January 2016 Group Read-The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

[Char]

I'm stalled out at the start of Mr. Yummy? (I think that's the name of it), but I should be able to read more over the weekend.

[Walter]

Just finished "The Little Green God of Agony". One of those rare endings capable nowadays of eliciting a little shiver from my brain's greatly calloused fear center.

Outside of that, I enjoyed the empathy subtext. As human beings, our base impulse is to treat whatever our personal normal is as, well, normal. Live in that isolated normal long enough and our natural inclination is to lose empathy for others outside of said normal. Louis CK has made some biting observations on this subject.

[Walter]

Just finished "Obits". Possibly my favorite story in this collection thus far. Substitute 'fiction writer' for 'obit writer', and I can see how terrifying this story might have been for the author to write.

[Walter]

Just finished.

There were some thought provoking stories in this collection. Some I didn't comment on, because they didn't move me enough to do so (though I will say that I found Tressa's comments about "Mile 81" quite trenchant).

Good choice to start off 2016 here in HA.

[P.S.]

I'm half way through and really enjoying it. My favourites are A Death and The Dune, but I found the almost comical Mile 81 a strange choice to lead the series. I agree with Tressa about Pete's language. Instead of being a device for character development, I can imagine it serves only to polarize readers. Maybe King was trying to make some readers not care about Pete's fate? Surely not!

[Jack]

I finished the Bad Little Kid story. I thought it was pretty good. The kid himself felt like a bit of a cartoon character to me though, which had me on the fence for a while.

[Tonya]

Just finished Mister Yummy. I liked it. I like the story of Batman and Robin also, along with Under the Weather. The Bone Church reminded me of songs sung in the Irish pubs. Not my favorite, but it had a chilling effect like you wanted to remember (the elephants) and forget at the same time. But I think my favorites so far has been The Dune And Mile 81.

[Danelle]

I've completed the book. Overall I liked 17/20. Most notably The Dune, Ur (I really loved the dark tower series), Obits and Afterlife. For some reason I really didn't like The Bus is Another World.

[Monica]

I finished A death and The bone church too. A death was kinda meh, I don't know. And as far as it concerns poetry I don't know what I feel I don't read much of it. It was weird.

[Tom]

Got started on the book late as I had a lot of reading commitments. Anyhow, I'm well stuck in now and am wallowing in King's rich prose. I've enjoyed 'Batman and Robin ...' And 'Dune'. I love how SK gets inside the mind and affectations of the old codgers in these stories. My dad's in his eighties and is fast approaching the dementia of 'Pop' in the first one. I hope he doesn't carry out a retribution like the one at the end of the story, though!

[Jack]

I've just finished reading The Death, and I quite enjoyed it. I love a bit of Weird West, and that's what I was expecting when I started out on the story, but no, it was a standard mystery tale that twisted around a little. I liked it - I wanted to like it more. A few stories in, and I'm still wondering if there's going to be any horror in this book!

[Jack]

Just finished The Bone Church. I liked the story it told, but I have to admit I'm not any kind of poetry fan. Couldn't wait to get past this one and one to the next...

[Canavan]

Brief thoughts on “Under the Weather”. ✭✭✭✭

I ended up liking this one much more than I thought I would. There are a couple of noteworthy aspects to the story. The first is the theme. (view spoiler)[King’s story is one in a long line in which fictional characters refuse to accept the truth of death. Two very famous ones popped into my head while reading “Under the Weather” — Robert Bloch’s Psycho (and the Hitchcock film of the same name, of course) and Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”.

The other attribute of the King story to make note of is its “self-spoilery” nature. Once Carlo, the doorman, makes mention of the smell in 5-C, you pretty know where this one is headed. The rest is merely filling in some of the blanks. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. King alludes to this in the prelude, stating that “this is one of those tales where its okay for the reader to be one step ahead of the narrator”. As a general rule, I agree with this; that is, it’s okay for the author to telegraph the ending as long its supported by decent writing. This story isn’t quite so elegant and clever as “A Rose for Emily”, but it’s still pretty good. (The flip of that equation, of course, is that nothing is quite so unbearable as having to wade through really bad prose to get to an ending you can see a mile away.)

You see quite a few such telegraphed endings in horror writing, some good, some bad. One of my personal favorites is the old chestnut “Smee” by A. M. Burrage. I seriously doubt anyone can read it without knowing far in advance where the author is leading the reader and yet it’s written so well the reader doesn’t mind and, perhaps more important, the story is still rather chillingly effective. (hide spoiler)]

[Deborah]

I'm surprised nobody's commented yet on the thing that smacked me in the face: in two of the stories, people committed suicide by swallowing a bar of soap. It's such a strange method that King's reuse of it felt like a lack of imagination.

[Canavan]

“That Bus Is Another World” ✭✭½

I liked the idea that was the germ for this story, as embodied in the anecdote related by King in the story’s preface, more than the story itself. (view spoiler)[There’s some mild irony in that fact that Wilson is make an advertising pitch that exhorts his potential clients to embrace their responsibility while he evades his, but that’s not quite enough to redeem the story for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Char]

I liked Mr. Yummy quite a bit. I also noted that it was "For Michael McDowell". For those who might not know, McDowell was an incredible author in his own right. He also wrote the screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Lastly, he was a gay man during the time period in which the story took place, which brought some poignance to it, for me.

I adored Little Green God of Agony. I think anyone who's been in a serious amount of pain or in chronic pain can understand where this story is coming from.

[Ivan]

So, guys, I finished the book and this is my opinion about it. As a fan of horror and of short stories I really enjoyed this collection from King. Generally, a lot of the stories have something shocking or at least unexpected that happens, (view spoiler)[ even "Premium Harmony, merely 15 pages long, which opens with an 10-year-old married couple and finishes with a rather shocking death (hide spoiler)] I would say that my favorite stories are "The Dune", "Bad Little Kid" and "Ur" and in the following lines I will tell why

"The Dune"- (view spoiler)[ Again, the unpredictable ending was on spot and it wasn't just something that the reader couldn't guess, but at the same time it was mysterious and ominous. I liked how Kind laid a setting of a place called the Dune that could predict someone's death and then tricking us into thinking that the character, who wants to do his final Will and Testament, has seen his name in the sand. (hide spoiler)]
"Bad Little Kid"- (view spoiler)[ This time it is not just about the ending, but the whole narrative. I was just blown away by the story of a prisoner on a death row, whose beloved ones and eventually his life were destroyed by a bad kid that enjoys doing that, enjoys destroying people by the worst imaginable for it way. (hide spoiler)]

"Ur"- I have to give big credits to King for this one- I would have never thought that a story about a Kindle would be entertaining and, furthermore, creepy. This time I won't give much details from the story because I don't think I would be able to it in the right way- it's magic lies in the details and the development of the story. Maybe it would have been even more entertaining if I had red it on my Kindle.

Now, there are a lot of other stories and it would take me too long to describe all of them. i will just say that beside the tree stories I already mentioned, the liked most of the others, including "Mile 81", which wasn't the best pick for many. The last point I want to make is that beside the good short stories, there were two poems that I really didn't like- because I generally don't like poems that much and because those didn't look like a piece of poetry when it comes to rhymes.

[Canavan]

Charlene wrote (in part):

I liked Mr. Yummy quite a bit. I also noted that it was "For Michael McDowell". Fit those who might not know, McDowell was an incredible author in his own right. He also wrote the screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Lastly, he was a gay man during the time period in which the story took place, which brought some poignance to it, for me.

Nice post. If I once knew that McDowell was gay, I managed to forget that fact and so missed the significance of that dedication. I see from his Wikipedia page that he succumbed to an AIDS-related disease in 1999. The article highlights a number of ties to King. Tabitha King completed McDowell’s unfinished novel, Candles Burning . McDowell wrote the screenplay for King’s Thinner . And back during the 80s horror boom, King described McDowell as “the finest writer of paperback originals in America today”.

[Canavan]

Ivan noted (in part):

there were two poems that I really didn't like- because I generally don't like poems that much and because those didn't look like a piece of poetry when it comes to rhymes

I’d have to dig up my copy of Bazaar and look to make sure (and I’m no expert on poetry in any case), but King’s writing free verse. Lots of great poets wrote free verse: Milton, Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, etc. I’m certainly not putting King in that class, but my point is that it doesn’t have to rhyme to be poetry.

[Obsidian]

I finished and was only blown away by A Death, Afterlife, and Henry Wouk is Still Alive. Everything else I felt good to okay to meh about. Some of the stories like Obit felt repetitive to me to other stories I have read elsewhere. Stories like Mr. Yummy were okay, but didn't read horror to me. I think that was my biggest issue. There were okay stories, but didn't read horror or King to me for the most part.

[Tressa]

P.S. wrote: "I'm half way through and really enjoying it. My favourites are A Death and The Dune, but I found the almost comical Mile 81 a strange choice to lead the series. I agree with Tressa about Pete's lan..."

I think King really fails at writing for the kids in "Mile 81." Pete's part especially just took me out of a chilling little story and really turned me off. King's writing a lot of times rings so falsely when he's forcing some unbelievable dialogue and action through his kid characters.

Here are my thoughts on the stories "Mile 81" through "Ur."
"Mile 81" - 2 stars (view spoiler)[
You've read it all before: Some inanimate object comes to life and starts attacking stupid adults one by one until the annoying kids are victorious over it and saves the day. After reading King for so many decades, I realize that only occasionally is he spot on in his characterization of kids and how they really act and speak. His younger kids possess wisdom beyond their years, and the older kids do immature things like spit through their fingers to take something back they wish they hadn't said. This story is derivative...of King.

"Premium Harmony" - 1 star
In most short stories, even where it seems like nothing is happening, something is happening! Not with this one. A married thirtysomething couple driving in the car argue about money, smoking, and eating junk food, then the obese wife goes into a convenience store to buy a purple ball for her niece's birthday and drops dead on the floor. The customers and the newly made widower stand around watching her until she's carted away. Then the man goes back to the car where his dog has died from being shut up in the hot vehicle. The man drives home. Can I just say that I had the husband? There's more regret and sentimentality in Patti Griffin's two minute song "Long Ride Home" than in this dull story. I get what King was trying to do, but he didn't execute it fully. This seems like a throwaway chapter in one of his lesser books.

"Batman and Robin Have an Alteracation" - 4 stars
I really enjoyed this tale about a dedicated, patient son taking his father, who suffers from Alzheimer's, out for the usual Sunday lunch at Applebee's and on the way back have a violent altercation after a fender bender. A reminder of the spur-of-the-moment violence and tragedy inherent in "civilized" human beings.

"The Dune" - 4 stars
OK. I like to brag about how cynic ol' me can predict an ending, and although one COULD see this one coming from way down the dune, I was so attuned to the old man at the end of his days telling this tale that the chilling end kind of sneaked up on me.

"Bad Little Kid" - 5 stars
The stuff of nightmares. Very chilling—like a long episode of one of those nightmarish Twilight Zones.

"A Death" - 5 stars
Again, thought I predicted this one, but a tale with an ending that got flipped on its head. Loved its simplicity.

"The Bone Church" - n/a
Didn't have the patience to listen to this one. May read it later.

"Morality" - 5 stars
Another great tale about the unspeakable capabilities that lie calmly under the surface of every human being.

"Afterlife" - 4 stars
I really enjoyed this story about a man who dies of cancer who repeatedly ends up in purgatory and has to keep picking which door to walk through: the door to permanent death or the one leading back to his life where he will relive every good and bad thing that happens to him...and that he does. The plot is a celebration of the human spirit that believes this time around he'll do it differently.

"Ur" - 5 stars
Amazon mistakenly delivers a Kindle to an English professor that should rightfully belong to someone in an alternate universe. Loaded on the Kindle are thousands of classic books written by famous authors who died too early in this world. Also loaded on the Kindle are news stories in which historical events happened and sometimes didn't happen, and dead historical figures from this one are still kicking it in that one. Included is the nightmare scenario of a, get this, President Hillary Clinton. But, as the professor discovers, there is also a section that tells the future news, and if you try to change the course of a future event, you will get a visit from some unsavory characters. Loved the narrator and the story. (hide spoiler)]

[Tressa]

Jack wrote: "I've just finished reading The Death, and I quite enjoyed it. I love a bit of Weird West, and that's what I was expecting when I started out on the story, but no, it was a standard mystery tale tha..."

I was set to barely appreciate this story. But then I got to the end and appreciated it very much.

[Tressa]

Jack wrote: "I finished the Bad Little Kid story. I thought it was pretty good. The kid himself felt like a bit of a cartoon character to me though, which had me on the fence for a while."

What I liked about this story was the lifelong suffering the bad little kid could cause. I know that makes me sound like a psycho, but it's one of those dark stories where you could go mad thinking about all the enjoyable things in life you'd have to give up just to avoid the coming tragedies.

[Tressa]

Ivan wrote: "So, guys, I finished the book and this is my opinion about it. As a fan of horror and of short stories I really enjoyed this collection from King. Generally, a lot of the stories have something sho..."

Ivan, I enjoyed "The Dune," "Bad Little Kid," and "Ur" for all the same reasons.

[Obsidian]

Tressa wrote: "P.S. wrote: "I'm half way through and really enjoying it. My favourites are A Death and The Dune, but I found the almost comical Mile 81 a strange choice to lead the series. I agree with Tressa abo..."

Oh good. It just wasn't me that was 100 percent turned off by him!

[Tressa]

O wrote: "Oh good. It just wasn't me that was 100 percent turned off by him! ..."

No. Now I am no prude and have read a lot of unsavory stuff in my many decades on earth, but the thoughts in young Pete's mind even for a prepubescent teen trying on his swagger really just don't fit the story; this character rings so false and feels forced.

[Char]

Canavan wrote: "Charlene wrote (in part):


I liked Mr. Yummy quite a bit. I also noted that it was "For Michael McDowell". Fit those who might not know, McDowell was an incredible author in his own right. He al..."

I picked up Candles Burning at my local library on Saturday. :)

[Char]

Little Green God of Agony turned out to be my favorite story of the collection. Though I did greatly enjoy the very last one, This Bus is From Another World.

[Char]

Canavan wrote: "Charlene wrote (in part):


I liked Mr. Yummy quite a bit. I also noted that it was "For Michael McDowell". Fit those who might not know, McDowell was an incredible author in his own right. He al..."

Thank you, Canavan.

[Tressa]

Charlene wrote: "I picked up Candles Burning at my local library on Saturday. :) ."

This got pretty bad reviews. I tried to read it years ago and put it aside.

[Char]

Tressa wrote: "Charlene wrote: "I picked up Candles Burning at my local library on Saturday. :) ."

This got pretty bad reviews. I tried to read it years ago and put it aside."

I had a few friends warn me off of it, too. But it was there, and I figured what do I have to lose?

[Tressa]

Not a thang.

[Kimberly]

Charlene wrote: "Tressa wrote: "Charlene wrote: "I picked up Candles Burning at my local library on Saturday. :) ."

This got pretty bad reviews. I tried to read it years ago and put it aside."

I had a few friends..."
With that one, I think that it was too easy for me to discern where McDowell left off, and Tabitha began... I--personally--didn't see their styles as "together" as I would have hoped.

[Obsidian]

Tressa wrote: "O wrote: "Oh good. It just wasn't me that was 100 percent turned off by him! ..."

No. Now I am no prude and have read a lot of unsavory stuff in my many decades on earth, but the thoughts in young..."

I think that's what got me. The ending when he was kissed and his thoughts after that. Ugh. I wanted to throw some holy water at my Kindle lol.

[Obsidian]

Charlene wrote: "Little Green God of Agony turned out to be my favorite story of the collection. Though I did greatly enjoy the very last one, This Bus is From Another World."

I definitely thought it was interesting and was more horror than most of the other stories in the collection. Some of the stories I would have liked more if he had fleshed them out into novellas I think. This is one of them.

[Obsidian]

Aaron(RetroSonic) wrote: "I just finished the first two short stories in this book. Enjoying it very much. I agree with Tressa regarding the thoughts in young Pete's mind. It's crude and tasteless. Yes, he wants his older b..."

I think if King wanted him to act this way than he should have aged him up. A lot. I have no idea why he went and then turned him into someone that I had a hard time reconciling with a supposed 10 year old boy as he was in this story.

[Canavan]

Thoughts on “Obits”. ✭✭✭✭

For the record, I agree with King’s assessment of the B picture, I Bury the Living. I watched it about 10 years ago at the behest of a film aficionado and thought it was a nice little gem. Not great, mind you, but entertaining and for the most part fairly effective.

(view spoiler)[On the negative side of the ledger, it’s hard not to see “Obits” as much more than a rehash of ideas previously found in “Word Processor of the Gods”. And while I more or less enjoyed “Word Processor”, I didn’t find the underlying idea all that interesting. On the plus side, unlike some of King’s fans, I thinks he’s a more technically accomplished writer now than he was, say, 30 years ago and “Obits” is (to my way of thinking) a better piece than “Word Processor”. And not just technically. What draws me to the story is not the supernatural element, which is frankly not all that compelling, but King’s visceral descriptions of the addictive process, in general, and more specifically the addictive power of writing. King, who knows a lot about addictions, has more than once talked about the addictive nature of writing in his personal life. (hide spoiler)]

[T.]

Amanda wrote: "So just read 1st story,Mile 81. Remembered that I had already read this when it was released as standalone novella. It's ok, feel quite indifferent to it."

Ironically, it was one of my favorite stories in the whole collection. I didn't read it when it was released originally, so I was kind of glad to get to it in the collection. I tend not to read his works until they're collected, like 'Mile 81.' What left you indifferent?

[T.]

Erin wrote: "Angela wrote: "Bad Little Kid was my favorite!"

That was a favorite of mine."

It was one of those stories that fits with King's grim humorous side. I also liked it a lot. It fits weirdly with, like, the 'Hearts in Atlantis' collection.

[T.]

Canavan wrote: "Brief thoughts on “Under the Weather”. ✭✭✭✭

I ended up liking this one much more than I thought I would. There are a couple of noteworthy aspects to the story. The first is the theme. [author:King..."

I liked Under the Weather, but I wanted more. One of my problems with this collection is how unfulfilled I felt by some of the stories, and this one feels that way. I understand his need, stylistically, to show some restraint here, but some of the stories needed more room to breathe, and I wish it had happened with this story.

[Tressa]

"Under the Weather" is pretty underwhelming as a whole, but in so few words I really got the love that the husband and wife had for each other, (view spoiler)[especially in the passages where she found out she couldn't have kids and instead of feeling like a victim she helped her husband on one of his early ad campaigns that the boss loved and they went on vacation with his bonus. King has more and more trouble writing kids, but he is excellent at writing women and husband and wives. And I thought the story would have a violent twist with the perhaps the exterminators doing something nasty and brutal with his "sick" wife; didn't know it would end on such a "Rose for Emily" note. (hide spoiler)]

I loathe baseball and anything on baseball and didn't finish "Blockade Billy."

[Jack]

I'm chewing Afterlife...

[Char]

Canavan wrote: "Thoughts on “Obits”. ✭✭✭✭

For the record, I agree with King’s assessment of the B picture, I Bury the Living. I watched it about 10 years ago at the behest of a film aficionado and t..."

Excellent point about King and his addictions, Canavan.

[Char]

Tressa wrote: ""Under the Weather" is pretty underwhelming as a whole, but in so few words I really got the love that the husband and wife had for each other, [spoilers removed]

I loathe baseball and anything on..."

Nice points, Tressa. I did like "Under the Weather", but for me it's the way that King (view spoiler)[ writes about grief. Specifically, the grief of losing a spouse. I'm fresh off a re-read of Bag of Bones-a large part of which was dedicated to the loss of a spouse, and the man has writing about grief down PAT. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel like the loss of a spouse may be King's biggest fear, even over and above his own death. As a person who's been married for over 30 years, I think that's also my biggest fear. Maybe right after the loss of a child.) (hide spoiler)]

[Myst]

I just can't get into this book. Stalled out 2/3 through the first story, other books from the library became available and I didn't touch Bazzaar again. I may try again after my tbr list has been greatly shortened.

[T.]

@Myst

I can totally get behind you. With every other SK collection, I would have vehemently disagreed, but I was wholly lukewarm on BoBD. The stories felt unfinished somehow.

[Tom]

Spoilers contained: It's a strange exercise after reading a SK tale, to write out the plot in a couple of sentences and compare it with the feelings and impact the story had on you. Take 'Morality' for instance; an intensive treatment of how temptation and bad decisions can have long-lasting consequences on a person's psyche and relationships. The gradual decline of Chad and Nora's marriage is masterfully done within the space of a few pages, and the relentless erosion of Nora's ethical position in the face of a reward of big bucks is very convincing.
Then you say the plot back to yourself: Old disabled man persuades a hitherto law-abiding woman to punch a kid in the face for $200,000. She and her husband start getting a kick out of assaulting each other and gain a penchant for rough sex. Marriage fails.
If we entertained such a plot, we'd throw it away without a second thought. King turns it into a believable masterpiece.

[Tressa]

Charlene, yes, I totally agree with you on this point. You can tell that King is so comfortable in his marriage after all these years, riding the ups and downs of everything that entails, that he is a pro at writing for married couples, (view spoiler)[especially about losing one. King strikes me as the kind of man who depends so much on the companionship and strength of his wife that he would die a day after she does. (hide spoiler)]

[Tressa]

Tom, so well said! It's why I keep on reading King, even after bellyaching about a lot of his writing. There's always that chance that something in his writing will soundly resonate the way another writer just can't pull off.

[Char]

Tressa wrote: "Charlene, yes, I totally agree with you on this point. You can tell that King is so comfortable in his marriage after all these years, riding the ups and downs of everything that entails, that he i..."

Yep, agreed!