Books Stephen King Recommends discussion
This topic is about
Hex
July-August 2016 Hex
>
Hex Part 2 to End (SPOILERS)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Debra
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Jun 18, 2016 07:56AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
I put off finishing the book because I got so creeped out, y'all. Wow. Nightmares all around! I was really surprised at whom a character lets burn in the church. He had just been passing judgement on how terrible the town was, and then suddenly decided to be just as awful??? Wait, didn't he touch the witch? Is that why he let them die?This author knows his horror, doesn't he? Did anyone else feel the echoes of "The Monkey's Paw" in the end?
Summary Part 2: BATSH#% CRAZINESS.
I agree. This book was so bizarre. I almost felt like I was watching the town too, like the witch. The way the whole town just accepted the fact that this 300 year old witch kept randomly popping up all over. It kept my interest though, just waiting for something bad to happen. You knew it was coming.
So....is the town clear now? Katherine's like all "y'all to blame for all this sh%# anyway. I'm not doing anything but standing here, you dumma$$es!"Or is he going to be a new witch?
I reckon he's the new witch.
Mod
Or is he just going to be a crazy guy sewing his eyes and mouth shut? Was there any hint he would have any kind of powers? He's not a ghost.
Yet.... Given what the villagers did to the original witch 300 years before, I don't reckon his chances!
Mod
Who, or what, do you believe was at the door?
Mod
Mod
Yeah, that door knock gave me a "Monkey's Paw" vibe!
I think it was the Son, too! But who knows what sort of condition he was in! ;)
I was devastated when Tyler died. I don't even know what to say about it. Things just went from bad to worst to total chaos. Jaydon died without ever taking ownership for the things he did. It's so typical of the blame attitude that is so prevalent today. I was hoping that at some point, he'd acknowledge his own culpability. He kind of did when Tyler punched him for causing Fletcher's death, but not the repercussions of his mocking the witch.
I also thought about "Monkey's Paw" when I was reading. I do think it was Tyler knocking on the door, and I'm glad Steve didn't open the door to him.
I guess that all the witch really wanted was to be free, and perhaps there would have been a different outcome if the townsfolk hadn't caved in to mass hysteria. It's kind of an interesting lesson that we often create our own drama.
But I don't get the ending. By freeing the witch, Steve took her place? The only correlation between the two of them was the resurrection of their sons. The witch had been killed. Steve wasn't dead (or was he?). The townspeople sewed her eyes & mouth. Steve did his own.
The other thing was that the witch appeared to be happy at the end when she brought the children to the town center, there was no disputing the earlier malevolence that kept the fear and hysteria at fever pitch.
Lots unanswered at the end, but definitely has an effect on the reader. I didn't get Steve [thanks, Janice!] leaving his family to burn AT ALL. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Why did he do that?? Or was it because he touched the witch so he must do something horrible like Fletcher??
Do you mean Steve leaving his family to burn? I agree that it seemed out of character. Perhaps he was under the influence of the witch, or the influence of the mass hysteria, and wasn't fully "there".
Mod
Yeah, I felt "The Monkey's Paw" vibe, as well. And I got to the point of just wanting the book to end as he had killed off everyone I cared about. Steve was not my favorite character ever, and his actions were incomprehensible to me as a parent of three and wife. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would give up on my living family. Does not say much for his relationship with his wife and other son. Anyway, it just got darker and nastier, and reminded me of Thomas Tryon's Harvest Home with its "ick" factor. It felt as if the village was just a set of dolls with whom he could play nasty games and manipulate, and it felt hopeless. Not how I hoped it would end, nor was it a book I ultimately liked. I thought his writing and creation of characters was promising, but nihilistic at the end of the day.
Really more like Pet Cemetery at the end I felt. The same feeling of desperation to bring a loved one back no matter what the consequences. This book elicited strong emotional reactions in many of you, that's a pretty good recommendation of his writing I'd say.
Finally! I had a bit of a hard time with this one, it was creepy for sure which I liked but after poor Tyler hung himself the book really escalated for me. I didn't quite get what actually happened to Matt- did Matt poor caulk into his own eyes? Did Katherine do it?? I felt the Pet Sematary vibe when Fletcher died - I have never read The Monkeys Claw - so not really sure about that. I was screaming at Steve when he stared opening Katherine's eyes and mouth and how freaky that the whole town felt it and knew that something was happening and that it wasn't good and that they all got that overwhelming sensation that they needed to get back to Black Springs. I didn't get that scene of some of the townspeople burning in the church and that Jocelyn and Matt were there. I definitely think Tyler was at the door - Steve kept calling for him and he told Katherine that he would do whatever she wanted if she just brought Tyler back so in the end she did - but Steve was so freaked out by it that he sewed up his own eyes and mouth.I read a little bit of the acknowledgments at the end and thought it interesting that the author wrote a different ending for the American book than he wrote for the Dutch book - it makes me want to know the Dutch version of the story. I did enjoy this book and gave it 3 stars.
