kernel of many a childhood nightmare. Hells, some of his monsters STILL creep me out, either on a reread or just sitting here thinking about it.

Pennywise the dancing clown? The room of 1408? Annie Wilkins in Misery? The twin girls from The Shining even?

He’s got a great touch with monsters but it’s not what keeps me coming back for more.

It’s the real, gritty reactions that his characters have to their various situations.

Let me tell you what sort of triggered all of this.

There’s a moment in Doctor Sleep where a character is describing sitting with their aged mother when, in the middle of the night, the poor woman falls and essentially shatters all of the brittle bones in her arm. 

Pretty wince-worthy situation, right?

But the character helps the mother as best she can, calls the ambulance…and then calls her husband and has a breakdown on the telephone.

And holy hells, was that breakdown EVER convincing.

I can’t even describe it to you in a way that would make you understand. If some of you are interested in it and don’t think you’ll ever read the book, I can pull out the quote and toss it up for you in the comments if you wanted to take a look.

But…it was the bleak and utterly real description that the woman gives of the situation and the utter hopelessness she felt…

I can’t even describe it.

A cold and icy hand reached up into my guts while reading that and it squeezed.

It was bleak and it was hopeless but it was real. Reading that…brings to mind that helpless waiting that we do in hospitals as our loved ones go under the knife.

It brings to mind the feeling you get when you KNOW a friend is self-destructing and that there’s nothing you can do to stop it or even ease their pain.

It’s that time freezing, heart stopping moment when you see your infant child teetering on the edge at the top of the stairs and you KNOW that you’re too far away to reach them in time to prevent their fall.

It’s the feeling you get when you realize and BELIEVE, for the very first time in your life, that everyone you know, including yourself, will one day grow old and die.

See, where I think King is fantastic…is where he can communicate the ground-level, gritty, dirt real emotions that we feel when confronted with unexpected situations.

Thinking about it now, I think the reason why I found his books so terrifying when I was younger (and even now, sorta, but shhhhhh)…is because he can effectively communicate what it FEELS like to be afraid.

He really knows how to convey that feeling where the skin tries to jump off your damned neck when you hear an unexpected sound.

He knows how to get across that ball-tightening terror. The way you have to tense up your entire arm to reach out and open the door because you know that if you do anything less, you’ll see yourself trembling and lose your nerve.

He knows how to make me BELIEVE what my characters feel, whether it’s the helpless feeling when an elderly family member breaks their arm in the middle of the night like in Doctor Sleep…

…or the the justifications we use to convince ourselves that we deserve something that we really don’t, as seen in Full Dark, No Stars…

…or just the way we try to convince ourselves that we’re not afraid when all we want to do in a given situation is RUN, as see in It.

I know that he’s prolific, and I’d be the first person to say that he can be sort of hit or miss, especially with his recent works.

But guys?

When he hits?

Holy hell, does he ever hit. 

Are there any other authors you’ve read that can convey that sense of real emotion? Or perhaps a Stephen King novel you think should be held up as an exemplar of that point?

I’d love to add to my reading list!

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[Perry] How to Scare People
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[Perry] Perry’s Review of The Unremembered